Adorama Printing Paper

[Mahler_one]

Does anyone know who manufacturers the printing paper that is branded by Adorama? I have seen some positive comments about the paper on APUG. The price is certainly good. So, who is making the paper for them?

 

[fschifano]

I'll tell you what the salesman in the store told me. The support is made in the Czech Republic and coated in England. That's all I know, and that's all anyone who's talking knows. It may be true, or it may be bulls**t. It is a really nice paper though, and I don't give hoot who makes it or where it comes from.

 

[Mahler_one]

Thanks....excuse me for noting that your posts here reflect what appears to be a very large experience in analog photography. May I take advantage of your experience to ask if you think enough of the paper so that it has replaced some of the more "standard" and well known papers that you might have used, e.g., Ilford, Oriental, etc.? As one learns how to print-and even after becoming an expert-the waste basket fills up much more quickly than one would like, especially if one is a perfectionist. If there is a paper that is as good as one that cost twice as much ( in both RC and FB VC versions ) than it would seem to be reasonable to use such paper for an increasing amounts of one's work. I have ordered some of both the RC and FB, and will do my own testing using negatives that I have printed previously and am familiar with. However, it would be interesting to have the opinion of one more experienced than I.

 

[fschifano]

You flatter me too much. Understand that I'm strictly a bottom feeder, but I do like to get the most out of the materials I work with. I don't really care much for Ilford MGIV. It's very nice paper, but it's too pricey for my blood. I used to use Kodak's Polymax papers and I liked them a lot. My other favorites were the Agfa and old Adorama house brand papers in all forms, RC and fiber. When these disappeared, I started using Foma variable contrast papers under the guise of Arista.EDU Ultra and found them to be good as well. When Adorama brought back their house brand and I saw the rather attractive price, I gave it a shot and was very pleasantly surprised. It is as good as the old Adorama papers (which I considered to be very good), and maybe even better. It is considerably cooler than the moderately warm toned Arista.EDU Ultra paper, and does not change color in selenium toner like the Arista.EDU Ultra does. I have room for both brands in my darkroom and see them as different by equal in terms of quality. As it stands, I have enough of both brands to last quite a while and I don't see myself looking for anything else in the immediate future.

 

[Mahler_one]

To my mind, one is faced with the very pleasant dilemma of suddenly having a plethora of papers from which to chose-and an equally large number of developers. One could spend a life time experimenting with the various combinations and permutations of papers and developers. As we all know, it is best to chose one or two paper/developer combinations, and master those before broadening one's horizons. As was the case in your situation, I wondered if a paper with a lower price point would be able to produce the "same results" as paper that is, in some instances, 50% more costly. Complicating any evaluation of enlarging paper is the fact that some skilled printers could certainly do "better" with a given product than I could, and that any difference that might be imputed to materials would be the fault of the end user! I am also beginning to wonder if the perceived advantages of FB paper in terms of image quality and permanence is "worth" the added efforts of washing, etc. ( and the additional cost ) as compared to RC paper. However, the latter subject is griss for another mill, and has been addressed on APUG previously! Thanks for taking the time to respond!

 

[Monophoto]

I'll tell you what the salesman in the store told me. The support is made in the Czech Republic and coated in England.

Until a couple of years ago there were two paper manufacturers in England - Harmon (Ilford) and Kentmere. Harmon has made some rather strong statements about NEVER again making a private-labeled product to compete with their Ilford paper.

I bought some Adormama paper a while back, and it seemed to me that it had a very similar feel and tonality as some Kentmere paper. And until fairly recently, Kentmere was only available in North America as Luminos.

Then Harmon bought Kentmere. My unconfirmed suspicion would be that paper labeled as Ilford is Ilford, and paper labeled as "made in England" with any other label is Kentmere.

 

[fschifano]

And you're likely correct. They don't re-label their products, but who's to say that they don't do contract work? It would be kind of silly for Harman to turn down a contract (and a profit) to manufacture a product that they can do very well.

 

[doughowk]

If you find a paper you like, and have gone thru alot of testing to get its best results, then hopefully its some brand that you can rely on for consistency. I suspect that retail company papers (eg, Adorama, Arista) are minimally spec'ed, and its manufacturer is shopped around. Or roll(s) are picked up on some liquidation sale, cut & packaged by someone else.
I've settled on papers in the past only to have them pulled from the market (ie, Fortezo); but papers from anonymous manufacturers adds the unknown to my printing routine.