Adox paper came out slightly pink

[McCarthy]

I bought some ADOX 8X10 paper from JandC and gave it a whirl last week. I print in a community darkroom and the developer is Dektol. I don't know if the Dektol is diluted or not. In one session last week I printed on Forte Elegance (my old standby), ADOX (new to me), and JandC Classic Polywarmtone (new to me). I liked the image on Forte, loved the image on ADOX, and super loved the image on JandC Classic Polywarmtone. I also love the heavy triple weight of the JandC Classic Polywarmtone. Sorry, I don't have a scanner so I can't post the images for comparison.

My comment is that the base color of the ADOX paper was slightly pink. The base color of the Forte and the JandC Classic Polywarmtone was stark cold white and warm white, respectively.

Please advise me if there is possibly something that I am doing wrong that resulted in the slight pink base color of the ADOX paper or is this common for ADOX. As long as the ADOX is not displayed next to the Forte, it looks ok.

Edit: JandC added a caution to the Adox paper description after I bought it stating that it should be used in a red safelight environment, not orange or yellow. The darkroom that I typically use has yellow safelights. Could this cause the slightly pink base hue? If so, I will either live with the hue or move to the other room of the two-part darkroom that has red safelights. In any event, I really like ADOX paper.

Thanks, Michael

 

[Dean Williams]

McCarthy, many papers have a slight tint to the base color, and it's a normal thing. I've seen some papers with a cream colored base that appear a little pink to me when compaired with other papers. Agfa FB has a green tint when viewed next to a really white paper. Though I've never used the Adox paper, many other papers that have some color tint to them will loose it in selenium toner. If you don't want the pink, and don't want the aubergine of a fully selenium toned print, try toning in a dilute selenium. Around 1+25 selenium to water would be a good starting point.
Let us know how it works out with the Adox.

 

[jandc]

I bought some ADOX 8X10 paper from JandC and gave it a whirl last week. I print in a community darkroom and the developer is Dektol. I don't know if the Dektol is diluted or not. In one session last week I printed on Forte Elegance (my old standby), ADOX (new to me), and JandC Classic Polywarmtone (new to me). I liked the image on Forte, loved the image on ADOX, and super loved the image on JandC Classic Polywarmtone. I also love the heavy triple weight of the JandC Classic Polywarmtone. Sorry, I don't have a scanner so I can't post the images for comparison.

My comment is that the base color of the ADOX paper was slightly pink. The base color of the Forte and the JandC Classic Polywarmtone was stark cold white and warm white, respectively.

Please advise me if there is possibly something that I am doing wrong that resulted in the slight pink base color of the ADOX paper or is this common for ADOX. As long as the ADOX is not displayed next to the Forte, it looks ok.

Edit: JandC added a caution to the Adox paper description after I bought it stating that it should be used in a red safelight environment, not orange or yellow. The darkroom that I typically use has yellow safelights. Could this cause the slightly pink base hue? If so, I will either live with the hue or move to the other room of the two-part darkroom that has red safelights. In any event, I really like ADOX paper.

Thanks, Michael

The base on the Adox paper has no optical brightners and is not bleached to a pure white. The Classic does have the brighteners and looks much whiter when compared to the Adox paper. It's a old fashioned style paper.

Most yellow lights should be OK with this paper. We found that in Europe some yellow/orange lamps were causing a slight fogging. The best approach is to do a test strip and be sure of how safe the safe light really is.

 

[Ole]

So ADOX papers are made by Fotokemika? I've had various shades of pink at various times; I haven't quite figured out what causes it and how I sometimes avoid it. Assuming, of course, that it's the same paper we're talking about.

 

[MikeK]

I bought some ADOX 8X10 paper from JandC and gave it a whirl last week. I print in a community darkroom and the developer is Dektol. I don't know if the Dektol is diluted or not. In one session last week I printed on Forte Elegance (my old standby), ADOX (new to me), and JandC Classic Polywarmtone (new to me). I liked the image on Forte, loved the image on ADOX, and super loved the image on JandC Classic Polywarmtone. I also love the heavy triple weight of the JandC Classic Polywarmtone. Sorry, I don't have a scanner so I can't post the images for comparison.

My comment is that the base color of the ADOX paper was slightly pink. The base color of the Forte and the JandC Classic Polywarmtone was stark cold white and warm white, respectively.

Please advise me if there is possibly something that I am doing wrong that resulted in the slight pink base color of the ADOX paper or is this common for ADOX. As long as the ADOX is not displayed next to the Forte, it looks ok.

Edit: JandC added a caution to the Adox paper description after I bought it stating that it should be used in a red safelight environment, not orange or yellow. The darkroom that I typically use has yellow safelights. Could this cause the slightly pink base hue? If so, I will either live with the hue or move to the other room of the two-part darkroom that has red safelights. In any event, I really like ADOX paper.

Thanks, Michael

Community darkrooms can be eveil places. I see pink print way too often, and across a variety of papers - the culprit is exhausted and contaminated fixer. Sometimes a bath in full strenghth fixer might remove the pink cast - sometimes not. My suggestion would be to have another printing session and make sure your fixer is good.

Mike

 

[Alex Hawley]

I agree with MikeK. There has been a rash of these pink paper reports lately, all the way from Azo to Ilford and everything in between, Dektol, Amidol, Neutol, you name it.

Its the fixer, either contaminated and/or depleted.

 

[McCarthy]

Thanks

Thanks for the answers. I must say that I do love the ADOX paper. The images are slightly warm and classic looking. I will start with new fixer the next time I try this paper. We are in a community dark room and the rules state that we are not allowed to refresh the chemicals. This does not make any sense and makes it certain that everyone will "cheat" and lead to a higher chemical bills. Normally, I refresh the chemicals everytime I go into the darkroom, but this once I didn't so the fixer was probably spent or contaminated and the ADOX paper was just the most sensitive of the three papers that I was using that day.

Michael

Edit: By the way, I don't think that our yellow lights are fogging the paper, because the base color is not grey.