Alternative to Ilford RC glossy paper

[tbm]

I have been using Ilford's RC glossy paper (5x7) for years but I am now frustrated by the price increases Ilford has instituted. Can somebody highly recommend an alternative that produces an identical neutral rather than cool tone and will save me money?

 

[dpurdy]

You are in SoCal. Freestyle!! Arista II RC is just as good and is cheaper.

 

[dpurdy]

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/sc_prod.php?cat_id=&pid=1000000990
I guess I shouldn't assume if you are in Southern California that you know about FreeStyle Photo. There is the link.

 

[firecracker]

Oriental RC paper is supposedly neutral although I think it's more on the cold-tone side.

But I believe it's cheaper than other manufaturers' products, so you might wanna check.

 

[Silverhead]

If you're looking for a "true" neutral tone, you might want to try Fotokemika's Varycon, as it has no brighteners in it. Doesn't look exactly like Ilford, but it isn't cooltone.

 

[Confusion Circle]

I use the Oriental RC Pearl, and it's just as good as the Ilford papers. The Foma papers are thinner than the Ilford & Oriental papers and tended to get stuck in the rollers of my Ilford paper dryer.

 

[John Shriver]

They will all go up in price as new batches are imported into the US. The value of the dollar is plummeting, and the price of silver is skyrocketing. The small side effects of debt-financing of a war and deregulated mortgage markets...

 

[PhotoJim]

Ilford paper is worth the money. it's good stuff.

I'm certainly not against experimenting with other brands (and I certainly do it, and certainly plan to do more), but MG IV is my main paper and will continue to be for the forseeable future. Silver photography is too fun to worry about a few dollars.

 

[jeroldharter]

Ilford does cost a bit more than other papers nowadays, but not that much more. You would have to print a lot of 5x7's to make significant savings switching to another paper. The best you could hope for in savings is ~$10 per 250 sheets which is 4 cents per sheet. If I liked the paper in the first place I think I would stick with it. Since it would cost you for the learning curve of a new paper, you might spend years recouping your losses at that rate. For large print sizes the savings would be more compelling.

 

[hec]

Totally agree with Jerold and besides why would not support your favorite paper supplier?
not long ago there was a big cry over kodak dropping the paper business, but then again I believe Paul Strand said that whenever he found a paper he liked it got discontinued.

 

[PhotoJim]

Totally agree with Jerold and besides why would not support your favorite paper supplier?
not long ago there was a big cry over kodak dropping the paper business, but then again I believe Paul Strand said that whenever he found a paper he liked it got discontinued.

This latter point is one of the reasons I'm particularly loyal to MG IV.

I know Ilford is likely to be in business for many years and I know that Ilford isn't that likely to change the paper (the demand for evolving photographic paper just isn't that strong anymore).

The best way to motivate Ilford to keep producing this paper is to buy it.

I don't imagine Ilford minds if I dally a bit with Foma and Slavich and whatever else might be out there (of course they'd enjoy me playing with Kentmere ) as long as I prefer their products, and I do.

 

[tbm]

I recently made prints with Kentmere's standard RC glossy paper and was dumbfounded upon discovering that it is not a neutral tone paper but rather a cool tone paper, and I still perfer a neutral tone paper.

 

[tbm]

Update re Ilford

Well, my mate just made my day: He drove me to Freestyle after lunch, where he bought me a 250-sheet box of Ilford's RC glossy paper, a gallon plastic jug of more of Clayton/Lowell Huff's superb P20 paper developer, two smaller jugs of Clayton/Lowell Huff's superb RF19 rapid fixer, and two boxes of Ilford's ID-11 film developer. So, I've decided to continue to support Ilford by buying the two aforementioned Ilford products without any qualms and I've decided to keep my mate (ha, ha!) due to his generosity!

 

[Simon R Galley]

Dear TBM,

Thanks for your purchase it is appreciated.....and your mate.....

Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited