Any of those papers is very good for Lith (Oriental, MPC 310, Maco, Brovira ...) ?

Hi all,

I just got over 300 papers (18x24 and 20x30 cm) on auction site for 16 euros . Any of those will be good for Lith print? I have Moersch Easy Lith at home, I will try it on the weekend, but just to know what to expect .


Thanks,

I see much darkroom experimentation in your future.

Oriental & Brovira should be quite nice, ilford & maco less so, I think, maybe worth trying second pass lith?

Oriental and second pass lith can be quite nice although sometimes a little weird.

If that paper isn't fogged, you got one heck of a deal there!

darkosaric said:

Hi all,

I just got over 300 papers (18x24 and 20x30 cm) on auction site for 16 euros . Any of those will be good for Lith print? I have Moersch Easy Lith at home, I will try it on the weekend, but just to know what to expect .


Thanks,

Click to expand...

For quality B&W printing,the best papers on the market today IMO are the Ilford papers. For fine-art, I 'd choose Ilford MGIVFB. it's hard to beat but papers are amazingly durable if they have been stored properly, so I 'd try old papers before I pitch them.In general ,aged papers have lost some speed and contrast but you can adjust your printing for both.all the best my experience with lith is rather limited ,I'm afraid.If you have trouble, call Moersch. He is very helpful on the phone unless you interupted one of his printing sessions.

Thank for replays. I just developed 2 negatives from Paris (and last one I will do today) - on the weekend first I will test all papers in Ilford PQ, and then in Moersch Easy Lith . I will let you know the results.

Funny you should ask . . . spent several hours yesterday bleaching and lithing old Brovira, with unimpressive results. Neither copper sulfate or KBr/Ferri responded strongly. These were grade 1 and 2 papers, which might have something to do with it.

I have lithed the Brovira in higher grades, and also the MCP in fiber form, but I don't know if either had changed to an emulsion with developer incorporated. For a quick test: Place a drop of "B" or NaOH onto a test patch, with the lights on. Devolopment indicates developer incorporated, and will not lith. Additionally, it is a legitamate question as to whether processing these papers will kill the lith effects of your lith developer. According to Rudman's book, if you want to switch from lith printing to conventional printing, simply add a little conventional developer to the lith pan. I hypothesize that adding a developer-incorporated paper to the lith pan will degrade the lith developer.

So, I would do the quick and easy test first.

First part of the test - developing in Ilford PQ universal is done:

Brovira is in good condition - no fog at all, nice and contrasty:





Oriental warm - wow what a beautiful paper, I want to buy some more! Where I can buy this in Europe?




Ilford Ilfoespeed was also OK:



Afga MPC 310 had some strange pink color - ugly, Oriental FB had too low contrast, tetenal WORK did not tested yet.