Anyone experiencing problems with Arista paper?

[Valerie]

I have a bit of a mystery in my college darkroom class. All students who are using Arista RC paper are getting very poor results-- images take 3x time to appear, some get no more than pale brown image, image does not fully develop.
When the students switch to Ilford RC, the issue disappears completely.
Same trays of chemistry used for both.
The chemistry is Sprint, and it is past its shelf date (budget reasons--can't afford to throw it out unless proven to be unusable). However, it works just fine with the Ilford paper.
So my question is: Is it possible there is something wrong with the paper, or could it be that the Arista paper requires fresher developer.
I appreciate any input y'all might have!

 

[Dali]

I have no direct experience with this paper but I have 1 question: Did you students already use Arista RC paper with success? I mean, is the issue they face specific to a box?

If I ask you that, it is because papers are more or less fast depending on the type.

After using for a decade the regular Oriental FB VC paper, I switched for a try to the Warm Tone version. The WT is wayyyy slower that the regular type and I have to expose almost 3x more to get an acceptable result.

Maybe your students are facing a similar issue, I don't know...

 

[mgb74]

Also, when and how did you acquire the Arista paper? If purchased online and shipped (likely) was it during hot weather? If so, may have been exposed to too much of that Texas heat. And even if the Ilford was shipped during hot weather, it may be that it didn't spend too much time in a hot vehicle.

 

[btaylor]

I would mix a tray of fresh, in-date developer and find out if that has anything to do with it. Just buy a gallon for $7 to 10. 90 seconds should be enough to get a decent image up. Did you do test strips first on the Arista to determine "ball park" exposure with satisfactory results? I use both Arista and Ilford RC B&W papers and they act pretty similarly in my darkroom.

 

[Photo Engineer]

If the Ilford works, then it is the paper.

PE

 

[Valerie]

Thanks, everyone!. Ron, that was my thought (that the paper is the issue). We have used Arista for years with no issues at all. I even have some older boxes that are printing ok. I am thinking of trying btaylor's advice just to see what happens (just in case.....). The problem Arista was indeed shipped last month, but would have come in different shipments, as each student was responsible for their own purchases. If it were a heat issue, wouldn't the paper have been fogged?

 

[Photo Engineer]

Well, I had a similar problem with another paper. As I worked through the box, I found an obvious coating streak that turned into a similar effect as the bead was reestablished. So a minor fluctuation in coating can do this. As soon as I saw it, I recognized something familiar.

I myself have made hand coatings and machine coatings that show this type of problem.

PE

 

[mnemosyne]

Any possibility that the developer is shot and the Ilford RC paper is now developing purely through developing agents incorporated in the emulsion??

Buy some fresh developer to test (you don't have to buy gallons of it ...)

 

[Leigh B]

Any possibility that the developer is shot and the Ilford RC paper is now developing purely through developing agents incorporated in the emulsion??

You beat me to it.

I was going to suggest exactly the same thing.

It's my understanding that ?most? RC papers incorporate a developer into the emulsion.

This may not be true of the Arista paper.

- Leigh

 

[Valerie]

I'll be trying fresh dev at the next class... I know about the developer in emulsion, just didn't think that the difference could be so drastic.

 

[Photo Engineer]

With Kodak papers, incorporated developers can have a drastic effect, but Ilford not very much. You would see a difference, so I don't think this is the problem.

However, if the problem is as I mentioned above, you can possibly work out of the bad area by going deeper into the package and taking out some sheets. You might find some good sheets.

PE

 

[M Carter]

I tried some Arista RC - I generally use RC for contact sheets, setup, testing but I can go through a fair amount. The batch I got was looking really bad, I realized my safelights were fogging it like crazy. And I've tested the daylights out of my safelights as I do lith prints that can take 40 mins to develop. Not sure if it was just the one batch, but from then on stuck with Ilford for RC. Peace of mind=worth a couple extra bucks. But I can imagine in a class situation, every nickel counts.