Anyone Using Positive Paper?

bvy · Aug 24, 2010

Time to reorder paper. I see that Freestlye has Efke direct positive black and white paper:
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/22242-Fotokemika-Efke-BandW-Positive-Paper-RC-Matt-4x5-25-sheets

The description says:

Yes, you can use this paper in a large format camera or pinhole camera and shoot original photographs with no negative involved.

And to further entice me:

The possibilities are endless!

Does anyone here have experience to share using this paper in a pinhole camera? My "regular" paper is Ilford RC grade 2. I'm curious how this compares in terms of exposure and development (I use Ilford PQ). And any other caveats, of course.

Thanks.

SMBooth · Aug 24, 2010

Bit of a thread here (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Ric Johnson · Aug 24, 2010

Here's another website to give a couple of images using that paper:
http://www.f295.org/Pinholeforum/forum/Blah.pl?m-1272752287/s-new/#num5

bvy · Aug 24, 2010

I was too restrictive in my search. Thank you -- these threads are helpful. So to understand, Efke and Ilford Harman have both introduced positive papers in the past year or so? I thought maybe this was a new innovation, but it looks like Kodak made a positive paper years back. So for a long time, there was no equivalent? I wonder why the revival. (I'm happy about it, of course.)

arealitystudios · Aug 30, 2010

I'm not sure why there has been a revival of this stuff but I will say I'm quite happy about it.

I've been using it as a pinhole material for the past six months or so and have had a lot of misses and some really great images too. It's a challenge to be sure, especially taming the contrast, but I certainly don't make pictures with film and traditional materials because I'm lazy.

For some reason I find this stuff very well suited to multiple exposures. I don't know why, but I think the higher contrast and tonal qualities of the paper just work really well for this. Maybe its just me, but I like it.

I typically rate it at ISO 2 and develop in very dilute paper developer. It can take quite a while for the image to come up so be patient.

Boggy1 · Sep 6, 2010

I just assumed that there the revival in direct positive paper, espcially by Ilford, was because of their involvement with The Impossible Project- but having thought about it, I guess that the technology might just be a bit too different to compare. . .

Btw, has anyone ever used the direct positives to enlarge slides? It would be amazing to be able to have both a slide and a traditional fine art print of the same scene without having to make an internegative!

AgX · Sep 7, 2010

Boggy1 said:
I just assumed that there the revival in direct positive paper, espcially by Ilford, was because of their involvement with The Impossible Project- but having thought about it, I guess that the technology might just be a bit too different to compare. . .

You are perfectly right about the technology differences.
Furthermore the emulsion of that direct positive paper was originally re-made by Ilford Imaging and not Ilford Photo (Harman that is).

gbmcinephoto · Sep 7, 2010

thanks for the info. I am excited to try this paper.
@arealitystudios - "develop in very dilute paper developer" So you can use normal paper developer for this? that's excellent.

Andrew K · Sep 8, 2010

I've had limited exposure to this paper - I used it on world pinhole day this year...

I found 15 seconds exposure in hazy sunlight to produce a good result - the paper was developed in normal dektol....

A bit contrasty, but I love the feel to it...

If only shipping from Freestyles wasn't so overpriced to australia I'd shoot lots more!

steven_e007 · Sep 10, 2010

I think Ilford were asked to get involved with that French 'walk in' camera project, weren't they? There is a mention of it in the other thread listed above.

I've tried it out but found it very high in contrast and a bit tricky to tame - and the contrast increaes with exposure time, not so useful a characteristic for pinhole photography, I didn't think...

Anyone Using Positive Paper?

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