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Are there B&W papers better matched to T-grain films?

brianmquinn

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Kodak came out with their Tmax line of films and then came out with PolyMax B&W paper. When they did this it was marketed as being better suited to printing the straight line Tmax films. I don’t know if it really worked better or was just marketing by Kodak. Anyway does anyone know a paper that in general does better with Tmax films? I am not looking for a magic solution just another paper to try out and see for myself.
 
PolyMax wasn't marketed that way in the UK. However most manufacturers did tweak their papers to suit their own films, that's been happening for many years.

Pre WWII papers matched the thicker film emulsions of that era and modern papers can't match those papers in terms of tonality with those older negatives.

I found Tmax printed well on most papers, it's very good with Multigrade IV which is your equivalent.

Ian
 
When Kodak dumped Polymax (and me) several of my friends switched to Kentmere Fine Print. When my Polymax ran out I also tried it and liked it. It was somewhat different but very good and less expensive. Then Kentmere was bought by Ilford. I stayed with Kentmere. Then Kodak dumped just about everything else I used and priced T Max out of the market in 8x10 and 7x17. Now I very happily use Kentmere and Ilford film (HP5+) because; it works, I can pay for it and Ilford has supported the market that interests me.

John Powers
 

I've found XP2 Super to print well on MGIV but my Delta negatives seem better suited to Adox MCC in general.

Tom
 
It seems like, since TMAX has little shoulder and a lot of highlight contrast, that an ideal paper for TMAX would have a long, gradual toe region. Is that correct? It seems to me that I do have trouble sometimes with tmax's tendency to have more latitude than fits on the paper, requiring highlights to be carefully burnt or masked down.
 

You got it backwards. You match your negatives to your paper/developer combination, not the other way around.

Until you do this, you will not realize the full potential of any paper.
 
"new Oriental papers are made by Ilford and are the same as Multigrade IV"
This is not true.

Simon has made it very clear that Ilford will no longer sell any of their products under any other name than Harmon / Ilford. They will make similar but not identical products for other companies and allow them to be sold under other names however. So any new paper will be MGIV only if is says MGIV.
 
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"You got it backwards. You match your negatives to your paper/developer combination, not the other way around."

Sounds fine and I pretty much agree - Until they stop making the paper you were using and you want to reprint some of you older negatives.
 

Use the two side by side for the same negatives (something I have recently done), and it will be obvious that they are different. The Ilford does not have the same "bite" to my eyes, and the greys are not as neutral. I found the Ilford to be muddier and to have more of a hue than the Oriental VC. Perhaps they have changed the paper again, and I don't know about it. If so, it is a horrific loss! I love Oriental VC paper. I am now using it and Adox MCC 110 for almost everything in which I want a neutral paper; Oriental for when I want more graphic pictures, and Adox for when I want to try to dig information out of highlights and shadows.
 
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Yes, that's a compromise for sure. It might take some trial and error before you find a paper that works for you again. It's not easy to predict that a company like Kodak would all of a sudden cease black&white silver gelatin papers, for sure.
 
Thomas Bertilsson said:
Yes, that's a compromise for sure. It might take some trial and error before you find a paper that works for you again. It's not easy to predict that a company like Kodak would all of a sudden cease black&white silver gelatin papers, for sure.
Click to expand...

There is a lot that can be done with paper chemicals. I'd suggest that anyone having trouble getting the right "look" to match on older print when using one developer try one of the many, many others out there. The most common example of this is a printer using either Kodak Dektol or Selectol-Soft depending on what he or she is after, or even a mixture of the two.
 
Or just vary the chemistry you are using, changing the dilution, etc. I use Ethol LPD, a remarkably flexible paper developer that can be tweaked to do different things. I keep stock around, replenisher, and working solution. This way I can vary the dilution on the fly and still maintain a working solution that I replenish.

 
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