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Arista EDU Ultra VC RC curling

Andrey

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Jan 14, 2008
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299
Format
35mm
I tried the same thing I did for film:
Higher humidity drying
Not wiping off the moisture... etc

What am I doing wrong? They paper spends about 15 minutes in the water total and curves really bad. I never had this problem with agfa.
 
Dear Andrey,

Buy better paper. Ilford and Kentmere brands were always competitively priced with Agfa and you will find their RC paper stays nice and flat. Ilford Portfolio RC is really nice that way, a joy to handle.

Neal Wydra
 
That's the nature of this paper...same thing happens to me
 
I've used it in 11x14 and 16x20. It drys nice and flat for me, just laying it on a drying screen. And I live in New Mexico where the humidity on most days is 10-20%.
 
Neal said:
Dear Andrey,

Buy better paper. Ilford and Kentmere brands were always competitively priced with Agfa and you will find their RC paper stays nice and flat. Ilford Portfolio RC is really nice that way, a joy to handle.

Neal Wydra
Click to expand...

That's a nice solution.

I'd love to, but it's 2x expensive. I'll make a better print when I can print twice as much, not when I can be assured that it'll stay flat when dry.
 
r-brian said:
I've used it in 11x14 and 16x20. It drys nice and flat for me, just laying it on a drying screen. And I live in New Mexico where the humidity on most days is 10-20%.
Click to expand...
Maybe it's because the sheet is so big. How much time does it spend in the water?
 
Didn't Edwal make a fiber print flattener solution? I know it's for fiber but.. who knows. You could stack your prints and place a nice heavy book or two on top for a day or so. That's worked pretty well for me. Chances are they will never be perfectly flat unless you drymount them or go another route to mount them. If you have a drymount press or access to one though, you could try to press one between two clean matt boards. Not too long though, you don't want to melt anything!
 
I've used Arista EDU Ultra VC (I think it's rebranded Foma Fomaspeed Variant III) paper in 11x14 for making proof sheets and I have noticed it tends to curl a bit around the edges. I would have to say it's just the nature of this brand of paper and not anything to do with your processing. Ilford's RC paper keeps relitivly flat in comparison. Although, I would keep the wash times down to a minimum, i.e. 4 min. Your best solution is just to flatten them under some heavy books. I wouldn't use Edwal's Super Flat because it's designed for FB paper, making the fiber base more pliable so it dries more flat. It's doutful that it would have any effect on RC paper.
 
I use this paper quite a bit in sizes up to 8x10. It has a very nice look to it that I prefer a great deal over Ilford RC glossy.

I print in a very arid climate as well and don't have any curling issues. They dry in minutes in my darkroom after using a squeegee on both sides. Maybe you should try the squeegee and see if faster drying does indeed help.
 
this is funny

I'll try faster drying in low humidity. Thanks
 
RC print curling?

Even the idea of it is staggering!

Maybe the polyethylene has pinhole leaks to the paper base? Mis-boxed fiber paper? I'm being facetious, but why in the world would any RC paper curl? It's against the nature of the beast.
 
Sorry for the bump, I was really just searching for confirmation that Arista EDU Ultra = Fomaspeed Variant III, and saw this one. I recently made a bunch of prints on the Foma version of this, on 5x7, and it was indeed quite curled. In a different way than fiber, but noticeably so and difficult to scan properly. Very strange.

Is it definitely the Variant III? I see that it's made in the Czech Republic, at least. I really like this paper, which is already cheap, and the Arista is even cheaper...wish I'd realized before my last FS order! I assume Arista semi-matte = Foma matte and Arista pearl = Foma velvet?
 
I don't know kind of paper it is behind the brand, but I recently bought 250 sheets of the EDU.Ultra VC RC glossy in 5x7. I really liked the 8x10 glossy that I had some time ago; I love the surface finish. Anyway I did notice that all the 5x7s dry with a curl, on the long axis of the paper. It's a very even curl and it's slight and would go away under a clear portfolio oversheet or with photo corners, but I like how Illford (and adox ime) paper dries dead flat, so that it can just be t-hinged. Not to mention viewed plain without having to tweak the paper flat. Considering I have 250 sheets of this stuff, any suggestions on getting it to dry flat are appreciated. I use Hypam.
 
I wish I knew. Again, my experience is with the Foma Variant III, but I want to believe it's the Arista EDU Ultra for the price. I probably tried to flatten too many at once, and I'd had a long printing session so I had a fairly thick stack. I kept them all stacked together and put them under weight, and they ended up sort of dented/wavy. Not creased or anything, just...weird. Might have been better to spread them out a bit under the weight. Anyway, to scan a couple I ended up re-soaking them for an hour or so and hanging to dry again, and again had the curl. I actually had to put weight on top of the scanner to get them to scan properly.
 
I have a bit of experience w/ Fomaspeed Variant III and I have to say that it tends to be a bit curly. Nothing serious to be honest, not really annoying, compared to Ilford's equivalent. One thing I noticed though was that it's behavior was not always the same. Sometimes it was almost perfectly flat and all sheets came from the same box. It can't be a "lot" thing. When it wasn't, I noticed that Ilford's wasn't absolutely flat either. You see, I did some side by side tests between them, so I had a chance to compare them. Too bad I couldn't figure out what caused the curl... Whatever the factor(s) might be, don't leave it soaked for too much. It's base doesn't seem to be as tough as Ilford's. Nice paper, but you get what you pay for.
 
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