Bergger Prestige paper

[David Lingham]

Does anyone have any experience of or now anything about Bergger Prestige variable CB FB enlarging paper.

 

[GregY]

Bergger Prestige is a high quality paper. I use it on occasion. It's more expensive in N America than Ilford. I primarily develop in it Ansco 130. Very pleasing tonalities.

 

[David Lingham]

Bergger Prestige is a high quality paper. I use it on occasion. It's more expensive in N America than Ilford. I primarily develop in it Ansco 130. Very pleasing tonalities.

Thank you Gregg, I’m interested because it costs about the same as Ilford Classic here in the UK.

 

[GregY]

Thank you Gregg, I’m interested because it costs about the same as Ilford Classic here in the UK.

If that were the case here, i'd prefer it to Ilford Classic. It's a very fine paper & i very much like the overall print tone.

 

[relistan]

I had not taken note of this paper though I knew about it. This thread inspires me to order some to try.

 

[chuckroast]

I used the original Bergger VC FB extensively (It was their cold/neutral tone paper). It has become hard/expensive/impossible to get here in the US and I've switched over entirely to Fomabrom VC Variant 111. The Fomabrom is every bit the equal of the Bergger and much more pleasing (at least to my eye) to Ilford, which in all honesty, I've never much cared for.

I don't know if Foma have a similar paper to the Bergger CB FB, but if they do, based on my experience with their products, I'd recommend trying it without reservation.

 

[greg zinselmeier]

Does anyone have any experience of or now anything about Bergger Prestige variable CB FB enlarging paper.

I live here in the US, however I buy from fotoimpex in Germany. The euro to USD is 1.10. When you buy from Europe you do not pay VAT. Shipping UPS is about 50 USD, for 2 boxes of 16x20. If I need to I cut down to 8x10.
Nice blacks with ID-68. Tones well in selenium. 10% for a minute is nice. It’s a heavy paper, not cheap. The finish air dried is quite smooth, unlike Foma Retrobrom. Which has a very slight crackle, just to add a sparkle. I like foma better, but it’s graded, not MC. But I’d use it again. Oh the paper base is regular white not intense white, not faded yellow white.

 

[DREW WILEY]

It comes and goes in the US. Not currently available. My opinion is similar to the others above. A premium product which does particularly well in 130 developer. In the league of Ilford MGWT, but with a little steeper curve drop-off into black. Richer than MG Classic. The "neutral" tone version can be coaxed either warm or cool, depending on how you tone it afterwards. It's pricey, but at only 25 sheet per box in the larger sizes, that's not so bad per purchase.

 

[David Lingham]

thank you all, I appreciate the information.

 

[otto.f]

Bergger is my first choice for FB papers, because the warm tone version is not too warm and that’s why I prefer it above Ilford. I order it from Fotoimpex where it is cheaper than Ilford. I mostly use NB, the neutral black version which gives very satisfying results with Moersch eco 4812.