Blacks on RC

[ericdan]

all Ilford papers and many RC glossy papers arecapable of a Dmax of 2.1 or darker.Make sure your developer is fresh and not too diluted;selenium toning will also darken blacks

Thanks for the tips. The developer was less than 12 hours old so that couldn't have been the issue.
Maybe the safe light..
Selenium toner would be something to try. Never seen it in any of the stores in Tokyo.

 

[MattKing]

Dektol was 1+2 and about 12 hours old. I developed for 90 seconds.

If that Dektol was in an open tray for 12 hours, it could be well past its prime.

 

[ericdan]

Eric, I use the Fuji AM paper and it's perfectly black for me.
I don't use Dektol though, I go with the Chugai line and develop in "My Developer" 1:9

Good luck!
Ben

cool, I wonder if the Chugai stuff is the same as Ilford's Multigrade Developer

 

[ericdan]

If that Dektol was in an open tray for 12 hours, it could be well past its prime.

Nope, mixed up in a bucket at around 40 degrees Celcius. Once all was disolved I poured it into 2L, 1L and 05.L bottles (they actually take slightly more volume than advertised)
Next day after the stuff cooled down, I mixed up 1:2 dilution (1 part Dektol stock and 2 parts water) very close to 20 degrees.
The developer should be ok I think.

 

[ericdan]

Thanks Rachelle. In your estimation, is the WP AM equivalent in surface texture/sheen to Ilford's Pearl? If so, I'd really like to try some Fujibro semi-matte.

That's right, Fujibro WP AM is Pearl aka semi-matt

 

[bence8810]

cool, I wonder if the Chugai stuff is the same as Ilford's Multigrade Developer

I wouldn't know that, I never used anything else but Chugai. Available everywhere and in liquid format, super easy to mix and cheap.

For my expired fibre paper I do mix my own chemicals from scratch but for all off the shelf papers, I use Chugai with great results!
Ben

 

[mooseontheloose]

I've been happy with Chugai as well, like Ben I mix it 1:9.

 

[ericdan]

I've been happy with Chugai as well, like Ben I mix it 1:9.

Super cheap here and liquid. Going to try that next.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Dektol was 1+2 and about 12 hours old. I developed for 90 seconds.

That should be fine.I use the same dilution and develop for 2 minutes.

 

[naaldvoerder]

You could try to increase developer temperature. Or at least check it stays 20 degrees or higher. Most times I was confronted with weak black it turned out I was developing in cold developer.

 

[Xmas]

It's fairly common for people to pull prints before they have completely developed. Doing so results in poor blacks. Either follow the recommended development time for the developer you are using or use the development to completion method.

Confirmed I need to develop with a timer do a final print and then do a second 50% longer.
Then typically start again.
Wet printing is hard.

 

[ericdan]

You guys were right. I exposed one sheet to daylight and then developed and FujiBro RC paper is actually very contrasty.
Very deep blacks for an RC Paper.
In fact, I've done the expose to daylight and develop to test the blacks with a strip of Oriental glossy fiber and have to say that at least to my eye the FujiBro has deeper blacks.
Texture-wise I still prefer the fiber paper over RC.

 

[ericdan]

It must have been the developer mix what gave me dull blacks at first.
FujiBro RC semi-matt paper is super contrasty now.
I am comparing it against Adox MCC110 and Oriental Fiber glossy papers and neither one of them has the punch that FujiBro has.
RC paper seems to have an almost white base, whereas the fiber papers have a slight yellowish tint to it.
That was with Dektol, which I thought is a neutral tone developer.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I am using Fujibro variable contrast semi-matte (RC) paper in Dektol 1+2 and I am not getting real blacks.
I've enlarged Fuji Neopan 400 and HP5+ onto it, but not gotten any really deep blacks.

I usually do split grade printing and even increasing the contrast by a lot only yields dark grays.
Does anybody have experience with this paper?

Am I too picky about the blacks? Would moving to glossy be better?
Is Ilford's RC paper any better for this or should I move to fiber paper?

Thanks

Ilford RC gets real deep blacks and so does any other photo paper I have used as long as I use fresh developer and develop for 2 minutes.

 

[craigclu]

I quit having bouts with "grayish" blacks by switching to Ansco 130 with benzotriazole as the restrainer. I tried it initially to liven up some Ilford MG FB WT that was looking so flat-toned for me. It produced a rich, velvety black that was very controllable for holding detail. Not an ideal solution if you're not set up for scratch mixing but I'm just throwing out what worked for me. This was based on some posting by Evan Clarke some years back.

Water at 125° F 750 ml
Metol 2.2 g
Sodium Sulfite 50 g
Hydroquinone 11 g
Sodium Carbonate 80 g
Benzotriazole 1% 15 ml
Glycin 11 g
Water to make 1000 ml

 

[M Carter]

Couple thoughts - the Formulary's Liquidol developer is very very good stuff. You won't go back to Dektol after that, and it's a liquid concentrate so no mixing a big gallon jug. Lovely blacks.

If there are papers you use often it's wise to make a gray scale with that paper and keep it handy. Make a black cardboard rig that allows you to expose 1/4" sections on, say, a 4x5 sheet, and make a card that has 1/2 stop bars from full black to pure white. You can compare prints to that, and it's super-handy when printing to get a solid idea of how much darker you need a gray area to go, for instance. You can hold the strip up and say "this sky needs 1/2 more stop".

 

[JW PHOTO]

I went to my local photo store in Michigan and can't find any Chugai on the shelf? Darn it!

 

[kobaltus]

Ilford RC papers are not better at all. Comparing with old RC graded papers or any fiber paper today the result mostly is unpleasant, blue look. And you must view them from specific angle.

The only good thig about Ilford RC paper is archival quality. It is not comparable with fiber papers, but it is far better than Foma RC papers.

 

[ericdan]

Couple thoughts - the Formulary's Liquidol developer is very very good stuff. You won't go back to Dektol after that, and it's a liquid concentrate so no mixing a big gallon jug. Lovely blacks.

If there are papers you use often it's wise to make a gray scale with that paper and keep it handy. Make a black cardboard rig that allows you to expose 1/4" sections on, say, a 4x5 sheet, and make a card that has 1/2 stop bars from full black to pure white. You can compare prints to that, and it's super-handy when printing to get a solid idea of how much darker you need a gray area to go, for instance. You can hold the strip up and say "this sky needs 1/2 more stop".

thanks a lot! Sounds very handy indeed. I'll definitely try that.

 

[MattKing]

And by the way, Photo Engineer (here on APUG) was one of the two creators of Liquidol.