Color paper: size and brand

[mnemosyne]

Hi,
I would like to start printing colour photos.
However, I'm a little bit confused about the paper.

1) There are only two brands of colour paper: Kodak, which isn't really suited for optical printing, and Fuji.
Here and there, I read that Kodak films don't "do" well on Fuji papers. Is it true? If this is true, this would me a
major turn off for me, considering that I have shot only Kodak films.

2) I'm not really interested in printing larger than 24x30 cm. Why can't I find 10x15/13x18 sheets?


Bonus Question -- I have a Cibachrome-A drum. Will it be useful for anything?

Hi, back to your original question:
1) Kodak Endura Premier, which is the current Kodak offering, is explicitly suited for optical printing and I know that from personal experience, it is my standard paper right now. I have also printed some Kodak films (Ektar & Portra) on Fuji CA and didn't encounter any problems.

2) First, the reason that cut sheet RA4 paper is difficult to find, especially in smaller sizes is that the demand for this product is very small, more or less a niche compared to the industrial photo finisher/minilab market, where customers buy their paper in rolls. Smaller sizes are especially difficult, as most hobbyist or semi-pro RA4 printers (the last who are still printing optically) do not bother with small sheets, as RA4 paper is generally cheap and bigger sheets make more sense in terms of cost effectiveness when you consider time invested and also chemical use (at least when you work one shot).

Paper brands/varieties: Keep in mind that the paper designations for Fuji CA varieties here in Europe are different from the US. In England, Fuji CA (basic quality) is still available from Fuji in cut sheets, it seems. In Germany (and I suspect also the rest of continental Europe?), you can get Fuji paper as well as Kodak sheet paper only as custom cut sheets from vendors, but there is nothing wrong with that.
For example, 13x18 cm sheets of Kodak EP and Fuji CA in packs of 2x100 sheets are available from phototec.de, a big online vendor that also ships Euro wide. Or you could always consider taking 18x24 sheets and cutting them in half with a simple desktop paper cutting tool. Fuji CA DPII paper (higher quality than the basic CA) is available in cut sheets from phototec, but smallest size is 18x24 cm. It is designated "digital only" but the word is out that people use it also to print optically. I have no personal experience with that paper.

For the RA4 chemicals, as mentioned the Kodak RT/LU chemicals work well at lower temperatures and they are available at a very good price point from AG Photographic in the UK in 4x5 ltr packs. You will have to order seperate packs for developer and Blix. AG photographic also offer the Fuji cut sheet CA paper (but Kodak only in rolls).

 

[DREW WILEY]

Small processing drums have always been cheap, and are really cheap nowadays on the used market, so it's easy to have multiples. The only exception might be Jobo, which in my opinion are the least desirable unless you are using a Jobo machine per se, because they fill and load slowly and are rather thin, so don't insulate very well. The first set of DevTech drums I ever used is still working fine, even though buying these things was at one time equivalent to wearing flipflops - not exactly "status" gear, though they work superbly. Big drums are harder to find, and some people simply make them themselves out of black irrigation pipe. But drying drums is easy anyway, especially if you have an air compressor (which every darkroom should). You just blow the water out, then a simple wipe, after it's drained.

 

[zehner21]

Thanks for your answers.
I'm sorry for being late but I had few problems at home that kept me away from the forum. I appreciate you contributions!


@mnemosyne : thanks for the link to phototec.de. Shipping prices are not very high. On the other hand, AG Photographic will cost 29£ for shipping to Italy and it is quite costly.
How good is the Tetenal Kit?

 

[mnemosyne]

Thanks for your answers.
I'm sorry for being late but I had few problems at home that kept me away from the forum. I appreciate you contributions!


@mnemosyne : thanks for the link to phototec.de. Shipping prices are not very high. On the other hand, AG Photographic will cost 29£ for shipping to Italy and it is quite costly.
How good is the Tetenal Kit?

Hi, I don't have any experience with the Tetenal kit, sorry. There was a room temperature RA4 kit (2.5 ltr, IIRC?) in the past, which was reported to be problematic in terms of stability of the Blix, but it has been discontinued AFAIK. The Tetenal 5 ltr. kit should be fine, but the cost per litre is quite a bit more expensive than the Kodak 4x5 ltr sets.
I realize 20 ltr of chemistry is a bit overkill if you just want to play arond a bit with RA4. In that case you could buy the Rollei Digibase RA4 chemistry sold through Maco. They have a 1 litre kit for ~10 EUR which is about perfect for just giving RA4 a try. A similar, differently branded kit is available for a couple of euros more from Phototec here. I have used the Rollei chemistry for tray development in the past and it worked okay. I still use it in my RT machine now and it works fine, but there have been some intermittent supply problems with the bigger volume kits, which has been putting me off, so I will switch to the Kodak RT/LU chemistry to give it a try.
I will order from Ag Photographic, as even with the expensive shipping from England included, I get a complete set of RA4 chemicals for the price that I would pay in Gemany for the Blix kit alone.