Comparing Paper Characteristic Curves

[Carriage]

Out of interest rather than actually trying to achieve something in particular, I was to learn how to interpret the effect of different papers based on their characteristic curves and have come up with some questions. Below are three papers, adox mcc, fomaspeed Variant 3 and Ilford MGIV RC in that order.

* Why does only the ilford sheet not start at zero relative exposure?
* Looking at grade 2, is it correct in saying that the adox paper has more contrast at high densities (shadows?) and less at low densities (highlights?) compared to each other, foma paper is very linear and the ilford paper is similar to the adox but the midtones are lower contrast (compared to the shadows) too?
* Is it correct to say that the adox paper has more contrast for the same grade than the foma?
* What else is immediately apparent that matters when choosing a paper?

 

[ic-racer]

Relative Log scale is merely indicating how much distance one stop equals on the x axis (0.3 log units = 1 stop). It is not showing actual speed information.

 

[Carriage]

Yeah, but how do I reference then to each other horizontally? However I want as I choose the exposure when printing?

 

[Anon Ymous]

Yeah, but how do I reference then to each other horizontally? However I want as I choose the exposure when printing?

These contrast and speed comparisons are much easier if you check the the ISO-R range and ISO-P speed values from the datasheets. The greater the ISO-R range, the lower the contrast. The greater the ISO-P value, the greater the paper sensitivity.

 

[Photo Engineer]

The easiest and best way is to make the exposures yourself using the same light source and exposure time, and then using the same developer and development time.

PE