Contact Sheets, what cheap paper to use ? B&W

[lhalcong]

I print contact sheets basically just for my reference. 8x10 . I dont care about quality when it comes to contact sheets. Doing this on Ilford paper adds up and it hurts.
What do you guys use ?. I found a pack of Oriental 20 sheets in B&H to be cheapest.

thanks for ideas.

 

[Rick A]

I generally make proofs on the same paper I print most of my work on. Lately it's Ilford MG IV RC, I found theres little difference between that and FB for final prints.

 

[Mark_S]

I mostly do my contacts on Ilford RC, at low contrast. The paper is less than $1 per sheet, so I don't consider it to be excessively expensive. Unless a print is massively over/under exposed, I always use the same combination of lens, enlarger ht, contrast, time and aperture so it is rare that I don't get a usable contact on the first exposure - since I shoot 4x5, I get four contacts per sheet.

 

[greybeard]

The Arista Edu RC paper from Freestyle has pretty good tonality, responds to Ilford contrast filters quite well, and can be about the least expensive stuff around. It is physically more fragile than Ilford, which I don't mind for contact sheets.

But prices fluctuate, and you have to compare on the basis of delivery to your door (shipping and possibly sales tax). A few minutes on B&H, Adorama, and Freestyle will give you the current price structure. Many, but not all, items at B&H ship free, and I've never quite figured out what dictates this.