Does Fuji make black and white paper?

Ektagraphic · Jan 21, 2012

Hi Guys-
Does Fuji offer a black and white paper in other parts of the world besides the US?...I've never seen any here in the US...I'd be very interested in it if they do.

Patrick

tomalophicon · Jan 21, 2012

Yes they do. It's extremely nice paper. They make a single weight fibre paper too.
http://www.japanexposures.com/shop/index.php?cPath=30

Ektagraphic · Jan 21, 2012

That's great! I wish though that it was a little less expensive..Maybe I'll give it a try. They should offer it in the US

Newt_on_Swings · Jan 21, 2012

I had the opportunity to try a few 25 sheet packs of 8x10 and a 50 pack of 5x7 single weight Rc papers in their various versions. Fujiburo and something else I forget a year or so back.

I actually didn't like it all that much. It was a bit slower in developing than comparable ilford papers and tones weren't as deep black as I like. Their single weight was also thinner than ilford single weight vc rc and arista papers. Not worth the extra cost IMO.

Bob Carnie · Jan 21, 2012

I tested the Rembrant years back against a lot of other offerings,,, Ilford Warmtone was my choice but Rembrant was very nice.
Fuji does not import this paper into North America, so when I bought it the customs and duties charge was horrific.

mooseontheloose · Jan 21, 2012

Fuji makes Rembrandt (FB) and Fujibro (RC) paper. The Rembrandt is graded, and the Fujibro comes in both graded and variable contrast papers. As noted above, the Fujibro is a bit thinner but I find it to be a fast paper. It dries incredibly flat. I've been using it in the past couple of postcard exchanges because it is the cheapest paper available out here in Japan (as opposed to Fuji film, which is more expensive in Japan than what I can buy in the U.S.). The graded RC (slowly and reluctantly) produces a nice sandy lith print, but the VC paper and Rembrandt do not.

As far as I know, none of these papers are sold outside of Japan.

paul_c5x4 · Jan 21, 2012

Maybe we should club together to butter up Rachelle and get her to set up an export business for the Fuji stuff we can't get over here

Sal Santamaura · Jan 21, 2012

mooseontheloose said:
...The Rembrandt is graded...

Rembrant is variable contrast, not graded. Default grade without a filter is 2. There was another version that exhibited default grade 3 without a filter; that one was discontinued just under 5 years ago. I tested both in 2006 and preferred the default-grade-2 version, so no loss as far as I'm concerned.

http://www.japanexposures.com/shop/product_info.php?currency=JPY&cPath=30&products_id=86

mooseontheloose said:
...As far as I know, none of these papers are sold outside of Japan.

paul_c5x4 said:
Maybe we should club together to butter up Rachelle and get her to set up an export business for the Fuji stuff we can't get over here

That's exactly what Dirk does with his Japan Exposures shop. He buys at retail in Tokyo and sells worldwide. The link below even prices Rembrant in £.

http://www.japanexposures.com/shop/product_info.php?currency=GBP&cPath=30&products_id=86

Michael W · Jan 21, 2012

I tried the Rembrandt single weight a few years ago. It was nothing special.

Bob Carnie · Jan 21, 2012

My recollection of Rembrant was it was a VC paper double weight. Neutral Toned.

Ian Grant · Jan 21, 2012

Does Fuji make black and white paper?

That's not a bad question, maybe, maybe not, they sell B&W paper but whether they make it themselves is not stated. It needs to be rmembered that their 1600 Neopnan and C41 B&W film were outsourced in the past and it wasn't a secret in the trade.

Ian

Bob Carnie · Jan 21, 2012

I remember I tested 8 other commercial papers that were being used at the time and the Remberant did not look exactly like any of them, so maybe Fuji does make it.

Ian Grant said:
Does Fuji make black and white paper?

That's not a bad question, maybe, maybe not, they sell B&W paper but whether they make it themselves is not stated. It needs to be rmembered that their 1600 Neopnan and C41 B&W film were outsourced in the past and it wasn't a secret in the trade.

Ian

mooseontheloose · Jan 21, 2012

You guys are right, Rembrant is labelled as Grade 2 variable contrast paper...but interestingly, the grade 3 VC paper was discontinued a few years ago. (!) In any event, I only have some experience with the Fujibro, very little with the Rembrant.

I'm a big fan of Dirk and Japan Exposures, and have bought many things from him over the years in three different countries, but the prices on that website include a 30% markup over what I would pay retail in a store like Yodobashi camera. Yodobashi also sells the paper (see this link), but it's difficult to navigate the site without Japanese and I don't imagine they ship internationally (but I haven't checked).

Sal Santamaura · Jan 21, 2012

mooseontheloose said:
..I'm a big fan of Dirk and Japan Exposures, and have bought many things from him over the years in three different countries, but the prices on that website include a 30% markup over what I would pay retail in a store like Yodobashi camera...

paul_c5x4 said:
Maybe we should club together to butter up Rachelle and get her to set up an export business for the Fuji stuff we can't get over here

So Dirk takes your order, goes out into the Tokyo retail market and buys what you want (but can't otherwise get outside of Japan), packs and then takes it to a post office for shipment to you. For this his prices are 30% higher than Yodobashi. Sounds like a great deal to me; most retailers operate on a 100% markup over their cost.

You'd better do a really fine job buttering up Rachelle if you want her to start a business that competes with Japan Exposures on smaller margins!

Sal Santamaura · Jan 21, 2012

Michael W said:
I tried the Rembrandt single weight a few years ago. It was nothing special.

Bob Carnie said:
My recollection of Rembrant was it was a VC paper double weight. Neutral Toned.

What's special is that it's a first-tier quality paper on single weight base. No other manufacturers in Fuji's league offer single weight so, if that's what you want, it's the only game in town. I'm not sure Scheoller even makes single weight baryta any more; perhaps Fuji sources the base from a Japanese supplier.

mooseontheloose · Jan 21, 2012

Sal Santamaura said:
So Dirk takes your order, goes out into the Tokyo retail market and buys what you want (but can't otherwise get outside of Japan), packs and then takes it to a post office for shipment to you. For this his prices are 30% higher than Yodobashi. Sounds like a great deal to me; most retailers operate on a 100% markup over their cost.

You'd better do a really fine job buttering up Rachelle if you want her to start a business that competes with Japan Exposures on smaller margins!

I don't know if that's what Dirk does, but he is basically providing a service to foreigners both in and out of Japan to get a hold of products that are otherwise unavailable to them. So I think the markup is reasonable and in line with purchasing other goods for the foreign market in Japan. However, I live and work in Japan, earning and spending yen, so the prices are normal to me -- but I think quite shocking in other currencies once you convert the prices over...I have no idea how long we're going to have a strong yen, but for the moment it works well for me.

I don't know if people are being serious or not, but as for being a supplier myself...besides the logistics, I don't live in a big city like Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, etc. where I can purchase these products. As it is, I stock up on chemicals and paper the few times a year I make it to Tokyo or Fukuoka or similar cities that have a Yodobashi or Bic Camera store in town.

We don't have anything like this in Kumamoto:

I know it's film, but I don't have any photos of the paper section, which is in another building. These photos were taken at the mecca of photography, Yodobashi Camera in Shinjuku, Tokyo last summer. Now it's only a single wall cooler full of film, but as little as three years ago there were at least 3 big coolers in the same location: click. The film section (now) is a little decimated but the paper section (starts at photo 16/40 with the Fuji paper) is still pretty accurate.

Ektagraphic · Jan 23, 2012

Those pictures make me drool....VERY MUCH!

Ektagraphic · Feb 2, 2015

I never ended up ordered some Fuji Paper from Japan...but has anyone else used Fuji black and white paper since I had started this thread a while back?

mooseontheloose · Feb 2, 2015

Of course I have (!)

However, this thread has reminded me that I wanted to try working with Rembrandt a bit more, so I may stock up the next time I go for a film/paper run.

tokam · Feb 3, 2015

...Yodobashi also sells the paper (see this link), but it's difficult to navigate the site without Japanese and I don't imagine they ship internationally (but I haven't checked).

Fom this link http://www.yodobashi.com/html/globaltop.html it appears that Yodobashi do ship worldwide. (To the places that count ).

Oops. Just checked. You have to deal with them via email. Still, it may work for some.

Another approach is to use a mail forwarding service for japanese sites that have English pages but don't ship overseas. One I've seen but not tried is www.tenso.com.

( I get my wife to bring things back for me or buy through her friends who then ship to me from Japan).

Sal Santamaura · Feb 3, 2015

tokam said:
Fom this link http://www.yodobashi.com/html/globaltop.html it appears that Yodobashi do ship worldwide...

mooseontheloose said:
...this thread has reminded me that I wanted to try working with Rembrandt a bit more, so I may stock up the next time I go for a film/paper run.

I exercised that Yodobashi link along with Google translate. All pages for Rembrant V contain the note "discontinued item." That's consistent with the fact that Japan Exposures has for some time listed only WP ("water protected" or RC) Fuji papers. Anything still at retail stores is probably very old stock.

My experience with the two boxes of Rembrant V here for a while (since before the default-grade-3 version was discontinued) is that they fog rather badly. I'd have low expectations if you try working with any you find on your next film/paper run.

AgX · Feb 3, 2015

Fuji themselves list the Rembrand paper as no longer available. But they still list as available two other types of graded paper.

Roger Cole · Feb 3, 2015

Newt_on_Swings said:
I had the opportunity to try a few 25 sheet packs of 8x10 and a 50 pack of 5x7 single weight Rc papers in their various versions. Fujiburo and something else I forget a year or so back.

I actually didn't like it all that much. It was a bit slower in developing than comparable ilford papers and tones weren't as deep black as I like. Their single weight was also thinner than ilford single weight vc rc and arista papers. Not worth the extra cost IMO.

I've never heard of an Ilford single weight RC. All RC I'm aware of (presumably except this Fuji stuff) is medium weight, except for the Ilford "Premium Weight" which is basically DW RC. You mean the regular Ilford RC? Well it would be thinner if it's really SW because the regular Ilford stuff is MW like most all other RC.

Newt_on_Swings · Feb 5, 2015

Roger Cole said:
I've never heard of an Ilford single weight RC. All RC I'm aware of (presumably except this Fuji stuff) is medium weight, except for the Ilford "Premium Weight" which is basically DW RC. You mean the regular Ilford RC? Well it would be thinner if it's really SW because the regular Ilford stuff is MW like most all other RC.

Yes I meant the regular ilford rc. The fuji is thin but not super thin, I would say its close but a bit thicker than the old single weight azo papers I have used. I haven't really used any papers that thin, they are just uncommon. Precoated cyanotype papers are somewhat of a thinner comparison.

It's an odd classification, as double weight really seems double the thickness of what you call medium weight. So shouldn't it be called triple weight?

Roger Cole · Feb 5, 2015

I'm old enough to have printed on plenty of single weight fiber papers back in the day. In my case, because I was a broke teenager and they were cheaper, so the difference is clear to me. I'm not sure about _relative_ thickness but I can tell you that single weight was, well, like a sheet of paper, a bit thicker than notebook paper maybe but not much, double weight was like a heavy piece of paper and RC medium weight was and is, well, in between.

Does Fuji make black and white paper?

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