favorite paper for paper negatives (4x5)

[eli griggs]

I want to try paper negatives in my beater Speed Graphic with a 135mm Jena lens wide open (no aperture blades ) and the Graphics' focal shutter (no working lens shutter ) and I'm curious as to other folks preferences in both new and old paper stock.

I've read about 20 or so threads on paper negs and most recommend an asa of about 6-10 and suggest that VC papers are not good choices for this work; what is your experience with this material?

Which do you like better, oil or bees wax for the paper?

Cheers

 

[geoferrell]

I got some from Ultrafineonline I think that was RC paper in an 8x10 box and was evidently cut into four groups. It does fairly well, but at times there are problems with the film holder. I managed to get some of the old wooden film holders that held glass plates and they did somewhat better. Its much easier to process enlarging paper than film. I also noticed there may be some new positive papers available thru Freestyle at www.freestyle.biz/ I think. I've got some images posted on Rangefinderforum.com under george1956 that were from enlarging paper in a Speed Graphic.

 

[Joe VanCleave]

I like grade 2 RC paper for negatives; my preference being Freestyle's Arista brand; it's good quality and the price is right.

The graded paper has less contrast issues than do multigrade in daylight, due to the blue/UV sensitivity of the high-contrast portion of multigrade's emulsion. The unique thing about graded paper negatives is that, unlike any other sheet film, you can gain control of the negative contrast by the choice of paper grade, rather than just one's development method.

I rate Arista grade 2 at an exposure index of "2" for my purposes. But keep in mind that I also use a solution of partially exhausted paper developer (Agfa's Neutol WA), mixed more dilute than for normal printing purposes. So I intentionally develop these negatives slowly -- typical times being 3-4 minutes -- and pull the negative when the highlights have sufficient detail without the shadows blocking up.

For printing I find contact printing directly to a fine art paper to be sufficient in quality without having to wax or peel apart the paper negative. I use a condensor enlarger as a light source for contact printing; I'm not certain if the collimated light of the condensor head has anything to do with the sharpness of my contact prints, but they're sufficient for my purposes. The paper backing of the negative acts somewhat like a diffused light source.

I also have much less dust issues with my final contact prints, since dust on the backside of the paper negative just doesn't show up on the front side.

~Joe

PS: I forgot to mention that I often "preflash" my paper negatives, prior to the in-camera exposure. This I do in the darkroom, using a dim light source dedicated to that purpose. It's a 7.5 watt, 120vac, standard base lamp (type S11) in a metal soup can housing with a ~3mm hole in the bottom, suspended 30" above the work surface; typical preflash times are 8-10 seconds, enough to render a faint, light gray tone on an otherwise unexposed but developed sheet of paper. This has the effect of improving shadow detail (hence further controlling contrast) without blocking up the highlights. I had earlier tried using my enlarger for this purpose, but even at F/32 and the head all the way up, exposure times were too short -- 1 or 2 seconds -- to be accurately timed.

PPS: I've done some work with the Efke direct positive paper. I'll post a link soon to F295 where the results are posted.

 

[Silverhead]

Slavich UniBrom 160 single-weight FB is thin enough to be pretty ideal for creating paper negatives, and it comes in grades 2,3 & 4. You can also create in-camera positives with Efke's Positive paper, in both FB and RC. Both are available at Freestyle.

 

[Schlapp]

I have some old ORWO very thin g2 paper that I like for paper negs. Otherwise us Kentmere VC and pre-flash as has been mentioned before.

 

[removed account4]

i like using vc paper, fiber base.
i have also grown fond of grade 1 agfa ..

all the papers i use are old and sort of fogged
and i don't photograph really contrasy scenes.

good luck!

john

 

[eli griggs]

Thanks for the feedback and Joe, thanks for the rundown on your pre-exposure device.

I happen to have a funky dual-timer, multi-outlet device built by an old-time photographer who devised and built many items for his studio and it has what I believe is a control that dials in whatever voltage you want for a light source. I haven't tried it yet, but it may allow me to get a good pre-exposure that is repeatable.

I really should post a some pics of this thing, it's a monster set-up when compared with even a Gralab black box but rather interesting and capable of handling several enlargers at once with capacity to spare.

As far as paper stock, I have several packs of graded papers in new Oriental FB and old Ilford Galerie plus various VC fiber and RC papers, some of it very old so that stuff that isn't too badly fogged will keep me busy for awhile.

The Efke positive papers sound interesting as well, Freestyle has it in 4x5 single weight FB. Whatever paper I use, I suppose I'll bracket like heck on overcast days and see what gives good results.

My normal paper developer is Ansco 130 so I'm use to long tray times. I can compound several other developers as needed and I happen to have an unopened bottle of Agfa's Neutol WA but I've never used it before.

As far as enlarging, I have a both a 'normal' and a two-sided glass 4x5 holder for my large format machine but the light source is an Omegalite circle-light fluorescent cold head; does anyone have an idea of what kind of performance I can expect in the way of enlarging time?

Cheers