Foma Silver Chloride Contact Printing Paper

Joe VanCleave · Apr 23, 2007

Folks;

I was perusing the Spring 2007 issue of Freestyle Photo's catalog when I noticed, on page 9, this item:

" NEW ITEM! Fomalux 312 RC Contact Speed: A medium-weight, resin-coated, grade #2, matte surface, very slow speed, silver chloride emulsion paper characterized by a rich halftone scale. Designed primarily for contact work."

I would be interested to hear from anyone who has tried this paper, and can provide some comparisons with other silver chloride papers. This may be the only one currently in production, unless there's another silver chloride paper out there somewhere that's not stocked by Freestyle.

Ryuji · Apr 24, 2007

Fujifilm makes contact printing papers (fiber base) but they are not sold in North America.

mjs · Apr 24, 2007

I saw that not long ago when I was ordering 8x10 film. I wish they made a non-RC version.

mjs

Curt · Apr 24, 2007

RC

It couldn't be FB could it?

Fujifilm makes contact printing papers (fiber base) but they are not sold in North America.

If this is so then what's going on? Isn't the word out or loud enough that there is/was a demand for a contact printing paper to replace AZO. Maybe the Fuji paper would be a good alternative until the Lodima paper becomes available or maybe it's better, wouldn't that be a surprise? Why isn't the paper better known? More questions than answers again. Maybe an AZO type paper could be made in China, anyone think of that?

Ryuji · Apr 24, 2007

Fujifilm makes A LOT of good stuff (and it had made a HUGE amount of GOOD STUFF) but many of them are not available in North America. Some of them can be available in Europe but not very common either. Fujifilm has experience of fighting a big nonsense marketing war with another big film manufacturer in 1980s and they are also very protective of their sales/marketing channels. So if the official US importer doesn't want the product, they just make it not available in that market. So the best way is to get what you need very quietly.

The contact paper market is so small and Fujifilm may discontinue it any time.

Scott Peters · Apr 24, 2007

So, how good is it? And how do we go about 'quietly' getting some?

Ryuji · Apr 24, 2007

You could contact megapearls and ask if he would get some for you.

You could also have someone in Japan go buy some and ship or bring them for you.

I'm not in business of selling anything (besides my prints), so I'm afraid I can't help much in this regard, besides posting what I know. When I need some Japan-only Fujifilm products, I have to use one of these ways to get some for my own use as well.

The Fuji website lists 2 kinds of contact paper. One kind (warmtone) is being phased out. Another one (coldtone) remains in grade 3 but grade 2 is being phased out. By phasing out they mean they are selling the existing stock but will not make another batch.

Ryuji · Apr 24, 2007

I might have made an error earlier. Fujifilm currently sells two kinds of contact printing paper but they seem to be both resin coated. Their target market seems to be industrial uses, research labs and aerial film printing (for which they have another paper), and the product seems to be resin coated. "WP" is Fujifilm's designation for "waterproof" or resin coated paper.

patrickjames · Apr 24, 2007

Just throwing this out there.... Is it possible that this is the same emulsion as the Lodima paper, only on rc?

Patrick

chrisofwlp · Apr 24, 2007

"Just throwing this out there.... Is it possible that this is the same emulsion as the Lodima paper, only on rc?

Patrick"

Its possible But I highly doubt it. M&P havn't released their paper yet (lodima), and they are going to be the only provider of that paper. I guess it's possible they are allowing someone else to use their emulsion, but highly unlikely.

Ryuji · Apr 24, 2007

Fujifilm Tone contact paper is one of their oldest products from 1930s, although I'm sure the emulsion itself has been reformulated many times. There is no chance Fujifilm would have bought someone else's emulsion for this product.

WarEaglemtn · Apr 24, 2007

RC
Matte surface
Why even try it?

Where can we find more information on Fuji contact printing paper? How can we get some here in the USA?

Colin Graham · Apr 25, 2007

I wonder why they would make RC only?

Joe VanCleave said:
Folks;

" NEW ITEM! Fomalux 312 RC Contact Speed: A medium-weight, resin-coated, grade #2, matte surface, very slow speed, silver chloride emulsion paper characterized by a rich halftone scale. Designed primarily for contact work."

PHOTOTONE · Apr 25, 2007

Colin Graham said:
I wonder why they would make RC only?

Joe VanCleave said:

Folks;

" NEW ITEM! Fomalux 312 RC Contact Speed: A medium-weight, resin-coated, grade #2, matte surface, very slow speed, silver chloride emulsion paper characterized by a rich halftone scale. Designed primarily for contact work."

Click to expand...

Because for commercial contact printing of long roll aerial film, RC is the preferred choice?

michael9793 · Apr 25, 2007

first, if you are going to make a contact paper, why make RC. anyone that is serious about contact printing isn't going to use RC. That's like when I asked the local camera store why they don't carry FB paper they told me "no one uses FB paper anymore. Am I out of the loop to think that any professional like Smith, Chamlee, etc. would go to RC paper because it is a chloride printing paper. So why make something that most contact printers would never use. and If they have the tech. to do it why not SW FB paper and do it right? i won't waste my money on it.

c. would use RC to make there print with RC if thet

laverdure · Apr 26, 2007

I believe it's not aimed at the art market. Don't know what it's for, but not us.

chrisofwlp · Apr 26, 2007

MAS said on on the Azo forum he may be testing the next batch of Lodima today. Cross your fingers.

Thx

Brook · Apr 26, 2007

The US military use to use literally tons of Azo, at least some RC.

Ryuji · Apr 26, 2007

Much of contact printing papers is used for aerial photography, and other technical researches and industrial applications.

B&W fine art market is a VERY tiny portion of photographic industry today. I made a presentation of current market analysis at a regional APUG meeting two months ago but the market is REALLY TINY. Contact printing paper for fine art photography is a TINY portion of the tiny market.

michael9793 · Apr 30, 2007

boy that makes me feel really tiny. but lugging a 8x20 camera isn't tiny, guess it's MAS or nothing in the contact arena. unless RC isn't a problem with most.

mike

erikg · Apr 30, 2007

michael9793 said:
... guess it's MAS or nothing in the contact arena.... mike

Or you could go with POP, or Platinum, or albumen or.... I think in our era it's a good idea not to get locked into just one material. On the other hand MAS reported a postive test of his new paper, so we may be seeing that later this year.

User Removed · Apr 30, 2007

This paper is not for LARGE FORMAT conact printers, but rather just making cheap contact sheet proof's of 35mm negatives, ect. That is why it's RC, and also why it's a low-normal contrast grade only.

michael9793 · May 1, 2007

good point Ryan
mike

Joe VanCleave · May 5, 2007

Thank you, everyone, for helping to clarify the intended market audience for this product.

~Joe

DKT · May 7, 2007

joe--I'm not sure who the intended market would be now, but not so many years ago, a lot of volume printing was done in commercial labs & studios using contact printers like the ones Stouffer made. Studios used to shoot sheet film, and strip in with text with masks, and print off large volumes of catalog info as photo prints--not offset--but actual photo paper, although my experience was with color mostly. So--no it doesn't surprise me that it's made in RC. It could have been used for aerial as some suggested, or it could be for PR work, catalog etc.

btw--I print glass plates at work on an old multilamped contact printer--the kind with movable stages, switchable lamps. I used to get Oriental Portrait in RC and use that, and it was such a slow paper with nice long scale--worked really good for old nitrate negs, and glass plates. I can't get it anymore, and now use MG warmtone and I have to flash that paper to hold the highlight detail and use a harder contrast grade as well. If the Foma paper has a long scale, it might work pretty good for the plates. I need to be able to use a machine processor, so the fact that's it on RC won't bother me, nor that it's matte. If I could find a paper to match the scale of a 100-120 yr old glass plate--it would be a help. Fiber base doesn't help that much.

Foma Silver Chloride Contact Printing Paper

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