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FOMA VARIANT 123

Angelo di Mango

Member
Allowing Ads
Joined
Jan 21, 2008
Messages
78
Location
BOURGOIN-JALLIEU, France
Format
Medium Format
I see a lot of american printers using Foma Variant 123. But I cannot spot it here in Europe, we have FOMA 131,132,111,112,or 532 and 542 ( i mean fiber paper of course) . Is it a different paper or just a different name?
 
Very hard to find in Europe. I have tried all the places I know and they don't have it. I have heard that silverprint.co.uk plan to bring it in very shortly but not sure if this is true or not.... It does look like a nice paper...
 
It is truly GREAT paper.... It's speed, surface, behavior, and toning characteristics are so close to the old Agfa MCC118 FB paper, it's uncanny. While FOMA says other papers in there line up is similar to MCC118, I've only tried the 123 Variant side by side to MCC118 ( as I still have 150 sheets!), and can say they are interchangable! If there is a difference, I would say it would be that the longer in the selenium toner they sit, MCC118 would go a slightly more purple shade than 123 Variant. I rarely tone for that long so pull them prior to that change. For sepia-selenium split toning, they are almost identical.

If Silverprint can get it, I think they'd have a winner.
 
Foma paper coding

In case someone is wondering, the following text is taken from Foma's documentation:

Coding of FOMA photographic papers
Numerical code with three digits

1st digit = base type
1 – double-weight
2 – single-weight
3 – resin-coated(RC)
4 – resin-coated(RC) (110g per sq.m)
5 – natural

2nd digit = base whiteness
1 – extra white
2 – white
3 – cream-coloured
4 – chamois

3rd digit = surface type
1 – glossy
2 – matte
3 – velvet
4 – lustre
5 – pyramid grain
 
Fomabrom Variant In Stock at Silverprint


The Fomabrom Variant 123 has just come in, sizes 9.5x12", 10 & 50, 12x16" 10 & 50, 16x20" 10's, 20x24" 10's, on the website now.

Lith people please note, Tim Rudman's recommending this as one of his front runners!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Martin Reed said:
The Fomabrom Variant 123 has just come in, sizes 9.5x12", 10 & 50, 12x16" 10 & 50, 16x20" 10's, 20x24" 10's, on the website now.

Lith people please note, Tim Rudman's recommending this as one of his front runners!
Click to expand...

This is GREAT news Martin! Thanks for stocking it. I'll put the news out in my newsletter. I'm sure many printers will want it.
Tim
 
I was just going to ask a question about this paper. I got it at Freestyle recently.

Lith: Has anyone experience with it in lith printing? Can anyone tell me what tones develop with this paper in lith?

Is there a place online that has up to date recommendations for lith papers and developers? (I have one of T Rudman's books and the other is on the way but I didn't see Variant IV 123 there.)

Surface: I don't really like the surface itself. I wanted something much more matt, akin to Ilford MGIV matt. The 123 reminds me of Kentmere fineprint which also does not look good to me with my work. I want either a nice glossy -- like MCC -- or a matt like MGIV (not warmtone). I would gladly trade the K Fineprint and 123 for an MCC glossy or MGIV matt or comparable.
 
Thanks everybody. I got some from ag-photographic and I can say that it does lith beautifully, the tones are very different from the 131 , it needs a longer development ( as far as i have experienced..) but the colours are perhaps more subtle.
 
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