Forte Paper - still good?

[don sigl]

I have been using Forte Fotezo and PWT for about 11 years now. Just some comments on the what I'm reading in this thread: The staining to the paper base is assuredly caused by improper washing before tonng in selenium. You realy need to get the fix out before you pour any selenium on this paper.
The paper tones incredibly well. I think it is its best feature. But selenium would not be my choice. This paper really comes alive in Nelsons Gold Toner. A short (1 minute) dunk in Nelsons will deepen the blacks and remove any green cast. The longer its in the Nelsons, the warmer it gets (Both PMT and Fortezo). A 5-6 minute soak in Nelsons will move the tones to a rich brown black. No hint of yellow.
I develop this paper in Asco 130 and Ansco 135. The 135 will provide a little warmer print with no green cast.
If I had to register any complaint about this paper it would be the packageing, (the worst of any paper on the market) The boxes are so flimsy, resealing a box once opened is pretty much hopleless. The packaging is just terrible. More recently, I think the pricing is really getting out of hand. I'm in Raleigh, NC and if I want to buy it local (And I never do), I need to willing to shell out $93 for a 50 sheet box of 11x14 PWT. I buy both the Fortezo and PWT at various places in NY and CA.

 

[Ryuji]

I always go directly from the fix into the selenium toner without washing.

I understand that this was a recommendation made by well known photographer(s) but I don't think it's a very good idea. You may get unpredictable stain due to some silver dissolved in the fixer solution. This silver can react with selenium or other toner in the gelatin layer. All it takes is a quick rinse, a matter of seconds (RC) or minutes (FB).

I used TF-4 and now use Ryuji Suzuki's Neutral Fix with equal success.

Alkaline fix can also reduce the possible cause of staining.

Also, an improved version of my neutral rapid fixer is now available from Digitaltruth. It's called Clearfix Alkaline. One main difference is that Clearfix uses a better buffering agent so that it doesn't get acidified easily even if acid stop bath is used.

Back to the original issue, I don't know about new batches of Forte Polywarmtone. However, I can say that the aging stage for b&w paper emulsion is usually not a requirement before dispatching. (Some color films in old days used this technique to adjust the color balance between batches.)

Greenish tint of warmtone paper is a common problem. If you want warmtone results without green, you should use *real* warmtone developers that require 5-10 minutes to develop. AGFA 120, etc. Warmtone developers that use Metol or Phenidone are only semi-warm and they are more likely to go green. Another approach is to use a standard or coldtone developer and tone the print in polysulfide toner.

I use Fortezo for real warm images, and I bought a pile of Agfa Multicontrast before it went away...