Hi all,
after the Imago Positive Paper I have profiled the Harman Direct Positive Paper. The two papers are quite different and not just because one (Imago) is resin-coated (actually, something called Melinex that was used in the old ilfochrome) and the latter fiber-based.
The Imago is easy to use: the emulsion is quite robust, quick to wash and dry, one gets a totally flat sheet with no special effort. When developed following the instructions, the Imago delivers a relatively mild contrast (that is, for a positive paper) and blacks that are ok but not spectacular (but one does to need incredibly deep blacks all the time, it depends on subject and interpretation anyway). And, anyway, high temperature development does deliver superb blacks. They are just not available out of the box.
When developed following the instructions, the Harman delivers deep blacks right out of the box. Its emulsion is more delicate, wash and dry ... it's a baryta, right?
Its contrast is more aggressive than that of the Imago and requires more effort to be tamed (but can be done).
Both papers have pro's and con's -- in some sense they are complementary to each other.
If you like videos and the sound of spoken Italian you can watch these two on the profiling of the Harman (Part One and Part Two):
If you prefer to read instead and Italian is really not your cup of tea
you can download a paper on the profiling of the Harman that contains the same identical contents of the two videos. Here's the link:
https://www.marcoannaratone.photography/Tests-(PDFs)/thumbs
As done with the Imago before, one can download all the measures and the scans of the test prints; instructions to do that are included in the description of the video (Part Two) and in the paper.
Cheers
after the Imago Positive Paper I have profiled the Harman Direct Positive Paper. The two papers are quite different and not just because one (Imago) is resin-coated (actually, something called Melinex that was used in the old ilfochrome) and the latter fiber-based.
The Imago is easy to use: the emulsion is quite robust, quick to wash and dry, one gets a totally flat sheet with no special effort. When developed following the instructions, the Imago delivers a relatively mild contrast (that is, for a positive paper) and blacks that are ok but not spectacular (but one does to need incredibly deep blacks all the time, it depends on subject and interpretation anyway). And, anyway, high temperature development does deliver superb blacks. They are just not available out of the box.
When developed following the instructions, the Harman delivers deep blacks right out of the box. Its emulsion is more delicate, wash and dry ... it's a baryta, right?
Its contrast is more aggressive than that of the Imago and requires more effort to be tamed (but can be done).Both papers have pro's and con's -- in some sense they are complementary to each other.
If you like videos and the sound of spoken Italian you can watch these two on the profiling of the Harman (Part One and Part Two):
If you prefer to read instead and Italian is really not your cup of tea
you can download a paper on the profiling of the Harman that contains the same identical contents of the two videos. Here's the link:https://www.marcoannaratone.photography/Tests-(PDFs)/thumbs
As done with the Imago before, one can download all the measures and the scans of the test prints; instructions to do that are included in the description of the video (Part Two) and in the paper.
Cheers
