Identifying old paper

Name that paper!

-- Fiber VC non-warmtone
-- 11x14 in more than 50 sheet box purchased with the last 5 years.
-- Responds to Ansco 130 with rich, slightly warm image.

My temptation is to believe it's Ilford multigrade IV since I can't remember ever buying anything else in greater than 50 sheet boxes, but I've tested it against stuff that I know is Ilford and the mystery paper is both faster and gives a slightly warmer tone. So the question is, has the formulation of Ilford Multigrade changed any over the last 5 years, or could "aging" account for the difference?

Any ideas what this mystery paper could be, if not Ilford? The response of Forte Polygrade V seems too far off the mark to make it a candidate.


-Michael

It's possible your paper is Multigrade FB, and not Multigrade IV FB. It would have to be older than five years but not by a lot.

I had some Kodak polymax RC given to me. I liked the look of its seemingly warmer tone than I was getting with Ilford Multigrade but it had its downside which was that the prints were unusually flat at grade 3. I then tried to alter the grade and discovered I couldn't. The warm tone and accompanying flatness( lack of contrast ) was simply a symptom of ageing.

It maybe that FB reacts differently but if you find that the prints lack enough contrast and that you cannot improve on this by altering the contrast filters then this may well be a sign of ageing.

pentaxuser

Thanks, guys.

On a shelf I discovered a big empty box of 11x14 Multigrade IV so I'm pretty much convinced that's what I'm dealing with. It's response is really lovely so I'd hate to think I can't get similar results with new stuff. Hopefully it'll just a matter of tinkering with the chemistry.