Want to Buy Ilfochrome/Cibachrome Paper and/or Chemistry

[Ben McCain]

Hello, I am assuming I am reaching high to try to obtain some of this, I know it got bought up like crazy when it went out of production. I would love to get ahold of some of this amazing paper. Not even sure what the going price for it is, but if anyone has some I'd be willing to pay for a bit. I'm not looking for any particular size, 8x10 or maybe 11x14 if available. Thanks

 

[Xmas]

It was real nice stuff all you need is colour wheel and daylight tank with print inset and it was then easier than multi grade ie VC silver bromide paper!

I did grey card shot on frame 1 of kodachromes to make it even easier.

 

[TheToadMen]

I'll check if I still have any. Should though, an unopened pack but don't know the size. I even have a new chemical kit for it.
If you PM me your email address, I'll let you know what it is.
Bert from Holland

 

[Gerald C Koch]

I have read that the keeping qualities of this paper was not good even when it was kept refrigerated or frozen.

Processing this paper requires a bleach catalyst which may be expensive or hard to find. However, I haven't tried to obtain any in years.

 

[DREW WILEY]

I don't know about keeping properties. Certain well known people invested a LOT of money in Ciba near the end in order to stockpile it in the
freezer, and are still printing with it. I haven't had a chance yet to even thaw my last box of 20X24, so guess I'll learn the truth the hard way.
But the unmixed P3 chemistry should still be perfectly fine.

 

[ndrs]

I have read that the keeping qualities of this paper was not good even when it was kept refrigerated or frozen.

This is not necessarily true. I've got very good results with Ilfochrome expired as long as 12 years ago.
However, based on my limited and ongoing experience, it seems to deteriorate quite a bit faster after the airtight envelope has been opened.
There's an intermediate state of this deteoriation when the colours can no longer be corrected but it's still good for printing B&W transparencies.

I regret I didn't boldly 'buy it up like crazy' a few years back but I still got some that will expire in 2015 and hopefully enought bleach to chew through it. Developer is Dektol and fix is Rollei neutral.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Ciba has always had a short working life once opened. There is a gradual shift in color balance as the paper ages, with increasing risk of highlight crossover as the paper gets overripe. This happens within the first six months after thawing. I carefully selected my chromes and their masking protocol for the ideal time the paper would match what I was trying to accomplish, and even used the tendency to crossover creatively, for very subtle control of highlight characteristics. It was many of the special techniques I learned. Now I'm relearning everything anew with Fuji Supergloss, which achieves a similar look but begins with a color neg, and requires very different kinds of masking options than Ciba did. Same equipment, however. But alas, when I pull out some of those very first Ciba prints I made when this product first came out, it looks like they were made yesterday. As vibrant as day one.

 

[EdSawyer]

I have at least a 25 sheet pack of 8x10 and 11x14, frozen since purchase, that sadly I'll never get around to using I'd think.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

[...]when I pull out some of those very first Ciba prints I made when this product first came out, it looks like they were made yesterday. As vibrant as day one.

This is the only thing I will agree fully with regarding Ilfochrome Classic, they do hold their emboldened visual beauty well (around 500 to 600 years with MSCF treatment), despite the pain in the arse (and unjustified high cost) of creating them. The trouble now is that people like the modern-day hybrid (A-to-D RA4) prints more than the Ilfochrome Classic prints.

I would say 6 to 8 months tops, before the material has lost its optimum condition once opened. It was never, ever frozen, but stored in large wine cooler-like cabinets at around 5°c.

 

[DREW WILEY]

I don't know about five to six hundred years, cause I haven't lived that long yet to wait and see, and obviously nobody else has either. Cibas are a bit fragile on the surface, and I know how to fade them in a matter of weeks under the high UV once typical of ordinary commercial display "projector" halogens, but I've even seen those things literally melt the acrylic paints on six-figure paintings. Controlled dark storage or mild INDIRECT sunlight is another matter. I don't know if people "like" scanned and digitally generated C prints more than Cibas. They just don't have a choice. It's either that or inkjet. Side by side by real Cibas, people seem to spark up at the sight of Cibas every time, at least if they're well done to begin with. I've now learned how to directly enlarge color negs to a comparable level of visual quality and impact, but there are often a few hoops to jump thru to do that well too. But RA4 paper keeps pretty well. Too bad the supergloss stuff is now available
only in big rolls and has to be cut in house. But so be it.

 

[alanrockwood]

Funny this topic came up. Yesterday I was looking at some of my photography supplies and found a box of cibachrome chemicals.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

You conservation frame Ilfochromes immediately after printing. No fine surface damage then. I have Ilfochrome contrast test prints people can play with: bend, crinkle, crease, stomp on, coffee mug mars...whatever you want.

Sent from my GT-I9210T using Tapatalk

 

[curtca]

I have lots of Agfa and kodak R3 papers in freezer Many of them same gloss as cibachrome

 

[Punkinhed7]

I think I have an unopened pack of 8x10 paper if you're still looking.

 

[BrianG]

If you are still looking, I have an unopened 2 liter Chemistry pack.

 

[darkroom_rookie]

To the OP - have you seen this?

ILFOCHROME

 

[Dr. no]

to the OP, I have some paper you could use...