Ilford Galerie G3

Richard Jepsen · Dec 4, 2023

I did not see this paper available on Ilford‘s site. I found one post mentioning the paper is no longer manufactured.

Can anyone confirm Galerie is gone? If so its a shame.

Lachlan Young · Dec 4, 2023

Insufficient demand killed it, simple as that. About the only thing it had going for it over regular multigrade papers was the slightly different level of gloss.

Last batch was about 18 months ago.

I'd imagine that if you went to Ilford with enough money, they'd happily make a run of it.

Richard Jepsen · Dec 5, 2023

ilford Classic is a close match except Galerie had a nicer gloss/finish while printing zone 4-5 a bit darker than Classic. Hence, with some negs it may appear richer in tonality. Surprised there were so few comments.

Galerie was the answer to declining paper quality in the early 80s with David Vestal leading the effort for providers to step up and offer their best effort.

Lachlan Young · Dec 5, 2023

Richard Jepsen said:
Surprised there were so few comments.

I think you can see why it was discontinued.

And for fixed grade papers, I think Fomabrom N & C have better tonal responses for what I want than I found Galerie to have. I like the Fomabrom Retro too, but that may be outside of your remit for base colour etc - it tones/ ferricyanides beautifully.

The best slightly glossy Ilford surface currently (I normally prefer semi-matte/ matte) I've found is the semi-gloss they do for the Bergger CB Style warmtone.

Sal Santamaura · Dec 5, 2023

Lachlan Young said:
...The best slightly glossy Ilford surface currently (I normally prefer semi-matte/ matte) I've found is the semi-gloss they do for the Bergger CB Style warmtone.

Or perhaps did; it's been out of stock, like many "Bergger" products, for a long time now. Would that HARMAN offered one of its own papers, like Multigrade Classic Fiber, with that semi-glossy surface.

Lachlan Young · Dec 5, 2023

Sal Santamaura said:
Or perhaps did; it's been out of stock, like many "Bergger" products, for a long time now. Would that HARMAN offered one of its own papers, like Multigrade Classic Fiber, with that semi-glossy surface.

More likely a problem with the US importer - it's available from the UK importer & Bergger themselves. The films are a different situation because of the Inoviscoat restructuring.

Bill Burk · Dec 5, 2023

I plan to use Ilford Multigrade FB Classic Paper when Galerie runs out.

Unless someone knows a better paper to switch to.

GregY · Dec 5, 2023

Bill Burk said:
I plan to use Ilford Multigrade FB Classic Paper when Galerie runs out.

Unless someone knows a better paper to switch to.

I've used a bunch of both & Ilford Classic is my everyday paper.....but it's not the gem that Galerie was. I have a number of prints on Galerie & I'd buy more even though my two enlargers are VC, or colourhead. It's another fine paper that's bitten the dust.

Craig · Dec 5, 2023

I recall Simon Galley saying a decade ago that the economics of keeping it in production were not really there, but he liked it so they kept on making it!

eli griggs · Dec 6, 2023

This paper and Oriental FB were my favorites and while I've become more accustom to Ilford RC papers, etc. I still feel the #3 FB Galerie was a perfect paper for my negatives.

Richard Jepsen · Dec 6, 2023

Its disheartening so many papers have gone. Polywarmtone was a favorite and than EMAKS. I also used Oriental WT which may have been a knockoff of Poly.

I’m thankful Ilford continues to produce quality papers and migrated to mostly using their WT. I bought some G3 in 2019 to only use where it sang and not as a base paper. That paper still prints well and wish the VC papers in Ilford‘s lineup stored as well.

Galerie‘s finish was really nice. Classic is nice but its a bit shinny and faster than I wish for my small print size.

Keith Tapscott. · Dec 25, 2023

Richard Jepsen said:
Its disheartening so many papers have gone. Polywarmtone was a favorite.

At least Adox are selling Polywarmtone as a liquid emulsion if you are okay with coating your own papers.

It's sad to see Galerie go.

DREW WILEY · Dec 25, 2023

Galerie was unique in having only minor drydown shift, and in remaining neutral black when selenium toned, yet with the density enhanced. It had been around a long time; and I last used Gr3 maybe 6 yrs ago, when it was already quite
difficult to acquire.

Compared to their MGIV FB, Galerie Graded really was a premium paper. But I actually got better results from Harman Fineprint VC FB (now gone too), as well as from present MG Cooltone and certainly MGWT. I'm not quite as much a fan of Classic, but have certainly gotten good results with it. So even if Galerie was still around, I probably wouldn't have any reason to buy it.

I began using Galerie long ago, but never did adopt it to the extent I did the original Oriental Seagull G paper or Brilliant Bromide, or even Agfa Portriga. Ansel Adams was addicted to Galerie, though I didn't care for the slightly greenish cast his parallel addiction to Dektol lent it.

Keith Tapscott. · Dec 26, 2023

Maybe if Ilford were to offer a paper with the warmtone emulsion coated onto the same paper base used for Galerie, would enough people buy it?

Sal Santamaura · Dec 26, 2023

Keith Tapscott. said:
Maybe if Ilford were to offer a paper with the warmtone emulsion coated onto the same paper base used for Galerie, would enough people buy it?

Galerie and all the other Ilford fiber papers are on the same base. From Schoeller. The difference in surfaces between them result entirely from their top coat layers. It can be whatever Ilford wants it to be. Thus, when coating a semi-glossy version of Bergger, which is very similar to the surface of Galerie, Ilford is perfectly capable of providing an elegant finish. Unfortunately, that Bergger paper is has not only a warm image tone, its paper "white" is (apparently) dyed to be off white. And the market seems to demand that glossy surfaces are varying degrees of garishly shiny. The later batches of ADOX MCC 110 were like that too. When questioned why, Mirko replied that I was the only person who asked him to make it with less surface shine.

DREW WILEY · Dec 26, 2023

My gosh, Keith, here at least, boxes of 16X20 Ilford FB paper skyrocketed over a hundred dollars more per box this past year. Ouch! How many people are going to be willing to pay distinctly more than even that to hypothetically revive a lost kind of paper? These things have to be done on industrial scale. They've already got a superb warm based paper.

Keith Tapscott. · Dec 26, 2023

DREW WILEY said:
They've already got a superb warm based paper.

Very true, but I know some people who wish that the colour of the paper base was a little bit brighter. I don't insist upon it though.

DREW WILEY · Dec 26, 2023

It's deliberately a cream base. Foma is said to have a warm/neutral VC paper with a bright white base, which I'm eager to try. I work with both cold and warm papers, as well as "neutral" ones sometimes, which can be tweaked either way. I did a number of MGWT prints last week, one image being a redo after the MG Cooltone version. Different personalities.

Bergger VC Neutral Tone is an excellent product on a white base made by Harman, but not available at the moment.

Ilford Galerie G3

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