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Ilford Post Card Paper

Stephen Frizza

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Ok I know this is a rude question for me to ask but I am curious do you guys think the APUG Post Card Exchange is a strong support to keeping Ilford post card paper alive and well? do you think the exchange makes any difference to them?

I was just in round 20 I love the Post card exchange!!!
 
Well it probably doe's not hurt,Ilford could rename it "Apug Card".
 
Stephen,

I don't use Ilford paper, so the Postcard Paper they produce is of little interest to me.
I use other brands and if I can't get my hands on postcard size at any time, I'll trim 5x7 or 8x10 to fit. Have also used old paper that I pick up every now and then - the best buy being a 100 sheet pack of Agafa Brovira Grade 2; all sheet perfect and used for several recent exchanges. Cost me AUD$2.50 - bargain!

I can't remember the last card I got specifically printed on the Ilford paper, so far the ones I've received (and seen) have been on regular stock.

Would be interesting to know who does use it regularly though - I guess it's a good seller because they're still producing it!
 
oz, I'm pretty sure you were on my list and my cards were printed on the Ilford postcard paper.
 
Well, about half of the cards I receive in the exchanges is on Ilford postcard paper, and with the exception of one exchange, I've always printed on it as well. Just figuring on some rough numbers -- let's say 50 people are in the exchange on average, and of the 50, let's say 25 use the Ilford paper. If we assume that they were all on the 'max' number of cards, sending 50 cards per exchange each, times three exchanges a year, that's 3750 cards...about 40 boxes a year (with extras for mistakes and other darkroom issues) for the APUG exchange -- although I think I'm being a bit generous. That's not exactly the kind of numbers that would keep that kind of stock in production (just an uneducated guess here!). Anywhere I've seen photographic paper being sold around the world, I've seen the Ilford postcard paper being sold as well, so it must obviously attract other kinds of users beyond this exchange.
 
I know I always get a few.

I was going to check the cards I've received in the last couple of Exchanges to get a sense of how many. As it turns out, however, that would require some disassembly.

As I receive cards, I photocopy the back, and then place post cards and photocopies in one of those old style photo albums that allow various and unusual sized prints to be placed in each page, with a clear plastic overlay holding all in the page.

It seems that when you photocopy the back of Ilford Post Cards, the Ilford and Post Card designations don't show in the photocopy.

That being said, of the 4 most recently received cards, 2 are on Ilford Post Card paper.
 
Matt, I've just checked to see what I had, as I have the current exchange on my kitchen door which is mostly made of glass and the backs are easy to see, I also have the previous exchange in print file sheets so it's easy to check the backs. All other exchanges are back home in Canada.

PC20: I currently have 32/40 cards, and of those, 15 are definitely on the postcard paper. (47%)
PC19: I have 38/50 cards and of those, 21 are on the postcard paper. (55%)

It's possible some of those numbers may be higher, as some people put stickers on the back of the card which makes it impossible to see the standard Ilford lettering on the back, and they don't often say what paper was used.
 
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Dear All,

Firstly, thanks to everyone who uses and values our postcard product, I am sure the APUG exchange does help sales of the product, its a super product, we love it and our customers love it...so it gets made simple as that....

Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited :
 
yep ilford post card paper is AWESOME!
 
I want to say about half of the ~50 cards I get each round are on Ilford Postcard paper. I've used it for the last 8 rounds. I usually print 60 cards per round, 3 times a year, so about two boxes a year. It's great stuff, especially when you have a 4x6 speed easel.
 
I have gone through about 45 boxes of Ilford Postcard paper in the last five or so years, unfortunately, when my current stock runs out, that is it for me.

Love the paper, love the stock it's coated on, but it isn't available in Australia. Any stock still around is very old and was here before Harmon became an entity. The Australian importer of Ilford film and darkroom paper, will not import it and even told me to source it from overseas. Obviously not a viable product as far as they are concerned, such is life.

I imported from Germany 1,000 sheets (10 boxes) last time I bought some. It was a bit of a hassle to get it here but I had a specific job for it, which was 32 different prints with 25 of each print.

I find that when I take pictures at a wedding (I'm not the wedding photographer) I somehow seem to end up with a fairly good neg of the bride, or family of the bride, or something like that.

This often gets turned into a postcard print, which the bridal family then posts to rellies all over the place. This has been my major use of Ilford postcard stock in the last 20 years.

I'll never again take a great picture of a groom with a Greek mother, she wanted 200 prints of him!

Mick.
 
I know that there is at least one retailer who will get it in if you ask in Australia(I won't say their name, as they are a bit sheepish about it, as they don't want to upset the distributor).

I like it quite a lot. I just wish it was easier to get more sizes of the same grade paper. When ever I do an O/S order, I always try to get at least one box of it included.
 

Why not upset the distributor, if the distributor doesn't give a rat's?
 
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