Ilfospeed 0,4, & 5 discontinued?

It's not like you need it--until you really need it! And I wanted to make some tests of Grade 5 vs. Multigrade with a 5 filter. Ilford claims that both have the same contrast and approximately the same speed, MG with filters is about half to quarter Ilfospeed's sensitivity. But I wanted to run my own tests. If it's only available in 1, 2, & 3 I just don't see the point.

It sometimes feels like were all in the same boat and the sharks are circling. These sharks wear nice suits and have very expensive briefcases and every once in a while a shark will attack, dash in, take a bite, and something else is gone forever. SIGH.

What light source do you use?

Ilford only lists grades 2 and 3:

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/products/productlist.asp?n=18&t=Photographic+Papers

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/products/product.asp?n=18&t=Photographic+Papers

"Contrast grades 1, 2 and 3 are available as standard. Grades 0, 4 and 5 are being discontinued and are available whilst stocks last."

Those grades have been gone for some considerable time - https://web.archive.org/web/2007111...oducts/product.asp?n=18&t=Photographic+Papers

In fact I think they went shortly after the Harman takeover, along with 5K Galerie & G1 & G4 1K.

I'm sure they'd make more if you could guarantee they'd not have dead stock going foggy on their shelves...

LFGuy said:

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/products/product.asp?n=18&t=Photographic+Papers

"Contrast grades 1, 2 and 3 are available as standard. Grades 0, 4 and 5 are being discontinued and are available whilst stocks last."

Click to expand...

I stand corrected.

On the other hand, B&H, Adorama and Freestyle stock only grades 2 and 3. It makes one wonder if the above quote from the Ilford Photo web site is out of date.

JPJackson said:

What light source do you use?

Click to expand...

And the answer is: which enlarger? I have set ups to do many. One reason I asked about contrast grade availability, is I have an older Aristo unit for my D2 and thought graded papers would be the "bee's knees", I was going to sell that unit to a student, but will have to sell it with a condenser set up instead. I also have a D3 with a variable condenser head, a Durst with color head, another Durst with a condenser head and a D5 with a Multigrade 600 head. I also hae an old Omegasphere diffusion head that just takes up space (it still looks cool but I need to pass it on), I originally planned to restore it but gave up, when I was able to pick up the Aristo for a hundred dollars.

To get back on topic I was just planning to test th 5 paper vs, the 5 filter (and if I can snag one the old "7" filter which some Apugian said produced more contrast than the current 5). I have a densitometer and step wedge and love to play in the darkroom when it gets cold outside.

The reason I asked is because the graded filters are designed for incandescent light sources and the the cold light sources work best with the #58 green and # 47 blue filters when using VC papers.

JPJackson said:

The reason I asked is because the graded filters are designed for incandescent light sources and the the cold light sources work best with the #58 green and # 47 blue filters when using VC papers.

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I usually print with incandescent light, either a 211 lamp or the dichroic lamps on my diffusion enlargers so I know what you mean about the cold light, especially with the old lamp the contrast range tends to "bunch up". I don't like split contrast printing so probably would not choose to use the 58/47 combo. I have both Polymax and Multigrade II filter sets to use.

My intent was to design an experiment in which I could do a sensitometric comparison of MG-IV etc. using a MG-II "5" filter to both the same paper using the old MG "7" filter and Ilfospeed grade 5. As I posted earlier, since the Ilfospeed material is no longer available in any "interesting" contrast grades I'll move on and find something else to play with.

And, if I can't find anything better to do, I'll clean the darkroom and put up some shelving.

Sounds like step tablet work to me.

Happy Holidays,
J

photog_ed said:

On the other hand, B&H, Adorama and Freestyle stock only grades 2 and 3. It makes one wonder if the above quote from the Ilford Photo web site is out of date.

Click to expand...

It would appear so. The direct purchase arm of Ilford within the UK lists only 2,3 currently:
ILFOSPEED RC DELUXE
http://www.harmanexpress.com/prod/37/ILFORD-ILFOSPEED-RC-DELUXE.htm

It's quite obvious what's available and what's not: http://www.ilfordphoto.com/products/productlist.asp?n=18&t=Photographic+Papers