Inquiry About ORWO Fotoleinen Data Sheet and Processing Information

Hi, I recently acquired a box of ORWO Fotoleinen FL (5m x 26cm) photographic paper, and I am looking for detailed information regarding its development and processing.





Specifically, I would like to know the recommended:


1. Developer type and time


2. Stop bath time and dilution


3. Fixer type and time


4. Contrast characteristics and adjustments





As this product appears to be vintage, I understand it might require specific handling or chemicals to achieve optimal results. If you have a data sheet or any relevant documentation, I would greatly appreciate it if you could share it with me.

Welcome to Photrio, @Hans37!

Hans37 said:

Specifically, I would like to know the recommended:


1. Developer type and time


2. Stop bath time and dilution


3. Fixer type and time


4. Contrast characteristics and adjustments

Click to expand...

Google suggests ORWO Fotoleinen is/was a linen/canvas substrate with a silver halide emulsion. I assume it was a fixed grade material.
Stop bath and fixer won't be particularly critical, but if you notice that the emulsion is very sensitive / easily damaged, you may consider using a hardening fixer. However, I'd start by trying a non-hardening fixer also with an eye on washing the prints. I'd use a rapid fixer in any case; there's no clear need to resort to old-fashioned 'plain hypo' / sodium thiosulfate fixer.

As to developer - take your pick. Pretty much any paper/print developer would do fine. I'd start with something like ADOX Neutol. Follow the dilution and development times for fiber-based paper. You could try adding some benzotriazole solution if you find that there's some fog. If there's a lot of fog, either learn to live with it, or use the material for lith printing instead of regular development.

In terms of contrast control, it'll work best to tailor the negative to the inherent contrast of the print material, and burning & dodging. More marginal adjustments can be made by varying exposure and development time, using two-bath development approaches and selective bleaching after processing is complete. Basically, you can use any trick in the book; many books about darkroom printing have been written with an eye to fixed-grade FB papers, and that's pretty close to what you've got.

The main advice I can give you, though, is to take everything with a very big grain of salt, and just experiment - you've got plenty of the material anyway. This is an arcane material to begin with, it's pretty old to boot, and getting it to work optimally for your specific purpose is a matter of getting started and then seeing where the journey of experimentation leads you. It'll be interesting to see what you get; if you can, please post back your results.

From the ORWO catalog. In the recipe book in instruction 2361 only commercial packaging is listed.
I have official ORWO recipes for paper, but they are not listed in this instruction...

As I understand, Orwo N 113 should be Calbe N113 which should be the same as ADOX Konstant (see here), and ADOX still sells an Adotol Konstant II product. https://www.fotoimpex.com/chemistry...-capacity-paper-developer-to-mix-1000-ml.html Its MSDS lists hydroquinone and I assume phenidone is also present.
IDK about Orwo N 120.
Orwo M-H-28 / Calbe MH28 is apparently a metol-hydroquinone developer (https://www.photo.net/forums/topic/42944-website-from-calbe-fotochemie-online/)
IDK about Orwo E-102 a.k.a. Calbe Uniprint, but it seems yet another general purpose developer used for film or paper.

I interpret this as "use whatever reasonably vigorous developer you happen to have".