JandC Nuance Exposition Graded Paper a real winner

Donald Miller

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I have recently tested JandC Photo's Nuance Exposition Graded Paper. This paper is absolutely stunning. A real winner in several ways.

For instance this paper will produce a dmax of 2.06 untoned and 2.36 toned in KRST 1-9 for two minutes. Readings were on my calibrated Xrite 310 reflection densitometer. This is the highest dmax that I have ever observed on any paper that I have tested. The other papers that I have tested have been Oriental graded and VC, Forte Polywarmtone, Kentmere, Zone VI Brilliant (old emulsion) and both grades of Azo. (old and recent emulsion).

The paper is a neutral tone paper that shows a dmin of .04. Nice clean highlights are an earmark of this wonderful paper. The paper shows very nice separation of values throughout.

For those who are entertaining trying a new paper, I suggest giving this paper a try. In my opinion, by densitometric evaluation, this is a premium paper at a very reasonable price.

The only problem that I see is that I will need to reprint my current portfolio on this paper. Guess that I had better get to work.
 

David A. Goldfarb

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I think this is the paper I've been talking up for a few years now--formerly known as J&C Exposition, formerly Maco/Cachet Expo RF, also Efke Emaks graded. It's an excellent paper and has become my standard enlarging paper.

It responds very nicely to amidol as well, which should give you even higher Dmax plus the option of water bath control. I use Michael Smith's amidol formula for enlarging papers with it. I know Steve Anchell used to use it with amidol as well when it was sold under the Cachet label, but I'm not sure what formula.
 

vet173

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I've been thinking about trying thia paper. If you have what you want with normal contrast in 8x10 would you need to go to the hard if you went up to 20x24?
 

Jeremy

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And of course this paper is sold out right now
 

jovo

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Donald Miller said:
I have recently tested JandC Photo's Nuance Exposition Graded Paper. This paper is absolutely stunning. A real winner in several ways.
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Click to expand...

Thanks for the review. I haven't used graded paper since the 70's when Kodabromide was commonplace, but for negatives that would work well on a single grade paper, this sounds excellent.

BTW, Donald, are you the Donald Miller who wrote for Photovision? I just came across a copy I had on a long neglected shelf and found a masking article by one Donald Miller (which included a middle initial I can't recall). It was a damn good article and an excellent image used for illustration as well.
 

noseoil

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Donald, was this with the "normal" grade, not the "hard"? Did you have a chance to test the both grades yet? tim
 
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Donald Miller

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John,

Yes I wrote for Photovision when it was published. Thanks for your kind words.
 

David A. Goldfarb

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The Soft, Normal, and Hard grades correspond to grades 2, 3, and 4 under the older designations. John said that it was felt that the old grade 3 was somewhere between 2 and 3 for other graded papers, so they decided to change the grading system. I've used all three, and most of my negs are targeted to print on the old grade 2, but some look better on the old grade 3 which is the new "normal." I've printed very few on grade 4/Hard.
 
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Donald Miller

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noseoil said:
Donald, was this with the "normal" grade, not the "hard"? Did you have a chance to test the both grades yet? tim
Click to expand...


Tim,

I tested both the normal and the hard grade of this paper. Both exhibited the same qualities. The only difference was in the curve shape because of the higher contrast in the hard material.
 
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Donald Miller

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vet173 said:
I've been thinking about trying thia paper. If you have what you want with normal contrast in 8x10 would you need to go to the hard if you went up to 20x24?
Click to expand...

Gosh that is a tough question to answer. I am not sure that I can answer it definitively. So much depends on the actual image and the presentation that you want to give the image. Normally one increase paper contrast for that much of a size increase. Sorry that I could not be more help.
 
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Donald Miller

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Jeremy Moore said:
And of course this paper is sold out right now
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Jeremy,

I spoke with John over the weekend and he said they would be bringing a lot of this paper in during the next few months. I bought some yesterday. I am not sure what size you are looking for, however.
 

JHannon

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Thanks for the information Donald. I would like to try it. They seem to only stock 8X10 in normal grade only. Too bad it is not available in 25 sheet packs so I can try each grade.

I will order the normal grade when it is in stock.

Thanks again,
John
 

Mark Layne

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How does it handle photos which require delicate separation of cloud details?
Mark
 
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Donald Miller

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Mark Layne said:
How does it handle photos which require delicate separation of cloud details?
Mark
Click to expand...

Since I have not printed a negative with cloud details on this paper, I can not answer your question specifically. On the photographs that I printed, I was pleased with the high value separation. I will say that most of the time when high values are problematic in a print the negative is problematic...either over exposed or over developed.
 
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Donald Miller

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colivet said:
Do you need an enlarger to print on it?
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It is a paper that can be enlarged...It can certainly be contact printed as well. It is a faster paper then a paper like Azo but with a low wattage lamp contact printing should be no problem.
 

David A. Goldfarb

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I've contact printed on it, and it's fine for that purpose, compared to other enlarging papers.

Regarding highlight detail, I compared grade 2/Soft to grade 2 Gallerie, MGIV FB, Oriental, Forte Elegance, and I thought this paper held highlight detail without losing the shadows best of any of them, though Oriental was a close second. The Forte was too green for my taste. Gallerie had the brightest base.
 

colivet

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Donald Miller said:
It is a paper that can be enlarged...It can certainly be contact printed as well. It is a faster paper then a paper like Azo but with a low wattage lamp contact printing should be no problem.
Click to expand...

Sounds interesting. I'll should give it a try with a low wattage bulb like maybe a 25w bug light or something similar.

Dou you think it will be good on Micahel's amidol formula or Agfa neutol WA?
 

Mark Layne

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This came up for me on the weekend. I made a proof print on Multigrade RC and to date I have not been able to bring out the cloud details as well on any of the FB papers I have tried so far. Don't get me wrong I detest RC paper in general but Multigrade RC does seem to have the ability to show what's in the negative.
Mark
 
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Donald Miller

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Mark,

If the exposure scale of the paper matches the density range of the camera negative then the negative information will be shown. That is always the case. Beyond that, the gradient of the curve of the paper would be a consideration in separation of values. The gradient of the curve in paper is a condition of the particular papers contrast, the developer used, and the light source employed to expose the paper. It is for this reason that there are subtle and sometimes not so subtle differences in paper.

Graded papers by and large, in my experience, have a richness and depth that variable contrast papers do not possess. This is not to say that there aren't good variable contrast papers sold.

Graded papers do not offer the flexibiility that variable contrast materials offer. However, using certain processing methods, enables one to offset the flexibility issues to large extent. I do believe that their use requires me to be more cognizant of negative exposure and development precision.

Good luck.
 
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mmcclellan

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Isn't the J&C Adox paper the same as Efke Emaks? He said in another post it was, so what's the difference between the Adox and the Nuance?

Emaks is awesome paper -- anything that relabeled from that is first class paper!
 

Silverpixels5

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The J&C Exposition paper is the same as the EMAKS. Unless something has changed the nuance is the same as well.
 

mmcclellan

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Silverpixels5 said:
The J&C Exposition paper is the same as the EMAKS. Unless something has changed the nuance is the same as well.
Click to expand...

According to the J&C website, Adox is made on a "vertical coating machine," but nothing is said about that for the Nuance. Adox, John said in another post, is Emaks, so is the Nuance also Emaks made on a vertical coating machine? Or another variation of Emaks or Efke?

John?

Either way, I'm sure they're great papers if John sells them!
 
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