Kodak paper lamentation....

Kodak is not going to make another paper run of B&W paper.

They are running color on a regular basis.

PE

As good as some of it may have been we have an abundance of excellent B&W papers today. Ilford MGWT is quite possibly the best paper I've ever used and MGIV and Adox MCC 110 are also excellent. Even with Efke gone we are not lacking for good paper. Hope Kodak survives for their C41 films.

Roger Cole said:

As good as some of it may have been we have an abundance of excellent B&W papers today. Ilford MGWT is quite possibly the best paper I've ever used and MGIV and Adox MCC 110 are also excellent. Even with Efke gone we are not lacking for good paper. Hope Kodak survives for their C41 films.

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Roger,
I think Guillaume is asking because many of the modern papers don't work well for his process and vision. If you check out the gallery postings of chromoskedasic work he's been sharing, you'll find a fair bit of expired Kodak papers mentioned, like Opal.

Guillaume,

Do you have any interest in making your own paper for lith printing? I can be done. Of course, I don't know if it's worth it to you. Very reasonably, not everything is worth going 10 extra miles. fwiw, I'd get out of handmade silver gelatin if staying in required I make my own gelatin! Fortunately, making paper is very easy.
d

Thomas Bertilsson said:

Roger,
I think Guillaume is asking because many of the modern papers don't work well for his process and vision. If you check out the gallery postings of chromoskedasic work he's been sharing, you'll find a fair bit of expired Kodak papers mentioned, like Opal.

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Ah, got it. Thanks.

Roger, modern papers do work, they are fine and I'm very happy that they are there ! Don't get me wrong.
For example the new Oriental warm tone is just amazing.

As Thomas said, I get an extra edge sometime with these old papers.
But what annoyed me is the feeling I had missed the train.
I never considered Kodak papers when they were produced because they were almost non existent at the time in France.
And when I came to the US I stayed on that course. Unfortunately.
Ektalure and Opal were unique. Period. I wish I knew !

Denise, I am just too messy to do my own. You would be scared in my darkroom, it's just all over

Happy holiday everybody.

I understand Guillaueme. My reply was really directed toward the other poster who asked if we might see small runs of black and white paper again from Kodak. I was saying that it was too much to hope for and we should just hope we continue to have current Kodak materials, mainly their color film (I can live without and have good substitutes for everything else, but NOT for Portra or Ektar.)

The strange thing about this is that AFAIK, Kodak manufactured B&W papers in England and France, right beside the color paper made there until the end in France. Those papers should have been available throughout Europe.

As for making B&W papers in the home lab, I have been able to approximate Kodabromide, but the others such as Opal and Medalist to name 2, require rather elaborate methods to make. I'm not sure I can do it.

Making and coating are not difficult, just a bit time consuming. Once a batch is made, you can coat 20 or so 8x10 sheets in one evening. That is enough for a number of good prints.

PE