Long Rolls of B&W Photo Paper?

These long rolls of B&W photo paper pop up every now and then on fleabay, in various sizes from 4" to 8" in width, to whatever length.

Is it worth it to buy a roll and cut them down yourself? I tried searching for info but I haven't found anything.

I would guess the drawbacks would be very short exposure times and tedious work cutting to size. and maybe bad curling?

But advantages would be that its cheap, you could probably do some wall length photomontage contact prints, or body length photograms, by just laying it down on a table and turning on the room light.

Has anyone had any experience? What do you think?:confused:

I've been thinking that myself since I bought this 'new' camera (1912 Ansco folding camera). I'm glad you brought up the question.

When I was teaching photography in the 70's, we came upon a roll 7-8 inches wide. We decided, as an exercise, to start the roll under the enlarger, and move it along the counter till we got to the developer, exposing a new neg (full frame) each time we shifted the paper (the negs were preselected for similarity and subject theme). The darkroom was about 6ft x 10ft, with the trays across the short dimension from the enlarger, so the paper snaked along the intermediate counter, taking two right corner turns to get to the developer tray. By the time the first image was ready for the stop, we found out how important the timing was. We washed it manually in a bucket of running water and later mounted it in the lobby. There were 4 of us, and we switched places during the process just to mix things up. Great fun!!

Cutting roll stock

I have cut 8- and 11-inch roll stock down in the past, when working in a lab. I used a print cutter which I moved into the darkroom for just that purpose.

Most times it was with B&W paper, handled under a safelight. With colour stock, it's more difficult in total darkness. Also, the closer the stock is to the core, the more curl it will exhibit.

Trying to reverse-curl the paper is a bad idea, it it is very easy to crease the base or to damage the emulsion.

Not B&W, but I had a roll of color paper 5" wide -- lots 0f fun -- made some 5x14 and 5x20 prints. It would be similar to B&W RC paper...the curl was not bad, but I had to be at the color processor when the paper came out or else it wanted to curl back into the machine!

Recently Freestyle had some B&W rolls in their "hot deals" area. RC would probably be easier to cut to sheets than FB, but you might want to come up with some sort of Jig to handle the stuff.

I have both RC & FB paper in 50"-56" x 98' rolls. All rolls are Ilford MGIV. The FB is double weight. I made a jig for cutting the paper down to one size (10", 14", or 20")x full width. I use a rotary cutter to finish the cuts (8x10, 11x14, 16x20). The disadvantages are (1) the curl in the DW paper (disappears once wet), (2) time spent cutting, & (3) hard on the knife. The curl is not an issue with the RC paper. I use small magnets on my easel blades to flatten out the FB paper when printing. I dry mount and overmat my prints, so I'm not too concerned about rough edges from cutting with a knife. You have to be careful handling the paper at each stage to avoid bending it.

The advantages are (1) I can cut to any size, and (2) much cheaper (I paid $99 each for the 3 FB rolls and $195 for the RC roll). Because the paper was so cheap, I do a lot of experimenting and go through a lot of paper. The difference in cost between sheets and a roll at regular prices isn't worth the disadvantages.

I just love the DW FB paper. It tones well in sepia and selenium.