Negatives for Lodima and Galerie

[Jarin Blaschke]

Hi all:

I'm moving into 8x10 photography and intend to primarily contact print, but of course would like to also enlarge the same 8x10 negatives at a nearby darkroom rental facility. My system in 6x7cm is calibrated for Ilford Galerie which looks rather great aside from the limitations of the size of the negatives, and I wouldn't want to change the materials when enlarging 8x10 negatives that also have counterparts as contact-prints. Does anyone have any experience comparing the contrast (and/or color) of Lodima with Galerie, or any other graded enlarging paper?

Of course I will eventually run my own tests, but would like to know what I can expect going in, if possible.

J

 

[Alan9940]

Print color, of course, is somewhat dependent on the developer used, but if the Lodima is developed in Amidol and the Galerie is developed in a standard neutral/cold tone developer like Dektol you should find a warmer look to the Lodima/Amidol print. I haven't used Galerie in so long I cannot comment regarding any contrast difference.

In general, you'll be hard-pressed to get a fine print on Galerie from a negative that's been developed for contact printing on Lodima due to the increased negative contrast required for Lodima. Lodima needs a negative contrast that would print well in the pt/pd process. You may be able to print a Lodima negative on Galerie using a grade 1 paper and a soft working developer (like Selectol-Soft), but I've never tried it. Since I always contact print 8x10 negs on silver chloride type papers, I develop my negatives appropriately.

Good luck!

 

[Peter Schrager]

Alan is correct...two different processes completely but you will be to do the full range of alternative processes

 

[Jarin Blaschke]

After a couple emails with Michael Smith, he confirms that Lodima is about a grade softer than "normal" paper.

 

[Jarin Blaschke]

Update: Lodima grade 4 and Galerie grade 3 are extremely close in contrast; virtually the same to my eye. It's interesting, because I always considered Galerie more like grade 2 1/2. Lodima is definitely warmer in the same amidol developer. Galerie is still cool.