Old Black and White Paper

[Bruce]

I have some old black and white Agfa Brovira paper that I put in a freezer several years ago.

Can this paper still be used after I let it thaw out?

Thanks!

Bruce

 

[ChristopherCoy]

I'll be interested in this topic too. I just received a papersafe that I won on Ebay. It still has a stack of 5x7 and 8x10 paper in it. It looks like the door has been taped shut for some time for protection. I dont expect it to be good, but I'm certainly going to try it.

 

[removed account4]

why not

do test exposures ... and add a fog restrainer into your developer too if you wanted to print on it ...

or make lumen or lith prints with it,
or paper negatives ...

lots of stuff to do with old paper ... i make paper negatives with mine, works great ...

john

 

[bill williams]

Last week I opened up a 50 sheet box of "S" graded paper and a 10 sheet package of "M" graded paper, both 11x14 size, and I printed on a sheet of each and both look very, very good. The dates on the packages were mid sixties. The paper had been poorly stored in a hot building in South Georgia for years till they move to my home a couple of years ago. I would think your paper should work nicely.

 

[Mike Wilde]

They will loose contrast with time, and build fog from what they showed when they were new.

Pick from the middle of the pack when you start to test. The top sheet in an old pack is often different in its reaction due to contact with an adjacent piece of cardboard or sleeve/wrapper material.

 

[ChuckP]

Take an unexposed 1/2 sheet and cut it in half. Put half through the developer, stop and fix and half through fix only. See if the developed piece matches the fixed only piece. I just tried an unopened pack of Forte Polygrade V that looked like new on the outside. The developed piece was about a Zone 3 gray. This was extreme and by far the worst I've ever seen. If you see a slight gray on the developed piece use the paper on high contarst negatives that would normally require some flashing. Works great at times. Only problem is duplicating it later if you get a result you love and run out of the old paper.

 

[cantore]

I also have recently received some old paper (Oriental FB). I tested it for fog and to my surprise there was none! My issue with the paper is that the whites are dull compared to my modern Ilford paper, could that be because my Ilford paper is on a bright white base and the Oriental is not?

Thanks.

 

[Konical]

Good Morning, Bruce

I recently happened to find a package of Ilford MGIV RC in Pearl surface which I had forgotten about; it had to be at least five or six years old. The prints I made on it are indistinguishable in quality from those made on the same paper in a package recently purchased. On other occasions I have printed without problems on other paper far more outdated.

Konical

 

[ChristopherCoy]

the paper I got in the safe from ebay worked. It was very stinky when I opened the safe that had been taped up, but other than that I got images.


WoodFence by ChristopherCoy, on Flickr