Old Photo Paper - To buy or not to buy?

[Juan Paller]

I've come across numerous eBay sellers selling black and white fiber paper dating back from the 70s and 80s. Storage conditions unknown. Worth the risk?

 

[darkosaric]

Yes for Lith print and some other alternatives, otherwise I would avoid it.

 

[railwayman3]

There are two risks....wasting your money, but also wasting your precious hobby time in testing or in unsuccessful attempts at printing, or less-than-optimal results, if the paper is not good.

I confess to occasionally experimenting (aka "wasting time messing around") with ancient and obsolete films, but, when I want reliable and consistent results and hobby time is limited, I'll always use fresh materials.

 

[Harry Stevens]

Not with a barge pole.....

 

[tedr1]

There are some papers that are no longer made that, the lith papers, some graded papers and some warm-tone (cadmium containing) papers, those might be worth purchasing. However for run-of-the-mill neutral-tone black and white paper there seems little point, as others have said, the paper may be fogged, the speed decreased, surface degraded, it is a pig-in-a-poke.

 

[Wayne]

Lumen prints. You might get lucky and have it work for regular printing (with or without some benzotriazole) but I wouldnt count on it. Consider it a gamble unless its contact printing paper

 

[dE fENDER]

I've come across numerous eBay sellers selling black and white fiber paper dating back from the 70s and 80s. Storage conditions unknown. Worth the risk?

Only in case it's unique, you know how to handle expired materials, have some experience in doing this and understand that using such expired materials is more expensive than using new ones.

 

[MattKing]

For exploration and the fun that that brings, sure.
To reliably make good quality prints, not the best choice.

 

[Nodda Duma]

I've found old ilford consistently good, agfa not so much. Kodak 50/50. And that's assuming seller didn't open the bag.

If it's cheap it's not a big gamble.

 

[MrBrowning]

Depending on the paper I say buy it. Try to lith print on it. If it won't lith then use it for lumen prints or chemigrams or photograms. if all esle fails you could make paper airplanes with it.

 

[Michael Guzzi]

I've bought 1960's ORWO paper that was real good, and also bought Kodak paper from 2005 that is almost dead.

I'm 10 times more inclined to buy expired paper from the 50's-late 70's than from there on. The newer papers were made differently and don't last as long, and around that time manufacturers started using developing agents in their emulsions, which decrease the shelf life of the paper in my experience.

 

[HowieP]

Have bought old paper in distant past, gave up when I found no good results.

 

[ozphoto]

Haven't bought on Ebay, but have bought from my local store on a few occasions, but not willing to pay more than $5/box.

Scored big on a 100 sheet unopened pack of Agfa Brovira - 100% ok and I used those sheets for a few PCX here on APUG. Another few packs of 25 sheet Brovira (opened) did not do well at all, but I admit I wasn't expecting much from those as I didn't know how they'd been stored once opened.

If I see a decent box somewhere, I'll offer $5 max - it's fun to try out, but don't expect success every time.

 

[MrBrowning]

I've bought Kodak Ektalure, Medalist, RC Art, and a couple others with excellent lith results. If lith printing interests you join the lith printing group on facebook. Lots of excellent work there and you can search for the papers you're looking at buying and see how people have printed on them.