Oriental Paper

[Grillage]

I am prsently using Oriental Fiber Based paper VC glossy surface paper. Its great stuff but for some unknown reason the "Whites" are not as white as they should be. (Mostly in cloud detail) The paper base looks great. But--on the Resin Coated paper the whites are perfect. Same type, VC glossy surface. I use Dektol and its only about a week old. I use it at one quart to three quarts water at 68-70 degrees at three minutes with the Zone VI compensating timer. Fixer is F6 fixer at two to three minutes. I use a Durst 8x10 Dichroic enlarger and for this one negative the paper grade is set about 2.4. Any clues would be very much appreciated. Dave

 

[Dali]

I use the same paper and never noticed anything strange... Do you use a stop bath between developer and fixer? Without it, you would end up with some nasty yellow stains. I happened to me... Dektol can last 6 months in a full bottle so a week old developer can't be the culprit. Did you check your enlarger does not create flare?

take care.

 

[sepiareverb]

Have you ruled out fog? safelight filters up to date?

 

[Grillage]

Yes, of course I do use a good stop bath. This is a dull grey instead of a brilliant white.

 

[Grillage]

Oh Man!! YOU might be correct! This weekend I will try printing wih all lights OUT and see if that does the trick! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

I have had problems with a completely uniform grey tint on Oriental graded paper. I have 8x10 and 11x14 boxes of grades 2, 3 and 4 - the problem is only with grade 2 in both sizes.

The tint is there if I process the paper in complete darkness, it doesn't decrease if I add bromide or benztriazole to the developer, and it can't be bleached out as highlight detail disappears before the tint.

Pretty obviously a problem with the paper emulsion.

Damn annoying.

But I have no idea if this is the same problem the OP is having. A safelight test [or processing a bit of paper in darkness] is the first action to take.

 

[ChuckP]

Do make sure you check for fog. Take 2 test sheets. Develop and fix one and only fix the other. Compare the two. If fogged the developed sheet will show a gray tone compared to the fix only sheet. I've seen a lot of fogged paper but mostly due to age.

 

[An Le-qun]

The graded paper requires a green safelight, I believe. Same for the VC?

 

[Ian C]

Oriental variable-contast papers, both RC and FB, specify amber Kodak OC or the approximately equivalent Ilford S902 safelight filter.

http://www.orientalphotousa.com/newseagull.htm

 

[Grillage]

I have noticed that Oriental papers are not as "White" as the Kodak papers. But unfortunately Kodak papers are gone. This is the image I have been recently printing. After a lot of trail and errors I have made a satisfactor print. The "Whites" are nice although you may not be able to see it in this photograph. I do use the OC safelight and all tests proved it was not the safelight as a problem