Oriental seagull, still available?

tony lockerbie · May 5, 2006

About 15 years ago I used to use Oriental paper, G3 and the MC fibre but it suddenly dissapeared from the market. I considered it to be far and away the best cold tone paper ever and it was even better in Amidol. I was told here (Australia) that the company had gone bust but I see people still using it from time to time. Can you still but it and is it the same quality? Cheers.

Bob F. · May 5, 2006

There was a thread here on the subject recently: usual differences of opinion as to the quality of the current product, but one thing for sure is that it is not the same paper - there have been at least two different versions in recent years.

Cheers, Bob.

firecracker · May 5, 2006

tony lockerbie said:
About 15 years ago I used to use Oriental paper, G3 and the MC fibre but it suddenly dissapeared from the market. I considered it to be far and away the best cold tone paper ever and it was even better in Amidol. I was told here (Australia) that the company had gone bust but I see people still using it from time to time. Can you still but it and is it the same quality? Cheers.

Here's a recent thread on the Oriental Paper:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Oriental is still making photographic paper under its new name, Cyber Graphics. But the quality of the paper for its old graded type has changed as many people have pointed out.

I use the new Oriental VC FB paper, and to me it's somewhat comparable to that of Ilford, but slightly colder (more blue) and harder (more contrast).

tony lockerbie · May 5, 2006

Thanks Guys, that tells me all I need to know- sad really. I guess that I will stick to Ilford MG 1V, it's still a really nice paper.

HerrBremerhaven · May 5, 2006

Good morning APUG,

I don't know if it is exactly the same paper, but I still have three packages of Oriental Seagull Bromide paper. I have used the G-2 up until about six years ago, so not much of that left, but I still have one package each of G-1 and G-3 that I never opened. These have always been in storage. However, my question to the experts here is whether this paper should still be good and usable. I don't currently have a darkroom set-up at the house I am leasing, so no way to test at the moment.

Ciao!

Gordon

tony lockerbie · May 6, 2006

Hi Gordon.
I don't know how well your paper has been stored but I would imagine that your seagull would hve lost some contrast and built up dichroic fog. The fog can be reduced by adding more pot. bromide to your developing solution, providing you mix your own. The loss of contrast is another problem and your G1 may be past it but the G3 could be ok. The upside is that I consider these papers to be among the best ever made so get that darkroom going as soon as possible!

JLP · May 6, 2006

During a visit last week to my parents house where i used to have a darkroom in the basement i found an unopened box of Oriental Seagull G2 (11X14) It's been semi cold and dark stored but is about 14 years old.
Will open it and test in the next few days and post my experience here. Hoping for the best.

jan

HerrBremerhaven · May 6, 2006

tony lockerbie said:
Hi Gordon.
I don't know how well your paper has been stored but I would imagine that your seagull would hve lost some contrast and built up dichroic fog. The fog can be reduced by adding more pot. bromide to your developing solution, providing you mix your own. The loss of contrast is another problem and your G1 may be past it but the G3 could be ok. The upside is that I consider these papers to be among the best ever made so get that darkroom going as soon as possible!

Thanks for the information Tony,

I only stored them in a cabinet, not in a refrigerator, so perhaps some problems. Never knew about the potassium bromide before, so will keep that in mind for future usage. Seems that I might be able to filter to add some contrast, as well as the chemical addition? Wish I could set-up a darkroom, though I have one available about 60 miles away, or I could rent one that is much closer (though not good hourly rate).

Ciao!

Gordon

tony lockerbie · May 7, 2006

Hi Gordon, the potassium bromide acts as a restrainer to prevent fog building up on your prints. All developers have some(or benzatriazole in some brews) Adding more can reduce the fog, the caveat is that it also will increase the developing time. Filters will not work with your paper as it is a fixed grade.

HerrBremerhaven · May 7, 2006

Thanks again Tony,

The last B/W printing I did was with AGFA Variable Contrast RC paper, hence my filters question. This is the same type of paper I was using in college, so I am more use to that than the Oriental Seagull. I haven't used any of the Bromide paper in six years.

My interest has sort of been renewed again due to an upcoming juried exhibit. I am getting an award for one of my B/W works; a sort of unusual side project for me, since I exhibit more colour images or Polaroid manipulations. I still shoot B/W, but usually for commercial projects, so rare to have true chemical prints from that work.

Ciao!

Gordon

JLP · May 10, 2006

Had a chance to make a couple of prints with the 14 year old "forgotten" Oriental Seagull G2 last night and my emidiate experience is that it has hold up pretty good. I have no way of testing scientifically but compared to Kentmere Kentona it has not lost any of it's grade. It is fairly slow though and i don' remember how speed was compared to other papers. No visible fogging.

Jan

philldresser · May 24, 2006

Tony

Your thread reminded me that I had 200 sheets of 11x14 G3 stored away that I inherited with my enlarger. I tried some this week and its a wonderful paper.

Cheers

Phill

Oriental seagull, still available?

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