Polywarmtone characteristic curves

Sal Santamaura · Jun 24, 2019

As we await ADOX's new Polywarmtone, which if Mirko is consistent with his past product introductions will be accompanied by thorough technical documentation, I was curious what the family of original Polywarmtone's characteristic curves looked like. A search, including in the Internet Archive, turned up nothing.

Does anyone have curves of the original they can share? Thanks in advance.

Lachlan Young · Jun 24, 2019

Would this be what you're after?

Sal Santamaura · Jun 24, 2019

Lachlan Young said:
Would this be what you're after?

Yes, thank you Lachlan. I searched for that information on the Wayback Machine under Forte's url, and didn't think to seek it on a Fotoimpex page.

The curves look to be somewhat similar to MCC 110, i.e. short-toed. Films that have straight-line or, even worse, rising curves will likely not be very good matches. I'll plan on using Polywarmtone with films that shoulder, like TMAX 100 developed in XTOL 1+1.

Thanks again!

Sal Santamaura · Jun 28, 2019

Another Polywarmtone question. In this post

https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/forte-polywarmtone.47483/page-13#post-2181524

Mirko answered my inquiry about ADOX's new Polywarmtone base, stating that it will be the same one used by Forte between 2002 and 2008. Has anyone used a UV illuminant ("black light") on that last Forte version of the paper to determine whether it (and/or the emulsion) incorporated an optical brightening agent? If so, what was your result? Thanks in advance.

Lachlan Young · Jun 28, 2019

I think the phrase you want from the archived page above is "Keine Eingelagerten Entwickler-Substanzen oder optische Aufheller." AKA, no incorporated developer aids & no optical brighteners - not clear if that's both emulsion & base or just emulsion that's brightener free. I tend not to get as worried about this as some - though the lack of fluorescence is useful in getting a print to look more consistent under a range of different lighting. You'd really need a pure linen rag base to get a really pure white with the best archival qualities.

Sal Santamaura · Jun 28, 2019

Lachlan Young said:
I think the phrase you want from the archived page above is "Keine Eingelagerten Entwickler-Substanzen oder optische Aufheller." AKA, no incorporated developer aids & no optical brighteners - not clear if that's both emulsion & base or just emulsion that's brightener free. I tend not to get as worried about this as some - though the lack of fluorescence is useful in getting a print to look more consistent under a range of different lighting. You'd really need a pure linen rag base to get a really pure white with the best archival qualities.

Thank you again Lachlan. That makes me look forward to Polywarmtone even more intensely. I just finally got around to purchasing a small UV flashlight ("torch" to you ) and was disappointed to find that all the papers I've got prints on include OBAs. Worst among them was Multigrade Cooltone FB, as expected, but even things like Multigrade Warmtone FB that was subjected to multiple extended washes -- before and after toning -- fluoresced significantly.

Best wishes to Mirko and his team for great success in bringing this product back to market.

Tom Kershaw · Jun 29, 2019

This new Polywarmtone paper is an exciting prospect. I must test out some of my remaining old box of 'Forte' product with some differing film negatives to get a handle on the product.

Sal Santamaura · Jun 29, 2019

Tom Kershaw said:
...I must test out some of my remaining old box of 'Forte' product...

When you do that, Tom, if you have access to a "black light" it would be most interesting to see whether the prints fluoresce. Lachlan's comment about not being sure whether the archive page statement concerning lack of OBAs referred to emulsion, base or both would be addressed definitively were you to perform such a test.

Polywarmtone characteristic curves

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