Printing B&W Slides - paper suggestions?

[Dovaras]

Does anyone know of a good paper for printing B&W slides? I seem to remember a Kodak fibre paper years ago that is probably no longer made. I have some old B&W slides that I’d like to print but not sure who, if anyone, makes positive B&W paper anymore.

Thanks,

Nick

 

[keithwms]

There is no remaining ready-to-go paper of which I am aware. What I have done is print to ortho film and then contact print that to graded paper. Or you can of course go straight to paper and contact print that as a paper neg.

 

[Stephen Frizza]

why not reverse a black and white paper stock?

 

[Neal]

Dear Nick,

Assuming you want an all analog solution, contact printing the slides onto sheet film would be relatively easy. Once made, future prints could be easily generated as often as you liked.

Neal Wydra

 

[Ian Grant]

Stephen suggests "why not reverse a black and white paper stock?".

Back in the early 70's, while at University, I went to a lecture about processing your own B&W slides and making B&W reversal prints. The lecture was given by someone from Birmingham School of Photography (UK), he showed some excellent images, with a very long tonal range. He claimed that this method gave far higher quality than the conventional negative/positive process.

I'd never heard that before and certainly haven't heard it since, but he did have superb prints, so it's worth trying. There are plenty of articles about reversal processing of B&W paper.

A reversal print will definitely give a higher quality than go through another film stage.

Ian

 

[Stephen Frizza]

Stephen suggests "why not reverse a black and white paper stock?".

Back in the early 70's, while at University, I went to a lecture about processing your own B&W slides and making B&W reversal prints. The lecture was given by someone from Birmingham School of Photography (UK), he showed some excellent images, with a very long tonal range. He claimed that this method gave far higher quality than the conventional negative/positive process.

I'd never heard that before and certainly haven't heard it since, but he did have superb prints, so it's worth trying. There are plenty of articles about reversal processing of B&W paper.

A reversal print will definitely give a higher quality than go through another film stage.

Ian

Ian yep this is true! I first reversed black and white stocks about 2 and a half years ago. It was a lot less effort than making a neg dupe. I also found the results were superior because you are working from the primary.

I say paper reversal!

 

[Stephen Frizza]

P.S was there ever direct positive to positive black and white paper? if so who made it and what was it like?

 

[nworth]

The paper you are thinking of was Kodak Super Speed Direct Positive. This was a high speed orthochromatic paper that was used to print Kodak Direct Positive film transparencies. It was also used in the camera for certain applications. That paper was discontinued about 30 years ago. As far as I know, there has been no replacement except maybe the proprietary Agfa Scala paper that was restricted to certain labs. You might try reversing an ordinary enlarging paper. They are not designed for that use, but some papers may work well. I expect that different papers will behave differently, and you may have to experiment with several. The Direct Positive print process used Kodak D-88 developer for both the first and second development. You could probably use Dektol for conventional paper. You may have to add thiocyanate to the first developer to get clear highlights.

 

[Stephen Frizza]

I used Ilford paper dev which worked fine, and I can vouch that Ilford resin stocks work well for this reversal application.

 

[Ian Grant]

Maybe you could post a short article on B&W reversal printing here on APUG Stephen. I'm sure a few people would be interested.

I remember questioning the lecturer back in 1972, he said no-one else he knew was deliberately shot B&W slides for printing, at that time his college was known to be one of the best in the UK for technical and commercial photography. Michael Langford was teaching there then before he went to the RCA.

Ian

 

[Stephen Frizza]

Ok forgive me but I thought it was more common knowledge. I will post a new thread on it.

~Steve

 

[keithwms]

Indeed I eagerly await your article, steve!

 

[Dovaras]

Thanks for the many great responses. It sounds like I will go the paper reversal route. I'll need to do a bit of learning/reading first. Steve - I too await your article.

Regards,

Nick

 

[eric]

I borrowed a book from the library last year, forgot the artist. But it had lots of close ups of wild animals and flowers and such. The technique described in the book was "B&W slides printed on Ilfochrome". Pretty neat stuff.

 

[Ian Grant]

A B&W slide printed on Ilfochrome will have punch and contrast but lack the richness and subtlety of a B&W Reversal print.

Ian

 

[Stephen Frizza]

its all well and good to print a black and white slide on ilfochrome but have fun balancing it to a perfect neutral. maybe im being rude but when i tried i was less than successful.