Problems with current stock of Ilford MGRC coldtone?

[davidh]

Has anyone noticed any defects in the emulsion of this paper? I ran off 10 prints the other night and each one *(my bad as I was into a production run of 20 and didn't check them until the first 10 were in the rinse bath)* - it was a brand new box of paper, I spent 30 minutes cleaning things up (negative, cleaned the enlarger lens etc etc etc) to make sure there were no foreign particles that could affect the print. Everything appeared spotless and I even called in an associate to put a 2nd pair of eyes on the negative and by all accounts it was clean, before and after the run of 10 prints.

However there was an unexplained spot on the print that did not show up in the negative, the lens being clean and so forth I can only assume there was some slight defect in the emulsion. Oddly, after the first 10 sheets of paper the defect was no longer there. I keep the paper in the original box in its light tight wrap as I don't currently have a decent paper safe. I also started pulling sheets off of the opposite side of the stack when I noticed the lack of said defect.

The only other thing I could think of is this. Although I have never felt a shock, could there be a build-up of static electricity as you remove the paper from the plastic? It doesn't fully answer the question though because for all 10 defective prints the defect was in the exact same location.

Again I cleaned everything before-hand but I suppose it doesn't mean I didn't miss something - after all I was dealing with a 35mm negative. Upon checking the lens and negative after the 10 prints once again I could not see, not even with an 8X loupe, any defects in that area of the negative that caused my problem. Nor did I find any foreign particles on either side of the enlarging lens nor the condenser lenses.

Just asking because Ilford has been purchased by another company. One by the way that, in my Internet research, concentrates on digital imaging technologies. I wonder if the QC in Ilford is slipping a little .... I've seen other threads on variable results of toning Ilfords' FB warmtone paper (and submitted my own observations to that thread).

Thanks,

David

 

[Tom Kershaw]

erm... "ILFORD" black and white products are now at www.ilfordphoto.com

 

[Roger Hicks]

Just asking because Ilford has been purchased by another company. One by the way that, in my Internet research, concentrates on digital imaging technologies.

David

Dear David,

Well, put not thy faith in internet research. Ilford has not been bought by another company; it was in effect a management buy out. And the new company, Harman Technology (named after the founder of Ilford) is putting everything into silver halide. The part of Ilford that dealt with digital is now completely separate and indeed still doing research into digital.

As QC faults go, few are likely to be like that, lasting 10 prints in the same place then vanishing. I'm not saying it's impossible, just unlikely. Have you considered forwarding one of the prints to Ilford to get their opinion?

Where was the spot? How big? Regular or irregular? Light or dark? Hard-edge or soft?

Cheers,

Roger

 

[davidh]

Good point and well received about Ilford & Harmon.

As to the print, alas I didn't keep one of the defective prints around - hindsight being 20/20 as the last one was marching down through the shredder I thought of that too ... but at that point it was too late.

The spot was in a rather dark area of the print - if you look at my website, go to the available prints section and have a look at "ruins", it was near the top of the ancient stone structure toward the left of the image in the area of greatest shadow and dark. The spot was hard-edged and showed up whiteish in slightly varying degrees.

David

Dear David,

Well, put not thy faith in internet research. Ilford has not been bought by another company; it was in effect a management buy out. And the new company, Harman Technology (named after the founder of Ilford) is putting everything into silver halide. The part of Ilford that dealt with digital is now completely separate and indeed still doing research into digital.

As QC faults go, few are likely to be like that, lasting 10 prints in the same place then vanishing. I'm not saying it's impossible, just unlikely. Have you considered forwarding one of the prints to Ilford to get their opinion?

Cheers,

Roger

 

[Bob F.]

The fact that is was in the same location and then suddenly disappeared mitigates against a manufacturing failure as the paper is coated in large rolls and then cut to size - any coating problem would not appear in the same place on subsequent sheets unless it happened post production.

As the mark was white and hard-edged, I suspect that you most likely had a dust spot on the negative for a while.

Cheers, Bob.

 

[davidh]

Good point on the paper defect - not knowing how it is manufactured, I retract my statement about manufacturing defect.

I suppose I never will know precisely what it was, save that upon careful inspection of the negative after making the last defective print there were no specs of any kind on the lens or the negative. I was careful in my handling of the negative carrier when removing it from the head of the enlarger.

I'll either have to chock it up to "I'll never know" - or concede that, while I was removing the negative carrier to inspect the negative, a draft came up which blew said contaminant away from the area in question.

It still has me scratching my head because I didn't physically see anything before or after, on the lens or any other part of the enlarger that would have caused this.

Closing this one and moving on ...

David

The fact that is was in the same location and then suddenly disappeared mitigates against a manufacturing failure as the paper is coated in large rolls and then cut to size - any coating problem would not appear in the same place on subsequent sheets unless it happened post production.

As the mark was white and hard-edged, I suspect that you most likely had a dust spot on the negative for a while.

Cheers, Bob.