RA4 Paper Sheets

[focus_on_infinity]

I'm getting started with doing my own prints, and was looking at RA4 process. I was surprised how little chemistry and paper seem to be available for it. The only paper sheet product I see is Fuji Crystal Archive, and filmwarehouse.com repackages Kodak Endura. Is the supply really this limited?

Also, does anyone have any information on the Adox RA4 kit being made available in the US? I don't see it anywhere.

 

[1kgcoffee]

Hello focus_on_infinity,
RA4 is actually much cheaper than B&W and I prefer it. It's most of what I do nowadays. The chemicals and paper are not easy to source because it is mostly a commercial process, done with digital RA-4 printers, but the papers haven't changed much and the process is exactly the same.

All you'll need is some developer replenisher and blix. Kodak has the best value, forgot about Adox for colour right now. Yes, you will buy more, and pay more but it will last a long time. Also consider buying a roll of RA4 paper. I would recommend buying one package of the cut sheets from Fuji, but roll paper after that. You can get them in many sizes and finished from matte to metallic or supergloss. There are some expired rolls on ebay, which may be slightly off in colour but not the extent that you might notice. For what you pay, and since you are just learning right now, the stuff that is around three years expired will be perfectly suitable. Now, if you start to make fine prints and demand perfect colour balance then by all means, get some fujiflex or kodak metallic. B&H sells every paper under the sun. Here's where you can get the chemicals in the US ektacolor stuff:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=kodak RA4&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=

You'll need to buy a rotary cutter to chop down the rolls and build a little jig. I can post a picture of mine. For the longest time I did it on the floor of my darkroom without a jig so even that is not necessary. It becomes easy with practice. Use a guide to cut the paper down. Then stack and store the paper in an old B&W paper box, paper safe, light tight box etc. I recently built an enlarger platform with paper safe built right in. I cut with the jig on top, and paper goes right into the safe. Fast and relatively cheap. I will post the design and instructions if you are interested.

You'll also need to purchase a roller drum with roller or roller processor. I have a durst RCP 20 now that I bought from a gentleman who actually posts on this forum. It was modified to do RA4 and I absolutely love the thing. so much easier than working with drums. I only use drums now for huge prints that won't fit into the processor. They are rare to find so keep your eye out locally and if this is something you love then snag it up fast. Thermophot and Fujimoto also make processors.

There's a guy on youtube, channel doing film things that would be very helpful to a beginner.

 

[focus_on_infinity]

Interesting. Looks like the blix is the hard part. BH won't ship, and Freestyle doesn't carry. Adorama has it all on backorder. I'm not sure about digging up an old machine. I was just going to do tray development in the dark. I saw those Nova slot processors. I wonder how hard it would be to make something like that out of acrylic.

 

[Wayne]

I just ordered and received Blix from Unique.

KODAK 10L RA BLECH/FIXER/REPLENISHER 1 $14.95

Their website is funky and I had to call them to find the right one. But its there, complete with misspelling. https://www.uniquephoto.com/product/kodak-ra-bleach-fixer-repl-tm-10l-8309031/
They also have the Fuji paper
You can definitely develop in open trays, with good ventilation and skin/eye protection.

 

[Wayne]

Developer https://www.uniquephoto.com/product...her-rt-for-color-neg-paper-makes-10l-8415580/

The website may tell you that an additional hazmat fee may be added AFTER you order, which is kind of scary. I called them and they said that shouldn't happen, and it didn't. It was a reasonable 20 bucks shipping for 200 sheets of paper and the blix, which came in a separate package.

 

[focus_on_infinity]

Oh yeah, Unique is a lot cheaper. Didn't know they existed. Thanks. I ordered some of the repackaged Endura, and the chem from Unique. Should be fun!

Are you doing this at room temperature, or are you controlling it?

 

[Wayne]

2 minutes at room temp. I do keep my developer steady at 70 but actual temp is not critical. My darkroom is cold in winter so for 8x10 I set them in larger trays of water and use an aquarium heater in the outer developer tray. For blix I just periodically dump the outer tray and replenish it with warm water as needed. I usually use warmer water than needed because it goes to completion anyway so it doesn't hurt

 

[koraks]

Trays will work fine (in the dark). A processor is nice, but not a necessity. Neither are drums. Everyone has their preference. Mine is trays, but I don't print big. Trays are obviously a hassle if you want to print fairly big; I only go up to 30x40cm or thereabouts.

Paper: only Fuji sells boxes of cut-sheet and it's only Crystal Archive II, which IMO is hands down the most compromised, poorest paper out there. Both Kodak and Fuji offer much better papers. 3rd parties may still cut down Kodak papers from rolls (and other Fuji papers). If they run a decent operation, it can be a good option if you are hesitant to splurge on a roll or two yourself. No fun if they are using old stock paper or have trouble maintaining an operation in the pitch dark as you can find yourself hunting down problems with casts and impure whites that are beyond your control (speaking from experience...)

 

[focus_on_infinity]

Trays will work fine (in the dark). A processor is nice, but not a necessity. Neither are drums. Everyone has their preference. Mine is trays, but I don't print big. Trays are obviously a hassle if you want to print fairly big; I only go up to 30x40cm or thereabouts.

Paper: only Fuji sells boxes of cut-sheet and it's only Crystal Archive II, which IMO is hands down the most compromised, poorest paper out there. Both Kodak and Fuji offer much better papers. 3rd parties may still cut down Kodak papers from rolls (and other Fuji papers). If they run a decent operation, it can be a good option if you are hesitant to splurge on a roll or two yourself. No fun if they are using old stock paper or have trouble maintaining an operation in the pitch dark as you can find yourself hunting down problems with casts and impure whites that are beyond your control (speaking from experience...)

Yeah, I have a guillotine cutter that might work out. The one time I used it for something photo related, it put brass shavings all over my film. But maybe I can tune it so it won't do that. Should be easy enough to make a roller and stop that would work with it.

 

[DREW WILEY]

CAii is capable of excellent results. It's almost indistinguishable from Super C except a bit thinner. But it is true that if you want the very top Fuji CA products, you have to buy them in rolls. Kodak Ra/Rt and the Arista and Silver Pixel RA4 kits sold by Freestyle all behave identically.

 

[halfaman]

Fuji CA DPII is my favourite paper among all, and I tried plain CA and Kodak Endura. It is right where I want a color paper in terms of saturation and contrast, the rest I tried were too soft for my taste.

A resolution for 2021 is to do something about trim sheets by myself from rolls, starting with 20'' wide (I have supply of narrower sheets).

 

[brbo]

Fuji CA DPII is even higher in saturation and contrast than Kodak Endura Premier?

 

[halfaman]

Fuji CA DPII is even higher in saturation and contrast than Kodak Endura Premier?

In my experience, yes it is. Endura Premier was very similar to standard Fuji CA with tones on pastel side.

 

[brbo]

Wow! Thanks!

In my view difference between Endura and CA is pretty big. If Fuji CA and Kodak Endura are one thing and Fuji DPII is something else... I now really wonder what that DPII is like.

 

[DREW WILEY]

It's Fuji CA Maxima I want to try. Rolls only. Fujiflex Supergloss is wonderful, but it's a polyester base rather than RC paper, so expect to pay about a thousand bucks for a roll. Kodak doesn't have anything equivalent; Metallic is just an RC paper dept store window kind of product.

 

[halfaman]

It's Fuji CA Maxima I want to try. Rolls only.

I tried it recently but not directly. I ordered some test prints to do a final 20x24" lambda print, I can't do right now anything bigger than 12x16" in my darkroom. Test prints were on Fuji DPII matte, DPII glossy and Maxima glossy (matte was not available).

Maxima has a higher gloss than DPII without going into "metallic" but too glossy for my taste, colors were noticeable more vibrant but not too far from DPII. I didn't see any increase in shadow detail but perhaps my photo was not the best to evaluate it. I finally chose DPII glossy, I prefered less gloss and colors were still very nice. I will recieve the final print in two days...

 

[DREW WILEY]

Thanks. I won't be printing color again anyway until this pandemic calms down. Hope my RA4 kits are still good. Paper itself keeps well if it's tightly sealed. I still have about a third of a 40 inch roll of Supergloss. But not every image looks right on that, so I need to have on hand something more conventional too.

 

[brbo]

So Fuji's "designed exclusively for digital output" remarks in spec sheets for "digital" papers is of no consequence for traditional printing?

 

[koraks]

All I know is that Kodak's Premier "digital" paper printed fine under my enlarger and so does Fuji Crystal Archive Supreme HD.

 

[halfaman]

So Fuji's "designed exclusively for digital output" remarks in spec sheets for "digital" papers is of no consequence for traditional printing?

Only exposure times, they are shorter in DPII but still workable. For big enlargements it is a good thing.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Read the full specifications. Fuji is implying that these papers have been tweaked a bit to make them more cooperative with laser printers. Lasers tend to render weak blacks and are underpowered in green. Somewhere you'll find it also stated they're dual-purpose products, and intended for optical printing too. Nothing to worry about. Colorhead settings are nearly the same as older products.

 

[MattKing]

The digital papers probably have considerably different reciprocity behaviors as well.

 

[DREW WILEY]

No. The differences are minor. Just remember that Fuji makes a lot of different papers, and even some discontinued ones are still being sold. Their primary market is commercial, so that's why various laser printing recommendations get the headline in their descriptions and marketing literature. But there are apparently a number of big labs around the world still doing optical enlargements. We private users are a very minor percent of their overall sales. With an ordinary enlarger colorhead one should aim between 10 sec and 2 min if you want to avoid recip issues. Laser printers work on a completely different programmable premise. I can't comment on niche market narrow-roll mini-lab products because I have zero interest in them.

 

[koraks]

The digital papers probably have considerably different reciprocity behaviors as well.

I understand they suffer less from short exposure reciprocity issues, yes.

 

[DREW WILEY]

No optical printer wants to try a short exp time anyway. The bulb changes color temp as it warms up, and as it cools down. Anything less than 8 to 10 sec, and that can become a significant factor. Colorheads with color feedback circuitry won't respond to sudden changes either. It's only the long end of the recip scale you therefore need to be concerned with, which doesn't seem to differ.