Rembrant fibre paper

[Bob Carnie]

Hi Folks
Just finished testing 9 different fibre papers, one of them was Fuji Rembrant, bought through Dirk San in Japan,
Paper seems to be quite nice, bit on the cool side , I would use this paper if it was easy to get hold of, (Dirk San - UPS charged me $181.00 to get this into Canada) so needless to say for a box of 11x14 50 sheet it is hard to swallow.

The paper looks a lot like Kodak fibre or Ilford MG4. slightly warmer than both but with a nice range of tones.
Has anyone used this paper?

Also Forte Polywarmtone and Bergger Prestige look very similar to say the least.
Am I crazy or could these papers be indeed the same ???
I tried to get some Jand & c paper but they would not respond to two emails I have sent, but now I am thinking that there top brand paper could just be Forte or Bergger rebranded. .. any thoughts???

My favorite of all these papers are split between Agfa Classic, Bergger and Ilford Warmtone.
I picked a negative that represents a volume of work coming my way and to be honest I could make any of the 9 papers work with very pleasing results.
So much for there being a magic paper!.
I am going to try each of these in lith developer , and a warm developer next, but sofar these are my observations in Dectol 1:1.

 

[Lee Shively]

That's some expensive paper, Bob! At that price you probably can't afford to like it too much.

I recently tried some Forte Polywarmtone and Bergger "something or other" warmtone. They looked somewhat similar but I didn't think them to be the same paper. First of all, the Bergger was so thick I scuffed up every sheet fitting it in the channel of my Saunders easel. It's a super heavyweight paper. The Bergger also looked more reddish brown when toned in Nelson Gold toner than the Forte's golden brown.

I've heard the rumor that Forte makes papers for Bergger. It could be true but I didn't see the ones I tried as identical papers.

 

[Bob Carnie]

Hi Lee

I am hoping a distributer in NA will pick this up, I can't see why fuji wouldn't bring it into North America. ( actually quite a nice looking paper)
$180 for shipping brokerage, $110 for 50 sheets of 11x14 , ouch
thats $5.80 a sheet.
I read a post about Dirk San in October and at the time Ilford was in the crapper so any new paper was worth trying.
So you are right , I am not going to get to too happy with this paper at this rate unless it can be brought in at a better price.

 

[Nick Zentena]

UPS is the devil. UPS is satan. UPS is evil.

 

[Maine-iac]

Hi Folks


Also Forte Polywarmtone and Bergger Prestige look very similar to say the least.
Am I crazy or could these papers be indeed the same ???
I tried to get some Jand & c paper but they would not respond to two emails I have sent, but now I am thinking that there top brand paper could just be Forte or Bergger rebranded. .. any thoughts???

I believe Bergger was (is?) made in the Forte factory in Hungary, though it is owned and marketed by a French company. Not sure whether Forte is up and running at present; I know they shut down production recently while apparently in bankruptcy proceedings or some other financial woe.

I can't say whether Forte Polywarmtone is the same as Bergger Prestige; they very well may be. I do know that the Bergger variable contrast NB is not the same as Forte Elegance, because I have both, and the printing times are different, as well as the contrast and color. The Bergger is slightly cooler, and has a very long tonal scale. The Forte is more contrasty. Both are lovely, but certainly not the same.

Larry