Status/availability of J&C Nuance ?

[Daniel Grenier]

I learned of this "new" (to me) paper today which is apparently terrific. As J&C is in re-org mode for some time yet, does anybody know the status and availability of the Nuance line? Specifically, what grades are available and in what size and price etc. Also, is it available elsewhere under a different name?

Thanks

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

Freestyle sells it as Fotokemika Emaks, in grades 2-3-4, various sizes. Fotokemika is the name of the manufacturer, the same that produces Efke/Adox 25/50/100 ISO films.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

It has also been sold as Cachet Expo RF and Maco Expo RF, and there is some old stock around under those labels.

Different brands use different grading schemes (2/3/4, 1/2/3/, Soft/Normal/Hard), but it's all the same stuff, so be sure you know what the system is for the version you are buying, particularly if you cross labels. The softest grade is somewhere between 1-2 when compared to papers like Galerie or Oriental graded, and the middle grade would be somewhere between 2 and 3 on the same scale. It responds well to amidol, so you can get intermediate grades with water bath processing.

 

[Daniel Grenier]

Thanks Michel, David.

From what I can see, Freestyle offers grades 3 and 4 but no grade 2. Also, all I could find on J&C's site are grade 2 in rolls - no pre cut sheets.

Question is, given your statement on classification, David, is J&C's grade 2 the same as Freestyle's grade 3 or would it be a true grade 2 to complement Fresstyle's G3... (Isn't this multi labeling confusing & annoying?)

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I asked John about that roll (there is just one), and he says it was a special order, so it is actually the softest grade, and would correspond to Nuance "Soft" (the grade I use most, but the roll is too big for my Rotatrim, or else I would have bought it myself).

If Freestyle is using the 2/3/4 system then, that roll corresponds to Freestyle's "2."

Don't think in terms of "a true grade 2." It just makes it more confusing. Compared to other papers, Nuance Soft (Freestyle 2) is softer than most "grade 2" and Nuance Normal (Freestyle 3) is harder than most "grade 2" papers but softer than most "grade 3" papers.

 

[Cecil]

I made a print using the EMAKS grade 4 I bought from Freestyle. The paper is much harder than the J&C Nuance "Hard" grade, which is also labeled as G3. Since Nuance Hard (G3) is really not that hard, I am glad that there is a grade 4.

So after all the grading systems of Freestyle and J&C on this EMAKS paper are consistant.