Ultrafine VC ELITE Variable Contrast RC Paper

[Snapshot]

Hi All,

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with Ultrafine VC ELITE Variable Contrast RC paper? I've purchased their Ultrafine Varigrade IV Variable Contrast RC paper years ago and was quite happy with it. Alas, I'm now running out of it and need a replacement as they do not stock this paper anymore. How does this version compare to other papers you have used?

Any relevant comments will be appreciated.

 

[MartinP]

The Ultrafine products are/were materials from original manufacturers which are/were re-branded for Ultrafine. To get an idea of which manufacturer made the paper, look at the source marked on the packaging. This will probably be UK, EU or Japan (or USA, if the paper is really old) though theoretically China or Russia could also be possible. If the rules locally allow the 'country-of-origin' to be the packing location, rather than the manufacturing site, then things would be more confusing of course!

Regarding current general-use resin-coated papers, the main point will be availability. Kentmere (a brand of Harman Technology) and Foma each make perfectly adequate variable-contrast RC paper which is generally a little cheaper than IlfordPhoto (another brand of Harman Technology) or Adox. In North America it could be economic to look at the house-brands of the well known suppliers in New York as they may be lower in price and easier to buy than similar papers from the original European manufacturers. In any case, do read the safelight recommendations carefully and then test your own, as the many different papers have different sensitivities.

Being wildly optimistic, unless you buy paper from some disposal company, most fresh materials on the market now are capable of usable quality for everyday printing, contact-sheets and so on. The poorer quality manufacturers are no more . . .

 

[Snapshot]

Thanks for your input, Martin. I guess from the lack of responses, there is not a lot of experiences with this paper.