Very old Kentmere paper

[RTMoynihan]

Hi all,
Whilst at work I discovered several 'Sample packs' of kentmere film, they had 'Jessops manchester' stamped across the front but i'm right down in Essex so I'm guessing it's been a fair while since they were fresh. What do you think would be the best way to maximise my chances of getting a decent image on it?
Cheers,
Rory

 

[darkosaric]

Hi,

maybe Lith print, if you do Lith printing?

 

[richard ide]

An enlarger.

Sorry, I could not resist.

 

[Ian Grant]

As Kentmere never made film, I guess you need to learn to read properly

Sorry couldn't resist that. Test the paper, I've had good prints off 60's possibly 50's Kodak Bromide papers and also Ilford, slowish and a good grade less contrast but no trace of fogging and still gave good tonality & blacks.

Jessops are the UK's worst supplier & distributor of materials now by a long way, but just 10 years ago they were surprisingly good.
Ian

 

[RTMoynihan]

Doh! yeah I mean paper. This paper is all grade II so I'll have to find a slightly higher contrast neg to work from to get a not too flat image? I've never used graded paper before, always just multigrade. Would using the filters that I use for multigrade have any impact on the contrast of the print on graded paper?

 

[richard ide]

Never tried that but I am inclined to think it will mess up the contrast and not give you the right tonal range.

 

[Ian Grant]

Would using the filters that I use for multigrade have any impact on the contrast of the print on graded paper?

Not really, but surprisingly that's how Multigrade was concieved, it was noted that Bluer light gave a higher printing contrast.

You can use a contrast developer, but you'd need to make it up yourself.

Ian