Who uses graded paper?

Lachlan Young · Mar 10, 2021

AgX said:
Yes, by the late 70's I find both, letters and figures listed.

And by then they already only offered 6 grades at maximum. Grade 7 likely even before was a rare breed. The most choices with Brovira RC. And grade 0 already being phased out.

I'm extremely doubtful a grade beyond '6' was offered - a 1961 Agfa Leverkusen catalogue doesn't show anything outwith the six grades EW-EH (plus PRK). There may however have been some specific materials made for photo typesetting etc.

AgX · Mar 11, 2021

Grade 7 was called Ultrahart.

That grading system was only used for pictorial papers. And by other european manufacturers too.

Orwo for instance offered only 5 grades, lacking EW and UH.

Gevaert then had 6 grades, including EW (EZ) and UH, but then omitting S (Spezial)

Lachlan Young · Mar 11, 2021

AgX said:
Grade 7 was called Ultrahart.

That grading system was only used for pictorial papers. And by other european manufacturers too.

Orwo for instance offered only 5 grades, lacking EW and UH.

Gevaert then had 6 grades, including EW (EZ) and UH, but then omitting S (Spezial)

I've only found a few references to UH existing as a grade of Lupex somewhere between the early 1930s and the start of the 1940s. It doesn't seem to have been in Agfa's formula book by the time BIOS/ FIAT got to Leverkusen & it was gone from Agfa's range in 1950s/ 60s catalogues. I'd need to go back and recheck the BIOS report, but there was, I vaguely recall, a reference to Lupex having undergone some alterations along with Brovira within the period between when I can find documentation of UH Lupex and BIOS/ FIAT's report. Presumably, some of this probably relates to Agfa having found a way to get more contrast out of the highest grades within their technological limits of uncontrolled makes and active gelatins. It may have been the result of the discovery of the use of Rhodium Chloride as a curve modifier in harder grades.

AgX · Mar 11, 2021

As indicated Gevaert had grade UH. But the omission of grade S makes it most probable that either there was a shift by one full step, or that the steps were bigger.

DREW WILEY · Mar 11, 2021

Maine Mega-Cat : My older brother went to Brooks, had his darkroom set up in an old barn near the shoreline. He used a lot of cold-tone graded DuPont paper. I inherited his prints and negatives. Silver prices due to the Hunt Brothers attempt to create a monopoly on the silver commodities market drove a lot of fine-art printmakers into the ditch for awhile. But it was actually subsequent to that that the heyday of superb graded papers arrived, in my opinion. Seagull G bromide (much punchier than the several reincarnations of the Seagull label), Brilliant Bromide, the full range of Ilfobrom Galerie (which is primarily what AA used in his later years), Portriga, etc. - all available during the same era, and even a half-hearted attempt by Kodak to get into the same market with their Elite paper. I used almost exclusively Gr 3 papers, and could easily tweak any of them them a grade either direction by varying development time alone. Then certain ingredients became restricted for being hazardous or otherwise no longer available. Another long winter of so-so papers. Then, beginning with Polygrade V, truly premium VC papers began filling the void.

Bill Burk · Mar 11, 2021

I use graded paper because I had trouble making up my mind what grade filter to choose. 2 1/2 and 3 looked the same and I couldn’t tell from test strips which way to go. With graded paper it’s obvious a thin negative goes on 3 and a brilliant one goes on 2

If neither looks good I can always try a multigrade with 1 or 4 filter, by that point it would be obvious which direction I need to go

Bill Burk · Mar 11, 2021

I am not pleased to hear Galerie 2 is hard to come by. That paper is one of the reasons why my plan works

DREW WILEY · Mar 12, 2021

You can always standardize on certain VC papers as if they were graded, and then just tweak the contrast with exposure light color changes when actually necessary. The ones I use are very close to the Grade 3 plain light contrast level I was accustomed to in days of yore. I get a much higher percentage of keeper prints than I possibly could with Ilfobrom Galerie. Tonality wise, MGCT is just as cool and rich, but distinctly more affordable.

Bill Burk · Mar 12, 2021

What drives me nuts about plain light contrast is comparing to filter 3 contrast.

I will cross that bridge when I have to. Until then it’s 2 or 3 and obvious which one a negative needs

Bill Burk · Mar 12, 2021

The main point I wanted to offer that makes me like graded paper is that my choices are clear and it is easy to make up my mind.

I found it difficult to make decisions with filters that are designed to be a half grade apart.

Sure I could pick up a set and hide the half grades. One day that might be what I have to do.

Sirius Glass · Mar 12, 2021

Bill Burk said:
The main point I wanted to offer that makes me like graded paper is that my choices are clear and it is easy to make up my mind.

I found it difficult to make decisions with filters that are designed to be a half grade apart.

Sure I could pick up a set and hide the half grades. One day that might be what I have to do.

Versus that with a color head I have an infinite number of choices between 00 and 5. Would I like the ability to have the range up to 6 or 7. Yes.

Donald Qualls · Mar 12, 2021

Bill Burk said:
I found it difficult to make decisions with filters that are designed to be a half grade apart.

Sure I could pick up a set and hide the half grades. One day that might be what I have to do.

Or you could embrace split filtering and microgrades... For some images, a 2.7 is better than either a 2 1/2 or a 3 -- and you can test the equivalent of 2.6, 2.7, and 2.8 on the way to deciding that.

MattKing · Mar 12, 2021

And most important of all, with variable contrast you can achieve different amounts of contrast in different parts of the print.
So that scene with gorgeous highlights, weighty and impactful shadows and mid-tones that are just blah can be rescued from the also-ran category.

Don_ih · Mar 12, 2021

I have a big pile of graded paper bought in various piles from various places (some as big as 20x24)- most of it is grade 2 or grade 5. The older lower grade paper tends to have much more fog than the grade 3 and higher. Grade 1 is normally useless.
I enjoy using the graded paper (when it's accurate) but you really need the right negative. I have a box of Ektalure (normal) that I reserve for my family portraits. I always have to be extra careful making the negative (normally 4x5) or I just can't use the paper. But it's just such good paper....

bedrof · Mar 13, 2021

I use mostly graded papers, but that is due to ease of getting fine (and rather cheap) Slavich Unibrom and Bromportrait in Semisoft or Normal grades. These two cover my needs, but I also got some graded Fomabrom. Recently obtained Bromofort (bb 1992) proved to be fine for normal BW printing.
But I'm just too lazy to fiddle with an MG stock.

Mainecoonmaniac · Mar 13, 2021

bedrof said:
But I'm just too lazy to fiddle with an MG stock.

I’m so lazy, I’d rather fiddle with MG filters.

DREW WILEY · Mar 13, 2021

I already mentioned that VC can be used just like a fixed grade paper if you wish. Nobody is forcing you to jump thru fancy hoops. But they also give you tremendous potential and wiggle room should you choose to take advantage of it.
And if you have a colorhead, working with VC papers becomes especially easy.

Paul Howell · Mar 13, 2021

I use to be Graded Paper snob, but with grade 2 almost if not impossible to find, Foma VC, FB, side by side cannot tell the difference from prints made on graded number 2.

Ian Grant · Mar 13, 2021

My main papers have been VC for many years with the demise of Agfa Record Rapid which was replaced by MCC. With the advent of MCC and Multigrade IV Fibre based and their RC equivalents reached a new level in terms of image quality matching graded papers in ease of use.

The best VC paper I've used is Forte (adox) Polywarmtone. It's forgotten that there are/were downsides to graded papers particularly Ilfor Galerie with it's wide grade spacing, I do have some graded papers and have 3b developers on the shelf to obtain intermediary gades, so a Soft working developer ID-3 almost identical to Kodak UK's D165 (Selectol Soft) and Afda Adaptol, and a Contrast (Press) developer my own PQ variant of Ilford ID-14.

But like others it's just so easy to use the Colour heads of my enlargers to dial in the contrast I want. I also have my own way of split grade filtration devised long ago before split grade printing was known. It's a lot easier than having to use different print developers.

Ian

Paul Howell · Mar 23, 2021

I just ordered a packet of Foma RETROBROM #2, it's a warm tone paper, I have not used much in way of warm tone papers over the year, I hope that Dektol or one of it's clones will moderate the warm tone effect to some degree. I use Foma VC in both RC and FB so I'm hopeful.

bedrof · Mar 23, 2021

@Paul Howell
Not sure if it really is warmtone, but it gives visible greenish cast and tones easily in selenium or polysulfide toners.

Paul Howell · Mar 23, 2021

Good to know, what I've on the Foma site says warm tone, but that was early on, may be a true warm tone, my order has been shipped, will know in a day or so.

Michel Hardy-Vallée · Mar 23, 2021

Graded papers used to be more available, so for a while I used the Kentmere Bromide and J&C Nuance. Never tried Ilfobrom because of the price and limited availability.

I came back to VC paper mainly because that's pretty much all I can find and because of convenience. I'd be curious to try them again. I'm a better printer than I used to be, so I believe I would be more able to judge the differences that matter to me, but availability is still dwindling. Last time I checked, it seemed only FOMA offered a decent range of grade.

Paul Howell · Mar 23, 2021

When Salvich carried by Freestyle and then B&H there was a wide range of grades and surfaces, at this point not sure how to get Salvich in the U.S. seems to be available in Europe.

Lachlan Young · Mar 23, 2021

Paul Howell said:
Good to know, what I've on the Foma site says warm tone, but that was early on, may be a true warm tone, my order has been shipped, will know in a day or so.

It's warm/ a fraction greenish in Harman warmtone, but it's also on a fairly distinctive off-white cream-ish, slight hint of green, base. Quite a nice surface finish on the 152. I'd imagine the usual cooling additives (PMT etc - or Finisher Blue from Moersch) will have a pretty strong impact. It's supposed to be a bromoiodide paper, which is fairly unusual today.

Who uses graded paper?

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