Will There Ever Be Single Weight Paper Again?

[Petzi]

That's the stuff. It really is beautiful paper. That shop sells it at a huge profit though. The price listed is more than $20 above retail price.

That does not surprise me because he buys it at retail prices. He can't get anything from Fuji directly as far as I know. The markup seems fair to me...

[Petzi]

Some years ago Kodak stopped making any FB color paper as there was little or no demand.

What? Colour FB paper? Are you sure you mean colour FB paper? I thought this had been discontinued in the early 1970s?

[Gerald Koch]

What? Colour FB paper? Are you sure you mean colour FB paper? I thought this had been discontinued in the early 1970s?

My point in bringing up the color example was that FB is discontinued first leaving only RC. This seems to be the current trend in B&W papers. Each year fewer and fewer FB papers are made.

[Photo Engineer]

FB color was discontinued in the 60s. All paper supports have trouble surviving the lengthy color process. Going to RC was a real improvement.

PE

[Charles Webb]

Photo Engineer,
You brought back many happy memories with your list of what once was. I was fortunate to be able to use many of those papers. I was very fond of the Medalist V surface, it allowed very easy pencil work to be done on it, and the tone of the paper pretty much matched the applied lead. A white vignette portrait, could have bits of art work added to compliment the image,
cross hatching etc. I still love Ektalure X for low key display prints. Most of my old railroad pictures are also printed on it. Ektalure G and the various soft developers for it made for wonderful portrait printing. Yes, by golly much like Dupont's Valure Blue Black in grade 2 & 3 I sure do miss em!

BTW, back then, AZO was pretty much despised by most dark room printers, who would of thought then of it's reputation today? :-)

Charlie......................................

I would support any manufacturer who would bring a single WT paper back on the the market regardless of it being being VC. I would love to see it happen, but am not holding my breath!

[Petzi]

FB color was discontinued in the 60s. All paper supports have trouble surviving the lengthy color process. Going to RC was a real improvement.

I think it wouldn't be such a big issue today, because the process is much simpler and faster (fewer baths). FB paper in roller transporter machines could be a problem though.

I would certainly buy RA-4 FB paper if it was available.

[Photo Engineer]

I think it wouldn't be such a big issue today, because the process is much simpler and faster (fewer baths). FB paper in roller transporter machines could be a problem though.

I would certainly buy RA-4 FB paper if it was available.

Try running some FB through a blix process.

It does not always work, sometimes you get ferric/ferrous ion retained in the support leaving an orange dmin.

PE

[Photo Engineer]

Photo Engineer,
You brought back many happy memories with your list of what once was. I was fortunate to be able to use many of those papers. I was very fond of the Medalist V surface, it allowed very easy pencil work to be done on it, and the tone of the paper pretty much matched the applied lead. A white vignette portrait, could have bits of art work added to compliment the image,
cross hatching etc. I still love Ektalure X for low key display prints. Most of my old railroad pictures are also printed on it. Ektalure G and the various soft developers for it made for wonderful portrait printing. Yes, by golly much like Dupont's Valure Blue Black in grade 2 & 3 I sure do miss em!

BTW, back then, AZO was pretty much despised by most dark room printers, who would of thought then of it's reputation today? :-)

Charlie......................................

I would support any manufacturer who would bring a single WT paper back on the the market regardless of it being being VC. I would love to see it happen, but am not holding my breath!

Charlie;

Remember Velox and Velite then?

I used to park in a lot off Velox street at Kodak Park.

They were a lot more common contact printing papers than Azo back 30 - 40 years ago.

PE

[Petzi]

Try running some FB through a blix process.

It does not always work, sometimes you get ferric/ferrous ion retained in the support leaving an orange dmin.

How about keeping bleach and fix separated then? Does that solve or mitigate the problem?

[Photo Engineer]

How about keeping bleach and fix separated then? Does that solve or mitigate the problem?

Not really. Iron, even complexed with EDTA likes paper. If you look at some RC papers, you can see (in a big stack of them) that the edge of the stack is reddish. This is edge penetration of the blix.

PE