Proof on RC, Final Print on FB?

[brian steinberger]

I recently started printing work prints on RC paper again. I used to use RC alot for first attempt prints of negatives I was interested in producing final prints. It worked well, but then eventually went over exclusively to FB from beginning to end of print. I was wondering how many use RC to determine cropping and burning and dodging times. I know contrast is not always the same, but it seems to me a very good and fast way of getting to a good work print, ready to transfer over to fiber.

Thoughts?

[sly]

I find the tonal range very different, so I've never bothered. It might be useful for getting a general idea of whether I WANT to make an FB print. Need for cropping, burning, dodging could be assessed. I usually do this now with the computer. I scan negs just so I can have a gander, try a few different crops, and play a little with contrast. I think this gives me as much info as I'd get from an RC print.

Have you tried it? I'd be interested to hear if others use that work flow.

[Oren Grad]

I don't know of any RC/FB pair where the two papers share the same curve shape. Among the papers I know best, it's certainly not true of Ilford MGIVRCD and MGIVFB, or of MGRCWT and MGFBWT, or of Agfa or Adox MCP and MCC - in each case, the RC and FB versions are very different papers.

[Mark Crabtree]

I find the tonal range very different, so I've never bothered. It might be useful for getting a general idea of whether I WANT to make an FB print. Need for cropping, burning, dodging could be assessed. I usually do this now with the computer. I scan negs just so I can have a gander, try a few different crops, and play a little with contrast. I think this gives me as much info as I'd get from an RC print.

Have you tried it? I'd be interested to hear if others use that work flow.

I would suspect this is the wrong forum for that, but it seems like a heck of a lot more trouble than making an RC print anyway.

I resort to RC sometimes for economy and convenience, and nearly always for commercial and "gimme" prints. The thing I don't like about work printing "good" negatives on RC is that I often don't get around to making another print and it ends up being my only print. Of course, for those folks who actually like RC paper, that would not be a problem.

[RalphLambrecht]

I've done it a few times, and if you accept a bit of fine-tuning when making the FB print, it can be done and will save a bit of time, but one must accept that the tonal curves are different.

[brian steinberger]

I find the tonal range very different, so I've never bothered. It might be useful for getting a general idea of whether I WANT to make an FB print. Need for cropping, burning, dodging could be assessed. I usually do this now with the computer. I scan negs just so I can have a gander, try a few different crops, and play a little with contrast. I think this gives me as much info as I'd get from an RC print.

Have you tried it? I'd be interested to hear if others use that work flow.

I do use this work flow as well, but burning and dodging in PS is super easy and doesn't translate at all to percentages of burn in times and also which grade to burn in at. To me this seems easily determined with RC paper. I use F-stop printing so once I gather a printing map from an RC print I can then just find the proper contrast to begin on FB then everything else goes just as the RC print.

[tkamiya]

I can get a fairly ok print by just using a small clip of paper and do some test. By the time I make a full size proof print, it's pretty close to what I want.... which means using different paper with different response and texture won't help me much. I learned this pretty quickly when I started printing with FB. (I use Ilford MGIV for both FB and RC)

These days, if I want FB, I start with FB.

[sly]

I would suspect this is the wrong forum for that, but it seems like a heck of a lot more trouble than making an RC print anyway.

Just for clarification - I don't scan all my negs - just the ones I've got questions about - is A or B better? Did I get the focus right? Would this be better cropped? If it looks like a great negative - I go straight to the FB.

[tkamiya]

Have you tried it? I'd be interested to hear if others use that work flow.

I do that but only for very select negatives. I do that to find out what's possible. Then I go into my darkroom. I find it is a great tool to visualize the final image that I want on paper.

[ic-racer]

Ilford Multigrade IV RC pearl and Multigrade IV FB Glossy are are pretty similar.