Adorama house brand paper any good?

[mto'brien]

hi,

sorry if this has been covered before, but i'm wondering if anyone has had any experience with Adorama paper? specifically FB VC matte. does it compare at all favorably to other papers?

i have a big project to print and want to keep cost down but i also don't want to work with poor qua paper.

they do offer sample packs which is nice so i can try some out, but i thought i'd check with you all first.

thanks.

 

[twopointeight]

No first hand experience, but I recently met a street photographer in Coney Island that raved about this paper. He seemed to be a shooter and darkroom printer for many years and I took his recommendation seriously, but have not tried it yet.

 

[mto'brien]

cool, thanks for the reply. i think i'll order a wee bit.

 

[ZeissFan]

I doubt that Adorama is coating its own paper, so it's likely rebadged paper from another supplier. The question is: Who is the manufacturer. Perhaps, Ilford, Adox, Kentmere or someone else?

 

[mto'brien]

my guess would be rebadged, too. i think it might be worth getting to the bottom of this because it is very reasonably priced. the specs on the adorama site indicate warmtone. and it's about 1/2 the price of major brand warmtone.

 

[SteveM_NJ]

Been using their papers for years , i've never had any complaints from the RC VC papers of theirs.
(But I don't "work" in the darkroom for clients, it's for personal use only, you may have higher requirements if you are doing a job.)

 

[mto'brien]

sounds good, thanks Steve. This is for personal use as well, no real requirements other than it be FB matte and avoiding garbage.

 

[HelenOster]

hi,

....i'm wondering if anyone has had any experience with Adorama paper? specifically FB VC matte. does it compare at all favorably to other papers?

If you'd like to drop me an email I can give you the info you need: HelenO@adorama.com

 

[karlori]

Wow can't believe this -Helen kudos to you, first I see how devoted you are helping people on POTN and now here, a pleasant surprise !
Makes me more confident doing future business with adorama.

 

[PKR]

Thanks Helen!

p.

 

[mto'brien]

email sent, thanks Helen.

 

[HelenOster]

I tried but failed to get the info from our purchasing department re our house brand, because we are bound by the vendor / manufacturer relationship in terms of information we are permitted to give out.

I can tell you that on our packaging it states: “MADE IN THE EU”, where we have a high quality facility, making and coating the papers for us. The feedback from Photographers has been that the Adorama Variable Grade darkroom paper has brighter whites and richer blacks than Ilford’s MG4 - at a HUGE saving!

 

[watchyourbackgrounds]

On a related note before the Adoramacentric posts fade, if you're looking into plastic reels, try the Adoramas. Three times easier than Jobo or Paterson. Really good.

 

[mto'brien]

i've made some prints with the Adorama FB matte paper i ordered and i have to say i'm quite pleased with the results. i still have no idea who coats the paper for them, but it is quality stuff in case anyone else was wondering...

 

[BillBingham2]

I worked in Paper Sensitizing one summer in college (Rochester) and it's a very interesting processes. Good to hear Adorama has a great supplier over there. Thanks for the review and update. Having someone like Helen who follows through and tries really has moved Adorama up on my short list of places to shop.

B2