Ilfochrome in 2014

helvetica

helvetica

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I was taken back by how beautiful the dye destruction prints where at an exhibition of Magnum photography in my town. I have always had the outlook that the darkroom was for B&W, color was not worth the trouble. Now that Ilfochrome has been discontinued, there is precious time left to give it one last try. I can look up the technical "how to" details, but my questions for those of you with experience:
  1. How long will undeveloped Ilfochrome last if stored properly? (chemistry fridge)
  2. How does a (good) Ilfochrome print compare to a Fuji Crystal color negative print? A metalic paper inkjet print?
  3. Are there any legitimate alternatives to the developing chemistry?
 
I have a few of my E-6 images that were printed on Ilfochrome - it is light years ahead of inkjet prints. It is one hell of a shame that Ilford killed it. :(
 
Remember it is Ilford Imaging Switzerland that killed it, an entirely separate company unrelated to Harman, who continue to manufacture Ilford black & white materials
 
Regular C-Prins done properly are similarly spectacular. Digital completely fails when it comes to printing.
 
helvetica said:
  1. How long will undeveloped Ilfochrome last if stored properly? (chemistry fridge)
  2. How does a (good) Ilfochrome print compare to a Fuji Crystal color negative print? A metalic paper inkjet print?
  3. Are there any legitimate alternatives to the developing chemistry?
Click to expand...

The paper might last pretty long - I got pretty close to fresh results from paper that had been expired for half a decade and was not even refrigerated. It was the chemistry that only stored for a year or two and went bad within days to weeks after mixing.

As a matter of fact, Cibachrome was not quite as good as many prints on gallery display make it appear - it had far more colour separation issues than even mid 1980s (pre RA4) dye-coupler print processes. It was its extraordinary longevity in display that made it the process of choice for art and exhibition prints in spite of its other deficiencies, but it took the full effort of a master printer and a high (time and cash) budget for mask production to get good results from it. In less high budget applications, like backlit ad displays (the main Ciba/Ilfochrome market for most of the time), it usually did not look anywhere as glorious. If the same effort is put into printing, Fuji Crystal C-prints will beat it while fresh, but probably not after ten years on a museum wall. Inkjet, if pigment based, may have equal or even superior longevity - but it is dithered (which will make it look worse in small formats viewed at short distance) and has a digital intermediate.

IIRC early chemistry was published in patents and I've seen recipes on the net as long as fifteen years ago - but some components have hazmat status today, and the more modern and benign processes seem less accessible.
 
That is an interesting revelation! I was mainly interested from the sake of want to say I tried it, while it was still possible. I bitterly regret that I never shot at least one roll of Kodachrome, and it looks like this window is closing too. There are places to find paper still - albeit not from dealers - but 2nd hand chemistry seems too risky to be worth even experimenting with.
 
I suspect the paper will be "good enough" probably need substantial adjustment for blue and deep blacks not as deep. The shelf life of the unopened, hermetically sealed packages was 6 months at 70º F., 9 months at 40º F. and one year frozen, and this was from the date of manufacture.
Source: http://www.gowlphoto.com/printingIlfochrome.html

The chemicals, another story I'm afraid. I think it had 3yrs shelf life from new.
You can run substitutes;

http://www.apug.org/forums/forum40/45854-ilfochrome-developer.html

http://www.apug.org/forums/forum216/93188-ilfochrome-processing-home-photoclub-amateur-2.html

Rather technical, as APUG tends to be.

Wallow in some nostalgia:

http://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/Ilford/Chronology/Ilfochrome Classic_PhotoPro_Oct-Nov1993.pdf
 
http://www.lab-ciba.com/

Talk to Frank Green at the lab ciba. He should be able to answer all of your questions. He is a great guy. He printed on of my 4 by 5 velvia slides as a 40 by 50 inch ciba chrome. It's great, and definitely unique, I prefer it to digital prints but that is my personal preference

Nik
 
Although I've always wanted to try this process but I came too late when it was already commercially discontinued! I'm always amazed at those rare Ilfochrome prints I've seen and always though I've never seen anything that good that's digitally printed.

PS: I do have some 18 sheets of Cibachrome-A RC 20x25cm paper in case anyone's interested experimenting with expired Ciba/Ilfochrome papers. PM me.
 
I used to print cibas in the in the 1980's they were a bugger to print, often contrast masks were the only way to get a full range of tones.

that said a well executed ciba is a thing of joy one of the most wonderful things you can produce, it's passing leaves a gap that just can't be filled by ink of RA4 based papers.
 
I have about 3 or 4 Cibachrome prints I made about 1978. They are great. A couple have spent most of their life in dark storage, but one has been on display for all of its 30 some odd life. It even survived a house fire, keeping its colors true and bright. Sad to see that process go for good.
 
I too have a bunch of Ilfochrome chemicals and paper that I want to sell. I got them with the package of darkroom stuff I bought this summer. I won't use it since I'm certain I will only do B&W prints. Kind of tough to price them...
 
I did Quite a lot of Ciba p4 in the early 80's also. P4 was very corrosive and contrast masking was the routine to get nice prints. All of the Ciba prints we did were fairly large up to 20x24 and often from 8x10 transparencies.

I remember one job I shot on 8x10 was for Dempster Co who manufactured garbage trucks. We needed prints for display in their lobby and needed them roughly six feet in size. We weren't equipped to print that large so we sent the to Meisel color lab in Atlanta and had them mounted on Masonite. When we got them from The lab The only thing you could say was amazing.

I don't have any of the prints that I did in the 80's since they were for clients but I do have a 20x24 landscape from 4x5 made by David Munch. It's truly beautiful.
 
Thank you for the recommendation to contact Frank Green. $70 for an 8x10 seems pretty reasonable when you consider the cost of acquiring the materials and chemicals if you did not have some already. Obviously there would be considerable trial and error to get old stock paper and chemistry to work, especially if you've never printed a 'chrome before.
 
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