Newbie help

[Guy Pinhas]

Folks.

I found a local darkroom with an instructor that's going to show me the ropes. Woo-hoo! I know there's a learning curve but I am up to the challenge.

However, I do have some questions and I am hoping you guys can help me. There seem to be quite a few options paper wise that I am not sure what to do. I am not into the glossy look, mat it is for me. That aside, I'm in the dark. Pun sooooooo intended 🙂

I was told by the guy that's going to help me that as beginner, I should start with RC paper. So I am looking at two brands. Foma and Ilford. Any tips from the community would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for taking the time.

Guy.

PS: For some reason the search function on the site doesn't seem to be working out for me, so if there is a thread on this, please post the link.

 

[retinax]

Congrats, you'll enjoy it!
There really aren't that many RC options. One from Ilford and one from Foma if you want neutral tone. Adox is another option. Save the more expensive warm or cold tone for later. I bought Ilford from British shops, before Brexit that was cheaper then from continental ones even after shipping and still might well be. I've had an issue with uneven surface with the new Ilford paper, and I've had problems with silvering out with Foma paper .. it's a wash for me.

 

[Deleted member 65559]

Guy, At the beginning, buy the cheapest. To learn you will need to burn through a lot of paper. Remember what they say about "10,000 hours"..... You will learn a lot along the way. In Canada, Ilford is reliably available.... Foma much less so. Adox dropped off the map. Once you've gotten to a comfortable stage in the darkroom and you have some negatives that you want fine prints of, then you can start the learning on FB.
One thing that potentially will help you is to keep good notes as you learn...do some journalling. Things your instructor or others might tell you, thoughts on the process, successes and failures will all help you advance.

 

[KenR]

Ilford

Ilford

I have been impressed with the Ilford/Harmon company’s commitment to black and white materials and use their papers exclusively, because of their availability and their quality. I agree with started with RC paper - matte or glossy is your personal preference. You can then move on to their fiber paper and what amazing papers they are. Prints have a special glow when printed on fiber paper. Your times and contrast setting for your RC prints will be a great starting point if and when you want to reprint them on fiber. Good luck on your darkroom journey.

 

[Shac]

Check out Chris Crawford's website and tutorials - he an extremely helpful and active RRF member.
https://crawfordphotoschool.com/

He has his own subformum
https://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=239

 

[Guy Pinhas]

Thanks everyone for chiming in! Practice makes perfect is what I've been told 🙂

 

[Nitroplait]

You may want to try different surface textures. Mat RC paper looks "dead" in my opinion and blacks don't look as deep.

 

[Nitroplait]

By the way; use Google to search this site. End your search string with:

site:.rangefinderforum.com​