POLL : The BEST enlarging paper is...

[snaggs]

Here we have an exercise in group think...

 

[Stephan]

Antarctican penguin hair paper is the best, hands down.



(Oh and RC VC for contact sheets )

 

[Honu-Hugger]

Premium Kodak paper...time to buy another freezer.

 

[Chaser]

how about seagull rc?

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Ilford and AGFA together in two choices? Hmm.

Ilford Cooltone Multigraded, in general are very good.

 

[Roman]

For 'regular' (ie. no special effects w/ toners, lith dev., bleaching) printing: Agfa Multicontrast Classic and Premium - real deep blacks, real crips highlights, very punchy, IMHO leagues above Ilford MGIV (I'm probably one of very few people who does not like that paper at all...)

For lith printing: Foma Fomatone MG (in FB and RC versions) - really easy to work with in lith developers, very colorful (reds, oranges, gold tones), relatively little blocking up of shadows & fine grain (fro lith prints).

For toning in gold (-> blueish tones) or selenium (-> brownish/red tones): Forte Polywarmtone.

Roman

 

[Bryce]

Are we serious here? What makes a paper good to you?
Ilford's fibre multigrade neutral paper offers the best shadow gradation I've seen anyplace. The blacks are quite greenish, though, and toning is only so effective on it. Also, the paper shows nice clothlike texture. But the emulsion cracks so easily when dry, you've got to be oh so careful. And it's only available in full gloss.
I never tried Agfa's papers. No comment.
Same for Kodak, though most people say no loss.
Seagull's fiber VC neutral paper is very similar to Ilford's. A little whiter whites, a little blacker blacks, otherwise similar.
Seagull's fiber graded neutral paper is gorgeous except for the sky blue whites. But who wants to fool with graded papers? Not me.
RC paper is for the birds in my eyes. The best I've seen is only a little better looking than the best inkjet materials, and it tones like my car flies.
My favorite paper? Forte Fiber neutral semi-matte VC. No, the blacks won't separate as well as Ilford's, but they're black. Really black for non gloss paper. And the whites are closer to white than anything else I've seen, maybe just a smidge creamy. You've got to be careful with selenium, you can end up purple if you're not careful. Also, doesn't seem to respond to contrast filters as well as most. Figure you've got grades 1-4, not 00-5. And use Dektol. Ilford's MG developer will turn this stuff a blue green that's not even artsy.
So how could we have missed Forte in the poll???????????????????

 

[jaap]

The whole range ilford multi grade warmtone papers is very good

 

[Fred]

I've had very good results with different Ilford / Kentmere / Fotospeed VC papers. Ilford is thinner than some but produces fine images. It's also happier than some in a weaker (or older) developer solution.

 

[traveller]

How about Adox FB and RC?

 

[rxmd]

Fomatone MG and Polycoldtone (not Polywarm). I really like Polycold, only mine is all but gone and it's not made anymore. Pity.

 

[Dave H]

different images suit different papers as we all know, kentmere, ilford and Forte. (Anyway never mind which brand, I try to use FB for my prints as they seem to sit "in" the paper rather than "on" it as they do with VC)

 

[Harry Lime]

I think Agfa Classic Fiber was just about the best around, but now of course it's dead, except for what's still in the pipeline. This was my standard paper and I will really miss it, once my stash is gone.

Azo of course is a whole different animal and probably produces the best results of any paper, but unfortunately it is for contact printing only. (I've heard that there was an attempt to use it with an enlarger, but I'm not sure what came of that.)

So, I supposed that leaves us with Ilford's top of the line fiber papers, which are extremely popular with professional printers.

 

[Turtle]

The best all rouder IMO was Agfa MCC

Neutral enough to be neutral but could pass as warm in the right dev.
Great consistency and quality control.
Loads of image depth
Just printed right!

Successor?........Fotospeed Legacy.

I love(ed) Oriental Seagul but the last few lots I had seemd lower in contrast and generally lacking (could have been sitting in a warehouse for 5 years I spose!)

 

[gregg]

Agfa (RIP) MC Classic 111 fiber is still in the pipeline at Freestylephoto.biz. I hear that Fomabrom BC FB Variant 111 is [FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]pretty close but will wait to order until my Agfa stock runs out.
[/FONT]

 

[David Goldfarb]

Azo is generally considered a contact paper, not an enlarging paper, unless you've got a high-powered Azo enlarger.

My personal favorite for enlargements has been sold under various labels--Efke Emaks graded, Cachet Expo RF, Maco Expo RF, J&C Exposition graded, and now J&C Nuance graded.

All the premium papers are very capable these days, and it's a matter of taste. The thing to do is buy a bunch of 25-sheet packs and make a file of reference prints, printing the same neg (or a few negs) with each paper.

 

[E_Aiken]

Agfa was mounds-pounds, sad it's gone. Of existing stock, I like Forte's warmtone and Oriental for cold/neutral. Both really require selenium IMO to reach their full potential. Bergger is also looking pretty excellent based upon a small few prints I did - I'll have to experiment further when time permits. Oriental really nails it for me for colder toned printing, but my favorite look is that slightly warm, not obviously warmtone paper. Forte is great, but man - Agfa really had something else there.

 

[thurows]

I miss Agfa Brovira 119

 

[Bryce]

Can we all agree on this?
"The best paper is the one you actually use."

 

[nikon_sam]

Can we all agree on this?
"The best paper is the one you actually use."

The one that best fits the neg...

(Is that what you meant???)