printing on expired paper

[buckpago]

good day fellows

Im having a exhibition in mid nov, theres now bw photo paper available here in philippines now. I planning to use my old stocks of paper and so I can rid of them also.

any tips on what to do, anti fogging chems ect.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Benzotriazole. Concentrations required are very low (sorry, can't remember what) and paper speed falls by a factor of 2-5x. Some of the best prints I've ever seen were made on outdated paper with the developer 'doped' with benzotriazole.

Cheers,

R.

 

[clayne]

Yep, you have to BZT it if it presents fog. However first make sure that the paper's actually fogged by developing a blank sheet that has only been exposed to safelight.

If it's Ilford or similar you may be surprised to find no fog.

Alot of the "old school" classic ClBr papers hold up pretty well too.

 

[shadowfox]

How expired is the paper?

If it's just right, and the humidity and temperature hasn't taken its toll, you may actually be using an almost pre-flashed paper out of the box. Meaning it'll be easier to print negatives with high-contrast.

Again, test it first, if you like what you see, why do you have to do anything to the suspected (not proven) fogging?

 

[gnashings]

I think the first step (especially with an exhibition on the line!) is to do a lot of testing. Usually, I find old paper surprises me with just how well it keeps... but... there is the flip side to that and yes, it can get ugly. I would say before you worry about what to do IF the paper is fogged, etc., is to determine if it is indeed affected. If I was to go with a hunch, I would say you will probably have perfectly good, useable paper that needs no additional care. Second on the list of likelihoods is that it will be somewhat, very slightly less contrasty - like has been mentioned above, this could be good, and usually if it is an issue it is one that can be resolved with minimal contrast adjustment at the enlarger. I would say make a variety of test prints first, pick a range of negs that will expose (no pun intended) a variety of possible weaknesses in the paper if indeed they are present (ie low contrast, high contrast, over- under-developed, etc.). At this stage it seems like a bit of a case of "the sky is falling" since you're dealing with an unknown quantity - or perhaps in this case it would be more accurate say...quality. Cheers and best of luck with the exhibition!

 

[Tom A]

I would recommend some benzotriazole. Even if the paper is just a bit fogged - it does give a contrast that can be a bit disturbing. I use a 1% solution of Benzo, 10 ml/iter of working developer.
Benzo is tricky to dissolve. I take 1 gram of Benzo - dissolve it in 100 ml of hot water (50-60+ C). Let it stand overnight and check that it is dissolved properly. Add this to the print developer in the 10ml/1000 ml of developer.
If you add too much, speed of the paper can drop considerably - with the 10ml/1000ml dilution - it is usually held at manageble levels.
You can also pick a paper developer that fits. If you are using old, outdated fibre paper (baryta) I have found less problem with fogging. Some of the VC papers on RC stock - are more sensitive.
My choice of paper developer is Du Ponts D54. You mix it yourself, fresh for each session. It does give remarkable blacks, deep, with lots of detail in the shadows.
If the boxes have been opened and sitting around for a long time - fair chance you get fogging!! Start with un-opened boxes and as suggested, process one sheet, unexposed at the time you will be using. This will show if there is any residual fog ( grey, veiled discoloration).
Good luck and post some results when you start printing.

 

[xwhatsit]

I got some Sterling paper very cheap. VC/RC. It must be from the 90s at least? Anyway, apart from the contrast (now I know the reason for sure -- comparing against Fomaspeed) it seems to produce perfectly fine results, correct highlights etc.