What is your current favorite paper/developer combo and why?

[clcolucci58]

I like Iford FB Mattie in dextol I have used Iford multigrade and like that as well. Love FB paper Mattie or semi-mattie but that's just me:🙂
Regards
clc

 

[tycho]

Liquidol paper dev, easy to mix, lasts forever (a couple printing sessions if the nber of prints are low per session), ships free from Amazon.

Slavich Unibrom, graded, single weight, fiber, matte, smooth finish. Has a nice charcol black matte that pops and is so cold (I'm a cold tone kinda folk). Not that into WT papers.

Also love messing with Ektalure, but that stuff's as scarce as hens teeth...

Where do you buy your Slavich Unibrom in the US? None of the big named places seem to carry it, nor Freestyle.

 

[tycho]

I'm going to answer my own question if anyone else runs into this thread, Slavich Unibrom is no longer manufactured. For those who have used both, or just knowledgeable, is Fomabrom comparable to Unibrom? I'm looking for a cold tone paper, thanks.

 

[shadowfox]

excuse me, no provocation intended, but what´s the sense of scanning an fb- print? the print is the end- result, isn´t it? to show off on the net it´s enough to scan the neg, right?

With my current process, sometimes I don't scan anymore. I read the negatives, the ones with good potentials, I print in the darkroom. And after working on it for two hours in the darkroom, if I get something that I like, it's easier to just scan the print and share.

 

[mob81]

This is a good thread 🙂
I recently bought ilford multigrade developer (Is it possible to develop warm tone papers with it)?

 

[Rob-F]

Going Back to Fiber Base!

Going Back to Fiber Base!

This weekend I took a box of outdated Ilford Fiber Base out of the darkroom drawer, and printed some 6 X 7 negatives on it, to see if it was still any good. It was. It had been a while since I had used FB paper. I was struck by how much deeper and richer the tonality is, compared to RC!

I'm going back to fiber base, and I think I'll start with some of that Ilford warm tone Roger wrote about! It's not that much harder than RC!

 

[Fotohuis]

For regular work: Fomaspeed Variant III 311/312 or Fomatone MG 331/332.

In fiber: Fomabrom Variant 111/112, Fomatone MG 131/132 and Ilford Gallery (2)

For some contact prints: Fomalux SP.

Some specials: Fomatone MG 532 II (Natural-cream), 542 II (Chamois).

 

[Schlapp]

I really like Ilford Art300 for really small prints. All texture 🙂

Otherwise Slavich does it for me in Rollie Creative Lith

 

[Findus]

I never got over the loss of Polywarmton to be honest, but after a looooong period of searching, I think I finally found a paper which I like *almost* as much: Fomatone 132, developed in Moersch Meritol... Delicious, creamy warm tones, just wonderful! Now if it also liths and tones well, then it will become my main paper (at least until PWT comes back and is as good as the old Forte stuff 😉 but even then, I may keep on using it)

For those prints that require a more neutral tone, I think Adox MCC or Fomabrom 111 are really nice, again in Meritol or in ECO 4812. MCC is somewhat flexible in that it reacts to the developer (more neutral or warmer, without reaching the warmth of Fomatone 132) and Fomabrom 111 has a very nice, neutral tone and shows a wonderful color in second-pass lith. It also tones beautifully.