[LargeFormat] paper

[Don Feinberg]

> Hmmm, I hated the look and I prefer Gallerie or MG Fiber or even MG Pearl
's
> neutral to slightly reddish image.  I use Dektol 1+3 , a mild Stop, and
> regular High Speed (color) Fixer.  I wonder why I see a greenish and not a
> warm brownish image.

There are several important differences in my particular darkroom
process ---

1) Developers:  I never use Dektol with any paper.  I mainly use either
Ansco 130 (which I mix myself) or Formulary BW 65, or one of three lith
developers.  "No green" with any of them. (Though MG FB WT does not
generally "lith" very well, one can achieve some very nice effects that way;
slight yellows or creams on warm black can be had.)

1A) Developers:  I have tried several other specific "warm tone" developers
with the Ilford MG FB WT; with these I can easily achieve varying degrees of
"warm" tone -- all the way to reddish.

2) Stop bath: I don't use a stop bath as such unless I using lith.  That is
because I use a complete alkaline process -- including the fixer, Formulary
TF4.  This results in much shorter washing times, and no need whatever for
hypo-clear.  Using TF-4, one gets better results by not using an acid stop,
because the carried over stop neutralizes the alkaline fixer!  So the use of
a stop bath, per se, is not recommended.

Of course, you must adjust your exposure and development so that you always
fully develop your print (which should be done anyway).  I have standardized
on 2-1/2 minutes with BW65 or with Ansco 130.  Then, any small amount of
additional development that occurs because you didn't use a "short stop" is
invisible.

3) Washing: I don't have to wash the paper overly long.  From TF4, I get a
very clean wash in about 20 to 25 minutes, tops.

Using this process, I get absolutely **delightful** warm tones.  Not too
warm, not too cold.  Very controllable.  And no green under any
circumstances.

4) Toning:  I demand the "no green" up front, because I don't always use
selenium.  I have an arsenal of other toners (most of which I make up
myself), and I can't always count on using selenium toning to remove green
(like you had to always do years ago with each and every sheet of DuPont
Varigam in Dektol! Ugh!).

All that said -- I've only used a couple of hundred sheets of the stuff, so
I can't really say I'm an expert at it.

Don Feinberg
donf@cybernex.net