Dilution strength

Matt and Darkroomlike, are the ILFORD MGIV 20.3x25.4 PEARL 25sh these types of papers?

Spidy said:

Matt and Darkroomlike, are the ILFORD MGIV 20.3x25.4 PEARL 25sh these types of papers?

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Which type?
They are not papers designed for activation processors - if there is any developer incorporated, it is a trace amount used to merely "tweak" the speed and contrast of the paper.
I've had no longevity problems with MGIV - pre or post development. I have seen some problems with fogged MGIII paper, but that would have been more than 10 years old before use.

Spidy said:

Matt and Darkroomlike, are the ILFORD MGIV 20.3x25.4 PEARL 25sh these types of papers?

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The short answer is, they are not designed for activation processing.

Here I quote from the technical data PDF from Harman's site.
"MULTIGRADE IV RC paper can be processed in all
conventional machines for black and white resin
coated papers. It is not suitable, however, for
activation type processing."

An activating machine is basically two sets of squeegee rollers, a set of in-feed rollers which push the paper into the bath, and an out-feed set of rollers which push the paper totally out of the machine. One then, in the case of the Agfa unit I owned, washes the print in a very quick rinse in a tray and either hangs it up to dry, or puts it through a paper dryer. I mostly used a hair dryer, ending up with a dry to dry process of about 1½ minutes. Speed was the essence, longevity didn't matter as most of these prints were only used once for a paste up before being placed in front of a reproduction camera.

The machine itself, mine was a small unit, would have been approximately 600mm wide by 150mm high by about 200mm deep, using about 1½ litres of activation solution; which I reused and reused until I couldn't get black blacks.
From the time you place the paper into the feed rollers, it would be about 10 seconds in total before you would see the paper emerging from the out-feed rollers; very fast processing indeed.

The paper you referred to, is a standard Ilford multigrade paper with a pearl surface.

Where in Melbourne are you located?
I can show you much of the stuff we are talking about in my darkroom.

Mick.

Mick Fagan said:

The short answer is, they are not designed for activation processing.

..........

Where in Melbourne are you located?
I can show you much of the stuff we are talking about in my darkroom.

Mick.

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Thanks for the offer Mick. I'm in the northwestern suburbs, near the airport. You?

I'm almost directly south, Moorabbin area. I assume you could be in St Albans, Keilor or near areas.

Not an issue, send me a pm. (conversation)

Mick.

Mick Fagan said:

Well with my current paper developer, which is E72 (a more environmentally friendly version of Dektol) contrast is the difference.

For highest contrast and how I almost always mix my paper developer, I use 1:1 (water to stock solution ratio). 1:2 or 1:3 dilution gives me a slightly lower contrast and a very slightly different look. With different papers that variable can be minimal or reasonably noticeable. As the look can be minimal, sometimes I will do maximum dilution to stretch out the amount of chemistry usage.

My E72 is mixed up from chemicals that I obtain from Vanbar, which is in Melbourne.

Welcome to the forum

Mick.

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Hi, Mick,
This post is pretty dated at this point, but If you're still using the E-72 developer I'd love to hear what your developing times range between. I just made some of this for the first time and wonder how long I might need to soak regular fiber based paper.

Thanks!

Sean, I haven't used fibre paper for decades (generally) so I cannot give you any times. RC paper times are pretty close, after all the emulsion is essentially the same, unless anyone knows otherwise.

These days I do most of my printing using my Durst Printo processor, with the temperature set to 30ºC or close to it. The paper is in the developer for 45 seconds, squeegeed as it leaves the developer bath, then it has 45 seconds in a fixer bath. It is run through a set of squeegee rollers into a tray of water, I then pick the paper up and transfer to another tray of water for an archival wash of at least 60 seconds, then I put the paper through a paper dryer.

We have a water problem in this country, no matter how hard I could try, I could never justify wasting that much water. Not to mention the water bill, which is astronomical enough.

Processing time for full development of Ilford RC paper is 22 seconds at 30ºC, so, with my 45 seconds at 30ºC, I am in very safe territory.

Yep, I still use E72, mixed some up yesterday for printing this coming Wednesday.

Mick.

The more diluted the developer, the toning color was more appealing, especially selenium, as the paper seemed to take more color faster
I guess it is because of the grain and contrast as someone else has said