To VC or not to VC

I was on the phone with Calumet ordering some materials and I asked about the Zone VI graded papers, whether they were phasing them out. Gary said yes they were. I also asked about Seagull and Iford graded papers and he responded that VC papers were more economical to make because of the VC heads. Questions is, am I the only one who feels his arm is being twisted, legs broken, extorted to spend money he cannot afford on a VC enlarger head? Has the mafia mentality finally reached fine art photography?

I have a VC head and I still like to use graded papers better!

Speciall if you are going to print more than one print the same way...

I always found that VC paper varies from print to print, even when

you use the exact same times and settings.....I do hope Oriental does

not phase out the graded paper...

Rob,

 

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I have not found a VC paper yet that pleases me as much as

graded. No filters, one emulsion ... I don't know what does it but I

just prefer everything about graded so here in Australia my only

readily available choice is Fortezo, which is great. But the supply

of that is limited too.

 

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Happy searching ... Walter

VC head? Why not just use the filters? If you're like me, once you

start printing on VC paper you'll wonder how you ever were happy with

graded paper. The ability to print different areas of the print at

different contrasts gives you a degree of control over the look of

the final print that goes way beyond anything you can achieve with

graded paper. Try it, you might like it.

I don't want to get into the graded vs. VC debate- they're different

and I like 'em both. You might want to see what Freestyle is

carrying. Last time I checked they had a decent selection of graded

papers. You might also want to try a pack of Ilford Cooltone VC and

filters. The terms warm and cool don't fully describe a paper and the

Cooltone is actually the most neutral and flexible paper I've found.

It reacts well to different developers and times. You can push the

tone from cool to warm, and it doesn't suffer from the crossover

problems that Seagull does with low filter numbers.

Think of this the way a bean counter would. It costs manufacturers,

distributors and dealers a fixed amount per year for each item/part

number in their line. That includes paperwork as well as

packaging, storage and handling expenses. Graded papers require

anywhere from three to (in the past) five times as many numbers.

 

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There are advantages and disadvantages to VC papers from a user's

perspective. If one prefers graded and wishes it to remain available,

the only way manufacturers can be influenced is to collectively

purchase enough product that fixed costs are more than covered. This

is the way a market economy works.

 

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If you really like Zone VI Brilliant Bromide II, I believe it's made

by Kentmere. The same paper should be available in the US from

Luminos.

I received a flyer from Calumet yesterday. Zone VI graded paper is

on sale. Get it while it lasts.

Thanks for all the great responses! I have used graded papers

exclusively and with good results. I have yet to print a difficult

negative that I couldn't squeeze on graded paper. Papers do come and

go. Ilford used to make Ilfomar back in the 70's. That got phased out

for Ilfobrom which pretty much is present day Gallerie. Dupont used

to make varigam, a vc paper that many liked. I used some but it

lacked that deep rich tonal quality of graded paper. Oriental Seagull

went off the market, only to recently return. At the Ansel Adams

Gallery, they use Ilford multi grade to print his Special Edition

prints. Though in all my readings of his books, I have yet to read

where he printed on vc paper. He did have an old code light head

which is vc.

 

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What bothers me is that I am being strong armed, threatened almost,

to spend $1000.00 for a vc head and print on a material that is some

what inferior. It is almost a repeat of the fiber based, RC paper

debates that went on, with manufacturers threatening to discontinue

fiber based all together in favor of RC papers. I remember reading W.

Gene Smith's reaction, If I have to print on RC paper, I'll quite

photography, or coat my own. Unfortunetly fine art b&w photography

is more of a specialty then a real money making industry, so papers

wil probably continue to come and go.

I don't think things are nearly as bleak as you suggest. Ilford

Gallerie and Oriental Seagull are excellent graded papers (although I

wouldn't be surprised to see Ilford drop Gallerie). Things were much

worse in the 80's when the Hunt's tried to corner the silver market

and drove the price up to $50 per oz. Manufacturers were cutting back

on the silver content of their paper, which is what led Zone VI to

have Brilliant manufactured to their specs. Just having Gallerie or

Seagull graded papers is sufficient to keep me happy.

Graded papers do not exist in Fresno California(where the raisins

come from)so for me it's a mail order proposition. I admit this talk

of manufacturers discontinuing graded papers got me as uptight as a

long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, so I punched up B

and H in NYC and found plenty of graded papers! There was even a new

(to me) offering from Agfa! Low and behold, my beloved AZO is

available as well! Me and my Elwood will sleep well tonight. Happy

printing.

Calumet also has a good selection of graded papers. Their mail-order

business ships from Chicago, which may be cheaper shipping than from

NY. The trick to getting paper (and film) via mail-order is to get it

while the weather is cool. Those delivery trucks get very hot in the

summer.

I use a Zone VI cold light head and tested every vc fb paper I could

get my hands on in a week-long marathon. All showed inconsistent

results -- unequal spacing between grades. In addition, I would say

that the #2 filter produced a #3 or # 3 1/2 result for starters.

 

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A bit of trivia: Ansel Adams referred to his use of DuPont Varigam

with the Ferrante Codelight variable cold light head in his earlier

series of books. I used Varigam back in the day and thought is was

vastly superior to Polycontrast, Polycontrast Rapid and Varilour

(DuPont), the other vc papers of the age.

Yeah...but light is light....a number 0 filter is close to 2.5 on one

of our enlargers (with an Aristo D2H, and running both Polymax II and

MG IV through an Ilford paper processor)....if I want to flatten

things out, I can either use a cc40Y or most of the time, I just use a

-1 and 5+ to split filter everything.....or resort to flashing in

cases of extreme duress.....I've been printing this way for years--not

exactly by choice, but because I didn't *have* a choice at first--this

was all we had. At home, I do have one of those fancy-shmancy 2 tubed

VC heads you all are moaning about being "arm-twisted" to buy, and I

sure wish we were arm twisted here....the one I have is the best

lightsource for b&w printing I've ever used....even with graded

papers. We also have 2 dichroic colorheads that work like a charm on

these papers, but I've used Multigrade heads as well. Our coldlight

though? It's almost twenty years old, and we use it weekly to make

prints up to 20x24 on VC papers.....

 

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BTW, you can learn alot by getting a projection step wedge and doing

ring arounds with the filters...even on a condenser system, using PC

filters, different brands of papers respond differently.....