RA-4 Paper for Optical Printing

[matt_brown6]

<p>So it's looking like the options for paper for RA-4 home darkroom printing are getting scarce. B&H only sells Fuji Crystal Archive Type II in cut sheets, and Kodak and Fuji only have a few papers available in rolls.<br>

I recently set up a cheap RA-4 darkroom and am now wondering which paper to use out of the ones available in rolls. I spent 5 years in a university darkroom printing on Kodak Supra Endura, so my initial plan is to stock up on a bunch of the in-date paper left. But after that, I'll be looking to switch papers.<br>

Any thoughts on printing with Fuji Crystal Archive Type II, the new Kodak Supra VC or Ultra Endura? Are there any other papers I'm missing out on?</p>

 

[erie_patsellis]

<p>Crystal Archive will print fine optically, as long as you don't have to burn or dodge much as exposures are pretty short. You have two options if you do need to, either dial in some Cyan and increase Y and M the same amount to add neutral density, or use an ND gel on the bottom of your mixing box. (a Rosco lighting gel works quite well, btw)</p>

[john_shriver]

<p>Supra VC is really designed for digital only, you'll need unusual filter packs, and have very high saturation.<br>

Ultra Endura is Kodak's last paper designed for optical enlarging. It is enhanced saturation.<br>

Sooner or later, you will switch to Crystal Archive.</p>

[rustys pics]

<p>Sad that Kodak is forcing everyone to switch to Fuji...I used my last box of Kodak Endura in December. I'll try to scrounge what I can, and then it's back to Fuji Crystal Archive....which is not a great match for the kind of low key work I do.</p>

[matt_brown6]

<p>Erie, thanks for the tips on printing with Crystal Archive. I've never touched the stuff, but I've seen great results with it from other printers.</p>

<p>It is sad that Supra Endura has passed on. I could shoot either Kodak or Fuji films and the Supra exposed both beautifully, with minimal fuss over filtration. </p>

<p>I have about 10 prints I made with the Ultra Endura, so I'll probably end up getting a roll of that in the near future. For now, it looks like my first big purchase of paper will be a couple boxes of the left-over Supra, a box of Crystal Archive Type II and maybe some of this Ultrafine Online branded RA-4 paper.</p>

<p> </p>

[keirst]

<p>Fujicolor Type II is a very low contrast paper compared to Supra or the discontinued Fuji C. I find that only high contrast negatives work well on Type II. Portra 160 VC should print very well.<br>

I think it is not correct to suggest that any of the new Kodak films are ONLY for digital printing. I have printed new Portra 400 optically without any problem. New Portra 400 still has an orange mask, though you may need to add some more magenta and yellow filtration compared to Portra 400NC or VC, the filtration difference is not great. Portra 160VC is an older film that was reformulated a couple years ago to make it easier to scan, but not to make it impossible to print conventionally.</p>

[likeapolaroid]

<p>Anyone here tried Endura VC under the enlarger? So I far I have only seen reports from the datasheet but noone seems to have tried it optically? Is it really so difficult to balance on flesh tones?<br>

I am now using Supra but my stock is scarce now and need a replacement.<br>

Thanks</p>

[john_calafut]

<p>When the lab I use for optical prints advised me that they were out of Supra Endura, they offered me the option of either Crystal Archive C or Supra VC. I requested a contact sheet of each in glossy surface from my set of Pro160C negatives. The Supra VC had less contrast (not necessarily objectionable), but it had a slight greenish tint, reminding me of the effect fluorescent lighting has when corrective filters aren't used.<br>

The Crystal Archive C had more contrast, more neutral color, and sharpness appeared better - possibly due to the higher contrast. I ordered a couple enlargements on this paper, which came out fine - with the high quality I've come to expect from optical prints. My intention was to specify this paper going forward, but after reading in Steven's post above that type C is gone, it sounds like I'm back to square one. :-(</p>

[likeapolaroid]

<p>I jumped the gun and got me some Supra Endura VC and printed optically a few shots from a Portra 400NC. I used Tetenal RA-4 5 liters kit, which is really great, with rotary processing in a Jobo CPP.<br>

Looks good. Exposure times are normal (around 10 secs at f/8) with my Durst L900. Filtering was fairly easy. It is indeed a high contrast paper, but I feel it matches well the NC films.<br>

I also tried to print some portraits and got good flesh tones, but with some cyan shadows elsewhere. This might be consistent with what Kodak states in the paper tech sheet but I can't confirm it's due to the digital nature of the paper or not. I will need to run a few more tests.</p>

[mariana_g.]

<p>Hi, I just came across this post and was wondering if anyone has gotten new results trying out the Supra Endura VC. Anyone? I'm trying to decide between this and Fuji Crystal Archive Type II for optical printing and would love to know if anyone got updates since the beginning of this post in January.<br>

And by the way, thanks everyone for your responses. This post has been most helpful.</p>

[federico_caponi]

<p>Hello, I am looking on Ebay for some of the last boxes of Kodak Ultra or Supra Endura sheet paper. Can anyone translate the surface codes for me? I've found E, F, N surfaces, but not a way to understand the meaning of these codes. Then...for optical prints in color, would you recomend Ultra or Supra? Thanks</p>

[keirst]

<p>E = Lustre (Pearl) Surface, F = Glossy, N = Semimatte (finer texture than E). Personally, I prefer N surface to all others in Kodak’s color papers. It has reduced glare compared to glossy paper, and doesn’t soften the image as much as E surface. It is similar in look to fiber-based glossy B&W paper surfaces. You may have other preferences.<br>

Ultra is better for thin or low contrast negatives or punching up the color for dramatic effect. Supra is better for normal to high contrast negatives. You can always reduce the contrast in printing with flashing (using a diffuser under the lens for 5-20% of the exposure time), but increasing contrast is hard without a high contrast paper like Ultra. Supra generally produces more accurate color than Ultra.</p>

[federico_caponi]

<p>Many thanks Steven!</p>

 

[federico_caponi]

<p>Many thanks Steven! I've many years of bw darkroom behind me...and I've just purchased a jobo cpa2 processor and I want to start working on color darkroom, so please any other advice is most than welcome.</p>