KODAK POLYMAX FINE ART

Hy,
anyone tried double weight Kodak Polymax Fine art?
What do you think about this paper?

Thank
Eros

 

I've been an Ilford Multigrade user for a long time, but I wanted to try
some Polymax Fine Art to see how it performed compared to the Ilford paper.
It is obviously cooler than Multigrade, but the real eye opener came when I
did some experiments to see what contrast was achieved with Polymax contrast
filters and with Ilford Mulltigrade filters.

This required printing a number of step wedges which were selenium toned,
dried, and then read with an XRite densitometer. I then plotted the
characteristic curves.

The biggest difference is the lack of the "vc hump" in the Polymax when
using low-constrast filters. The characteristic curve is dead smooth all the
way down to PM filter # -1 which yields a grade 0 on my coldlight enlarger
head. Kodak has done some nice work here!

Multigrade has the traditional vc hump caused by the interaction of the two
contrast layers in the emulsion. This effect is visible from MG filter #00
through #1/2. By filter #1 it's gone and the remaining curves are smooth.

I put a comparison graph on the web showing the two papers at their lowest
contrast settings:

http://www-schneider.viscom.ohiou.edu/images/low-contrast-papercurves.jpg

Another bonus is that the Polymax achieves slightly blacker blacks than the
Ilford Multigrade (both measured after toning).

The resulting pictures are very nice from my 35mm Tri-X negatives. I just
bought a couple more boxes of Polymax to use as a regular paper.

The only little complaint that I have is that the edges of the PM prints
"fray" a bit after handling and washing. It doesn't show much when there's a
white border, but it was obvious on my mostly black step wedge prints, and
will be also on contact proofs.

Bill Schneider

 

It's OK but I prefer Galerie.


Regards,

John S. Douglas, Photographer - http://www.darkroompro.com
Please remove the "_" when replying via email

 

Galerie is Ilford's only Graded Fiber Base paper. They also
produce at least one Graded RC paper.
Polymax is Kodak's last Fiber Base paper; Poly... , a VC
projection speed print paper on a Fiber Base and at my last look,
of all things, available in single as well as double weight.
Who says Kodak does not cater to the nich market?
Lest we not forget Azo, still being produced. But, where, when,
and WHY did the SW, FB, GR paper disappear? Lots of double and
even museum weight Fiber Base but no Single weight. Dan

 

Dan said: >>Polymax is Kodak's last Fiber Base paper; ........ and at my last
look, of all things, available in single as well as double weight.<<

Not any more. Kodak just announced the single weight was going away. And along
with all those other papers you mentioned which are no longer around, I
understand Ilford is in financial trouble and looking for a buyer.


Bernie

 

AFAIK, AZO is being kept in production only by the efforts of Michael
Smith and Paula Chamlee. Something about, every year, they risk their
own capital (dollars) to make the minimum necessary bulk purchase
from Kodak to keep the line in production.

http://www.michaelandpaula.com/mp/index_skip.html

The others disappear because no one else is willing to risk there own
money to keep them alive.

Time for a reality check: Talk is cheap, money is dear.

 

B&H carries Azo. Likely there are others here and overseas.
I'd have thought the less expensive, quicker washing and drying
Single weight to have been more popular.

"... No one ..." as in 1? I think Azo is available in a Single
weight. Dan

 

Dan Quinn wrote (in part):

Ages ago, I tried single weight and hated it. It tended to curl up too
much. Furthermore, if there was the slightest irregularity in my dry mount
tissue, even a single whisker of dust, it tended to show through. Double
weight did not have this problem for me, so I abandonned single weight
after one box.

 

But they aren't actively promoting it. Of course Michael is.

And you forgot to mention curlier..


Regards,

John S. Douglas, Photographer - http://www.darkroompro.com
Please remove the "_" when replying via email

 

Now that really galls me; you and J. D. Beyer. If you two
knew how to dry print paper that thought would have never entered
your minds.
I made big bucks, for a college student, many years ago drying
that single weight in blotter rolls; nice very nearly flat prints.
That single weight is all they dished up in my three years in
the service. All that and some newspaper work were glossy or mat
dried on 'flat' or rotary bed print dryers. Dan

 

understand Ilford is in financial trouble and looking for a buyer.

Hasn't that been the case since day aught?

 

Take it EZ Dan !

I'm sure it can be done but I doubt if it would compare to DW
when processed identically.


Regards,

John S. Douglas, Photographer - http://www.darkroompro.com
Please remove the "_" when replying via email

 

Hy,
I would like to know which is the best developer for the Kodak Polymax Fine
Art Double Weight: Dektol or Polymax ??
Thank
Matteo

 

I like D-72, but substituting 100ml of 1% benzotriazole in water for the
KBr. IIRC, Ansel Adams used Dektol for everything near the end of his career.

I used to use lots of different developers for paper. My other favorite
was Ansco 113 (Amidol), but after a lot of testing, I concluded that they
were all alike except:

1.) Amidol required about double the exposure of other paper developers.
2.) The color I liked with Amidol was a result not of the developing
agent, but the restrainere. It was then that I started mixing D-72
(essentially Dektol) and using bzt instead of KBr.

The miracles of deeper blacks, etc., seem due to increased exposure of the
print, not some mysterious property of the developer.

 

Jean D,

I have found that adding a bit of bromine to dektol also will give a
deeper black without pushing the highlights to grey. Probably the same
as using benzotriazole as it allows greater exposure.

Frank

 

I sure would not want liquid bromine in my darkroom.
Perhaps, as you say, adding it to a paper developer will give deeper blacks.

The reason I prefer benzotriazole to bromide is that bromide tends to give
prints a disagreable (to me) greenish tint in the blacks, and bzt is free
from that. It very much depends on the color of the viewing light, though.

 

try Orthozite, by Edwal. It's a liquid, usable at room temperature.

M.

 

Why bother? I mix up 1& benzotriazole in 1/2 litre bottles and it works fine.

 

I would be interested in mixing up some D72 and D76 but substitute the bromide
with benzotriazole.

Anyone have an idea how much to use to replace the bromide in those?

Bert

 

I put 100ml to 125ml of 1% benzotriazole int 4 litres of D-72 stock for
the papers I use, including polymax. Since I use D-76 only for film, it
needs no restrainer.