We love working with Rachel on these videos. Her enthusiasm for film photography and darkroom printing always comes though. This fibre based paper video was created because you told us it was needed. Please let us know what other videos you would like to see from us about using our black and white films and darkroom papers so we can start planning!
Same film, same pictures, different developers! I always use the same developer and technique because I don't really know the differences between all of your products (and those made by competing brands). Experimenting with printing is a bit easier since you keep your negatives intact, but experimenting with developing film always seemed a bit risky to me.
I have been shooting, processing and developing your products for 30+ years, what I like about Rachel is the fact she explains to the novice clearly and concisely...I believe I may have remembered things useful in the darkroom....good work Rachie and Ilford 🙂
I bought myself a T-shirt heat press. these things used to put decals on shirts. Put two matte boards in, heat it up to 80 °C and then put a dry yet curly FB print between the boards, a sheet of teflon foil on the emulsion side and close the press for 2 or 3 minutes and you will have a perfectly flat print. The machine can also be used perfectly to mount the pictures on a matting board.
Yes, that's ideal. I've also heard of people using trouser presses with brown paper as a barrier! Which is your favourite fibre based paper to work with Dan?
I don't glue my prints. You don't know what glue will do to the paper and image over time. To ensure archivality, tone prints with selenium. Then the image is bound to last as long as the paper, that is, for thousands of years.
Very pleased to learn fibre based papers are still being produced, I cut my darkroom teeth using them. Very tricky to dry flat but beautiful results, far superior to coated papers.
We do have swatches available so you can see the surfaces but, it would be a huge job to create sample packs and the labour involved would make them too expensive. Many of the surfaces are available in 10 sheets, maybe share a couple of different packs with a friend? Which have you tried so far?
I am a beginner at darkroom printing. From a pack of 50 sheets on average I can make 3-5 prints that are good enough. A pack of 10 doesn’t get me to anything.
@@Ilfordphoto can you send me a link to the swatches? I’m particularly keen on the hahnemuhle rag - saw it on some guy’s video and he was super happy with it.
@@Ilfordphoto Hi again: I taught Graphic Arts & Photography for 36 years at Lakeland High School, White Lake, Michigan. I do have a home darkroom but just like everyone, doing more digital. My students and myself have used fibre based papers. We like this paper for using Marshall Pencils & Oils. Take care? I am now retired but if I was still teaching I would use your videos with the students along with my live demonstrations. Gary 🚂
@@trainroomgary That's brilliant. We have just set up a new page on the website that you and your students will probably find helpful then www.ilfordphoto.com/back-to-school/
In my experience it's important to get them under tension on the borders while drying. Some fellow recommended to iron it finally with a teflon foil on the image side. I had good results with a picture frame glass and a heavy weight on it. Both I put on the heatbed of my 3d printer for a while.
nice video, but how much chemistry did you put in the tray?, as the dilution ratio only makes sense if you know the final volume!!, but great show and tell of the paper types, Rachel reminds me of that secretary in the Doc Martin series, with Martin Clunnes, looks soo much like her!!
4:11 what's the name of this type of rack and where can I get one? Edit: Found it. The advertising suggests it's for RC only but it looks like fiber is fine based on your use of it. "Paterson RC Rapid Drying Rack"
great description, but Ilford can you make these not just in 4x5" size?, but 6.5x9 CM as well, as for some cameras (baby Linhof's, Mamiya Press/Universal), the sheet size is this smaller format, and with the Mamiya (type J holders), it would be good to have a stock to use in them, directly, not having to 'diy' an instax mini/wide to fit inside them.
would love a more in-depth guide to drying. air drying simply does not work for fibre paper and even stacking under very heavy weight for weeks will still not flatten a print entirely. so far the most success I've had is to put under weight whilst not 100% dry but this is not very accurate as too much moisture will cause the surface to be damaged especially when using a material such as glass. I love matt fibre paper but now considering using something else until I have space/budget for a heat press - any further tips would be welcome
a suggestion: hang two equal sized fibre prints back to back on a cloth line with cloth pins on all four corners. Thus the two prints will each cancel out the curl while drying (at least up to some extend). Afterwards it is enough to flatten them under heavy books for a day or two. I am not so happy with the washing routine for archival quality shown here: the usefulness of a higly concentrated neutral fixer used shortly (and as a two bath regime) should not be omitted. I suggest: developer, stop bath (with indicator), neutral fixer film concentration (bath 01) for 30 seconds, neutral fixer (bath 02) for 30 seconds, water bath (if possible running water). The first bath should be tested regularly for silver and be discarded when reaching 1-1.5 g/Silver, Bath 02 now becomes bath 01, while using a freshly made bath 02. all this ensures 1) effective fixing, no degrading of fixer and meanwhile 2) ensuring the minimum exposure of the fibre base to fixer and thus less need to wash fixer and resulting chemistry byproducts out of the paper. Neutral fixer has been shown as not binding as strongly as acid fix to the fibres of the paper base. The washing circle I use then goes as follows: short wash in running tempered water (5 minutes), washing aid for 5 minutes, then washing in an archival washer (Paterson, slowly agitating the paper in the water) for 30 minutes. Testing my test strips (processed same way than the prints, always) for residual halides proves the effectiveness for each batch…
@@rlfsoso thanks for the suggestion, tried almost every trick out there so far with not enough success. clipping/pinning/taping really requires trimming the paper afterwards as it is so easy to bruise or mark it. Also tried something similar recently putting prints back to back with opposite curl under very heavy weight 50k but they eventually just curl the same way. very frustrating, I wish Ilford would offer proper advice on how to dry this paper so that it is perfectly flat
@@alexanderenglish3214 yes, would ned some trimming though that might hide behind a mat. A friend of mine experimented with prolonged drying through a less dry environment which - as he found - went against the curl. I find my method satisfactory enough that the prints will be flat enough when mounted with a mat in a frame. heat-dry mounting would be optimal but not accessible to me…
@@rlfsoso interesting. I'm trying to create very perfect prints so that they are saleable as a high quality product preferably without adding lots more time to the process. at present don't have the space for an additional equipment. might have to try mounting and trimming instead!
great video, but is the chemistry, esp. the developer the same for Negative, as well as paper processing?, as Rachel doesn't say. and to determine the times,dilutions etc, is there a chart /datasheet simmilar to the film developing sheets.
I've found that the most effective way to flatten a fiber print is to very lightly wipe the back of the dry print with a damp cloth. It will start to curl drastically. Then, place the print between the pages of a heavy book and let it sit for an hour or so, or overnight. The print will be completely flat when you take it out. I found this method out of frustration after leaving dry prints under heavy books for weeks and still not getting them flat. Does anyone else do this?
I keep getting waves in the emulsion it looks like from uneven developing but im being extremely careful to get the print in quickly and evenly. ruining all my images unfortunately. Any tips? ideas?
I sometimes have to make 25 16"X20" FB Warm Tone or Glossy prints using Ilford developers, stop, and fixer at one time. After the 3 minute fixer, they go into a large deep 4 gallon fresh water "holding" tray, until I can take them out and place them into Hypo and then a print washer. Question: How long can they stay in this non - fresh water exchange "holding" tray as I see areas almost "see through" in the white borders. That area goes away after they dry but is unsettling to see this. What is that? I know the "holding" tray is slowly getting saturated with residual fixer from what is still left on the print, but I have no choice but to do this hence I use 4 gallons to try to offset this. How long can the prints stay wet in one way or the other before the paper gets damaged and image quality is degenerated?
Why are you using hypo after fixing? You only use hypo and gold toning for alternative techniques such as brown prints. For archivality of images printed on FB papers, use selenium toner.
@@Foxglove963 HI, I thought standard operating procedure was to fix a print for 2 minutes, then a brief water rinse, then use Hypo Clearing agent for a few minutes before you did an archival wash to remove all of the fixer residual. ...???
Hi Ilford. The quality control on your films has recently gone to sh**s, I assume the old fella that used to do it (the one from the video factory tour) has retired. But in seriousness, I've had so much bad FP4 and HP5 in 120 size, really saddens me.
Hi B. So sorry to hear you have experienced problems with our films. Can you please complete this feedback form so we can investigate the cause of the issue: www.ilfordphoto.com/product-feedback
