Report on Photo Paper Testing
Adox MCC 111 and Fomabron Velvet

………Hi Folks, I’d like to introduce you folks to Master Printer Alan Wedertz. And for those of you that may not know of Alan’s work, he had a fabulous lab in Hollywood, Alan’s Custom Lab, where I took my B&W film along w/a great many other folks so that he could work his magic. Alan has relocated and has expanded w/his thriving photo processing mail-order business, which caters to folks all over the country.

I’m happy to be connected w/this project that will familiarize you a little bit w/Alan’s printing skills, a project which also showcases some new priting paper that will be sold very soon by Freestyle courtesy of their VP of marketing Eric Joseph. Alan has worked his priting magic on these wonderful new papers which are the second coming of that legendary paper, Agfa MCC 111.

Jonathan Brewer

REPORT ON ADOX and FOMABRON PAPERS

First, let me say that I have been working with Mr. Jonathan Brewer for at least 15 years. His dedication to photographic experimentation has been profound. Always willing to try the unusual and produce the best photos from those tests. He has experimented with many types of films and papers to produce many fabulous and exciting photographic images. Together we have developed film processes for several types of infrared and other various films he uses. I have found Mr. Brewer to be excellent photographer as well as a high class person.
Mr. Brewer provided me with several images shot on 4x5 FP4 films to develop and use for testing of the new Adox and Fomabron photo papers. I developed the films in D-76 1:1. They are of high quality and perfect for testing these new papers. I, generally, used one shot for most of the testing. I also used one infrared shot I felt may have additional information for the testing.
Initially, I needed to have a norm for the tests. Since I have used Ilford papers for the last 30 years as my main paper source, I had to use it as my normal paper. Ilford Multi-grade Fiber was my first choice. Ilford Warmtone Fiber was my second. I made prints from each of these papers, both semi-gloss and semi-matt. These were my “normal” prints. What I found, was the Warmtone papers were the closest match the Adox and Fomabron papers, so I used the Warmtone as the main norm print.

INITIAL INSPECTION

The Adox glossy paper, upon first inspection, seemed, by touch and visual, to be just slightly thinner (I mean, JUST slightly thinner) than the Ilford paper. Or, maybe, the Adox papers are just more flexible than the Ilford papers. The Adox MCC111 Glossy has much of the same texture, shine and smoothness as the Ilford MG and the Warmtone Glossy. When light is reflected on the prints, however, the Ilford papers seem to have more of a glossy shine to them, whereas the Adox MCC111 has more of a satin glossy shine to them. It’s very subtle and difficult to perceive. In the final analysis, this difference is extremely minor. Most who look at the two will not see the difference. As I remember, the original Agfa papers had this same look to it back in the seventies.
The Fomabron Velvet paper, upon first inspection, was much different than the Ilford semi-matt. Both Ilford MG and Warmtone semi-matt have a very smooth matt surface, with just a hint of shine and no texture whatever. The Fomabron Velvet paper has a pronounced texture on the surface of the paper that you can see and feel. Again, it is very reminiscent of the Agfa papers in the seventies. There is a definite shine to the Fomabron Velvet. The combination of shine and texture has, no doubt, given it, its’ name “Velvet”. The paper, once again, seems to be somewhat thinner than the Ilford paper. (Or, more flexible.)

THE PRINT

For the initial prints, the norm prints, I used a 2 ½ filter at F-22 for 10 seconds on the Ilford Multi-grade glossy. The Ilford MG glossy is a fast paper with more contrast than any of the other papers used. In the following table is a list of the times, filters and F-stops used.

Specs for the Bottle Shot
From 4x5 Neg

Specs for the Wagon Shot
From 35mm Infrared Negative

PRINT PROCESSING

Processing times for the papers were exactly the same. I used Clayton P-20 as my print developer. It is a fast developer with good overall tones, from deep blacks to white whites and excellent detail in the gray areas. Two minutes development times were used in all prints. This seems to be the best overall development for all the prints. You can use 1 ½ minutes minimum time and as much as 4 minutes with constant agitation. This gives you some contrast control.

Interestingly, the Ilford papers and the Adox and Fomabron papers looked almost the same, contrast wise and detail wise. I was hard pressed to tell the difference between the two company papers, especially the glossy papers. Wisely, I had marked the back of each print so I would know which prints were Ilford and which were Adox and Fomabron.

There are a few small differences between the papers. The Ilford Warmtone Glossy is just slightly warmer than the Adox Glossy paper. That is, more to the red side of the spectrum. When laying side by side you will see the Ilford papers have a slightly more brownish look to them. However, the Fomabron Velvet is much warmer than the Adox Glossy, and is very close to being the same as the Ilford Warmtone Glossy and Matt papers.

The Adox and Fomabron papers seem to have a slight edge over the Ilford papers in detail in the white areas. That is, the white areas are somewhat grayer, thus giving more detail. So it’s a bit of a trade off. More detail but less white.

In the two comparison prints, it is very difficult to see the difference between the two prints on the computer. Unfortunately, the combination of scanning, photoshop and monitors makes it nearly impossible to recreate exactly what these prints actually look like. I wanted to give you a general feel for the prints, their contrast, detail and overall look. They virtually look the same.

As in all photo papers, the glossy papers have more contrast than the matt papers. The matt papers, due to their flat surface and matt texture, subdue the blacks and fill in the whites. Side by side the glossy papers will always look more contrasty (that is, blacker blacks and whiter whites) than the matt papers. I believe it’s more of the way our eyes perceive the prints rather than the physical characteristics of the papers. I you spray a glossy print matt, it will also appear less contrasty than before spraying it.

CONCLUSIONS

The new Adox and Fomabron papers, in these tests, have proven to be as good as predicted by their manufacturers. I am truly happy and satisfied that the Agfa tradition in Black and White papers has returned. Everyone, including me, was very distressed when Agfa was no longer producing their photo papers. There was a scramble to grab up as much of the paper as possible before the end.

These new papers by Adox and Fomabron are exceptionally fine photographic papers and the prints produced will be of the highest photographic standards. They are as good as the original Agfa papers.
The best features for me are two fold. One. They print nearly the same as the Ilford Warmtone and, two the fast exposures times of the Adox and Fomabron papers. They are easily twice as fast, exposure wise, as compared to the Ilford Warmtone. This is a huge plus for me when printing client negatives. The average exposure times for an 8x10 print on Ilford Warmtone is 35 to 50 seconds and sometimes longer if I’m printing from XP2 negatives. The new Adox and Fromabron papers will cut that time in half.

I would highly recommend this paper for all fiber based photographic printing. They are destined to be some the best papers around.Check out these new papers by Adox and Fomabron at Freestyle Photo Sales. They should be in the store very soon.

Alan K. Wedertz
Alan’s Custom Lab

    I'd driven down Sepulveda Blvd. numerous times, passing underneath this freeway junction of the 105 which connects to the 405, which is right behind LAX, and I decided to come back and shoot it w/Rollei Infrared, and take along w/my son JB, so we went back on a sunday and took a 'swing' at it.  JB wants to be a photographer and I was having fun having him along with me, but I'd forgotten about the fact that we were shooting under a freeway, right behind the airport, and I was quickly reminded of where we were by some serious 'stares' from the passing Airport Police.

     Having my son w/me, I'd considered just leaving rather than expose him to any acrimony, and I told my son why we needed to leave, and being a very precocious 9 yrs old, he said  'it was no big deal', so we stayed and shot.  Actually the police drove by, but never approached us, it seemed like they sensed it was 'father and son' spending time together, and after the initial stares, I believe there was some exhange between the airport police over the radios, and I got the feeling after a while that they did not consider us anything other than what we were, in any event, after approx. 20 minutes, they started to ignore us.

     I don't consider Rollei Infrared as an infrared film like Kodak Hie was a true infrared film, it was no where as fast as  Kodak Hie, even though the original ISO rating was 400(wishful thinking), in fact they changed the rating to 200ISO, and this is a bit closer to the films true speed.  Actually, I believe Rollei Infrared is simply about a stop faster than the original Maco infrared.

     From shooting this film, I have 2 concerns about it, it's consistency from batch to batch, and it's ability to keep its sensitivity to infrared over time(I freeze what I don't use, immediately after purchase).  Using an 89B filter, and bracketing between F6.3-F11 w/a shutter speed of 1/30, and then having the film souped in Xtol for 14 min. @70deg. seems to cover all the above concerns.  I shoot infrared film one way, on completely clear and sunny days w/no haze, this is because I don't bother using a meter, and I don't want to gamble w/an expensive film like this on overcast/wet/hazy days.

    If I were shooting w/the old Maco Infrared, the only thing I'd change from the above would be the shutter speed(to 1/15), shooting w/Kodak Hie, I'd be between F7.2-F11 @ 1/125 which never failed to produce the kind of results I prefer w/the faster Kodak film.

    At some point I'll be experimenting w/combining my Rollei film w/my portrait lenses in an effort to see if I can duplicate, after a fashion, the look of Kodak Hie, although I gotta tell you, I just love the sharp aspect of the Rollei film on the right subject matter w/my sharper lenses, I mean sharp for me, not supersharp like from the APO Wondergons that I don't shoot with.

    I had fun w/this shot, and my son wanted to fire the shutter for this shot, which he did, so you could say this is also his shot.  I had my cameras, and he had his camera, and many of the folks driving by were smiling at us from their cars as I was explaining to him what/how/why we were shooting the way we were shooting.  We took the shot between passing cars.

    Take care