I am not familiar with the range of Foma’s black and white papers; I only use one type – Variant III VC FB … and only one size – 8×10. I have also used what most believe is its rebranded sibling, Arista EDU Ultra, and I’ve been hard pressed to see any significant differences in the two papers. But now I needed to order more paper for what I hope will be a good amount of time spent in the darkroom time between Christmas and New Year’s Day. I noticed that Freestyle Photographic, Foma’s US importer, has lowered the price of a 100 sheet 8×10 box of Variant III VC FB from $126.95 to $99.95. Many of you may be aware of this – if not this is a sizeable savings! The person I spoke to on the phone said that this has been the price since the beginning of 2018. That happens to be the same price as Arista EDU Ultra, both at Freestyle and B&H! Note, however that Freestyle charges for shipping and B&H does not.
I know this isn’t in the same category as world peace but it is interesting, and who knows how long this price will last – Freestyle would not say. As readers know, I love this paper. Suffice to say, I just order 300 sheets of the Foma!
I’ve been using Ilford’s Multigrade IV FB paper exclusively and I’ve been happy with the results, but you’ve piqued my interest in the Foma paper. Have you compared it to the Ilford paper and, if so, what about it do you prefer to MGIV?
Andrew,
Good to hear from you. I have not tried the latest generation of Ilford papers. I found in the past they did not take Selenium toning well so I quickly moved on. I have used many papers and right now I am very happy with the Foma, short of the occasional emulsion peeling on at the edge of the paper (see previous entries on this).
Best,
Michael
Interesting about the peeling emulsion. I’ve experienced that a few times with Ilford MG IV as well. In my case, I believe it was the result of leaving the print in a water bath for too long before putting it through the washing/drying process. I have sometimes done this when making several prints during a print session so I can batch them together and wash them simultaneously. I spoke to someone at Ilford technical support and they also believed this was likely the cause – they theorized that the emulsion softened to the point that it flaked off the paper substrate. Needless to say I don’t leave prints soaking in water for that long anymore and haven’t experienced this issue again.
Andrew,
Check out my previous postings on this subject. One thing I can tell you is that it happens in the developer for sure. Other solutions may exacerbate the issue. The problem is that I love the paper so much I look beyond this issue. Fortunately I have never experienced the emulsion peeling into the image area itself, either with Foma or Arista.
Michael
In the developer? Wow, I didn’t realize that. I’ll read your previous postings for the details.
Thankfully, I’ve also never experienced the flaking into the image area, just at the edges of the paper. But I dislike it regardless and work to avoid it as much as possible.
Andrew,
Yes it is true! I have experienced the disease with several different boxes of paper.
Michael
OK, I just read your previous posts on the Flakey Foma. Very strange.
If it makes you feel any better, Ilford isn’t perfect either. As I mentioned, I’ve had some flaking from leaving prints in water too long and I’ve also experienced the occasional ‘pock’ mark in some prints which is apparently caused by heating up the print too much during flattening in a dry mount press. So it seems these papers are somewhat fragile and require some gentle handling.
It would be nice to know exactly what is causing the flaking with the Foma so that you could work around it. I wonder if you’d have any luck contacting Foma technical support to see if they have any theories.
Andrew,
And yet I just purchased another 300 sheets! I have spoken to Freestyle (Foma) and B&H (Arista). No one had heard of my problem. That may be a good idea, however as long as the peeling confines itself to the near edges of the paper it seems ok. Note that it does not occur with every sheet of paper. The other thing that is interesting about this paper, which is one of the reasons I like it so much, is that I seem to do less burning and dodging vs. other papers. I have no understanding what the reason for this is, but printing seems a lot easier!
Best,
Michael
Andrew,
I agree. I really don’t care. I also think it is a very beautiful paper. As good or better than others I have used. It sort of reminds me of when I assisted Michael Smith during a marathon printing session doing contact prints with Azo or Lodima (cannot remember which one). He rarely if ever had to do any manipulations and claimed it was part of the contact print/Azo thing.
I think you should give this paper a try sometime.
Best,
Michael
I can’t explain why you’d need to burn/dodge less with the Forma/Arista paper – I’d think the need for doing that would be a function of the density of highlights/shadows in the negative rather than some property of the paper. But if you’re getting good prints with less effort then who cares why? 😉
In the developer? Wow, I didn’t realize that. I’ll read your previous postings for the details.
Thankfully, I’ve also never experienced the flaking into the image area, just at the edges of the paper. But I dislike it regardless and work to avoid it as much as possible.