Speeds for paper negatives?

[Pete H]

I haven't tried making paper negatives before, but now I have a 10x8 :D it seems to be another interesting thing to experiment with.
How do folks determine reasonable exposure times for any particular paper? I looked at threads in another place, and didn't find the remotest sign of a consensus :confused:

cheers
Pete

[Dave miller]

I haven't tried making paper negatives before, but now I have a 10x8 :D it seems to be another interesting thing to experiment with.
How do folks determine reasonable exposure times for any particular paper? I looked at threads in another place, and didn't find the remotest sign of a consensus :confused:

cheers
Pete

I think the question could be widened to ask which developers and developing times?

[JimW]

I tried 5ASA, in reasonable daylight (redder light in the sky made me twitchy) and developed by inspection. Used dodgital tekniks to produce the print. Sorry, mea maxima culpa:o, but didnt have 10x8 enlarger....then. Make lots of notes, till consistent results obtained. Well, this worked for me. I found out my Symmar S 210mm didnt cover 10x8 with shifts....:slap: And it cost me only 20p to find out for certain. All the best in your efforts, JimW

[wiesmier]

I use 5 asa for most papers - but then I preflash the paper at grade 00 first, expose in non-contrasty light then develop in very weak developer till I have some greys but NO or very little BLACKS. Then when I contact print I have the opportunity to control the contrast. see http://www.film-and-darkroom-user.org.uk/forum/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/201 or http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3439/3758209600_0946386427.jpg

[Pete H]

Thanks JimW and wiesmier. Do you have preferred papers for negatives or do they all work reasonably?

Wiesmier, those prints have just the tonality I would like. Great! It sounds as if contrast control is the key. Do you recommend particular developers?

[JimW]

As I wasn't contact printing, I developed 'fully', so that I could scan the paper neg and dodgitalise it. Apparently if you are contact printing, find a lightweight paper (less restriction on opacity) and keep a pencil handy. If you have too much density on your final print, you could shade in your paper neg (on the reverse) to prevent density build up on your final print. Think there was something in B+W photography mag some time back.... My memory, like nostalgia, is not what it used to be.:confused:

[Dave miller]

As I wasn't contact printing, I developed 'fully', so that I could scan the paper neg and dodgitalise it. Apparently if you are contact printing, find a lightweight paper (less restriction on opacity) and keep a pencil handy. If you have too much density on your final print, you could shade in your paper neg (on the reverse) to prevent density build up on your final print. Think there was something in B+W photography mag some time back.... My memory, like nostalgia, is not what it used to be.:confused:

There was, and you can. :)

[wiesmier]

I use any paper I can lay my hands on :-) For 5x7 I have some single weight Orwo paper - about asa1 I should think. For 8x10 I often use Silverprint proof paper - good and cheap. As for developer - does not seem to matter as long as its weak.

[Martin Reed]

With normal daylight subjects I always found it was a good way of getting rid of soft grade paper I had lying around, it seemed like the softer the better (this is going back to the days when soft grade paper was plentiful). But a metol based soft working developer would probably be good with MG papers.