The new Adox MCC

[Martin Reed]

Originally Posted by PaulG

....As an aside, any news on when you'll be getting Foma 123 Variant in stock?....

I'd better crave indulgence & say another 6 weeks, I'm afraid

[Steve O]

Originally Posted by bill spears

Steve - try doing a very light sepia first, then selenium.
Straight selenium (not too strong) on this paper is good for enhanced Dmax but I too don't like the purple you get with a stronger solution and/or longer time.
Warmtone papers generally much better in straight selenium

Thanks Bill, I'll give that a go and I agree with you about the warmtone looking good in selenium, I usually use 1:15 for a minute to get subtle warmth.

I'd hope MCC will tone nicely in straight selenium though as I'm considering a few paper options at the moment hence the trial purchase of this paper.


Steve

[topoxforddoc]

I've been using my first box of this. Not cheap, but a really nice paper to handle. Dries pretty flat when clipped back to back. Great tonal range and the gloss finish is good.

Best wishes,

Charlie
www.charlie-chan.co.uk

[Larry]

Just found another source of supply for MCC paper in the UK. Would you believe Firstcall now has it listed on their website. I was surprised to see it mentioned in their email newsletter rec'd last night.

I suppose better product availability can only be a good thing to increase volume sales and we hope to a much lower the unit price in time!

I don't use this paper myself but I might try it when spare funds allow.

regards

Larry

[Roy_H]

I did a quick search in the Forum to see if I could find a more relevant post than this to tag on to, but had no luck.

Is anyone actually using Adox MCC and would care to share their experiences with it? I've read the lith feedback but I'm only using it for conventional printing at the moment.

I started my first box yesterday and am liking it so far. I'm printing with a Multigrade 500H head and finding it seems responsive to the filtration set, with good tonality across the grades.

Development so far has only been in Neutol WA 1+11, but I like the colour it produces in that dev and I'm finding that around two minutes at 24 deg (darkroom temp is high at the moment!) is about as much as it needs, with only marginal changes up to and after three minutes.

It handles well in processing and air-dries reasonably flat, between blotters. Drying prints back-to-back in my Marrutt cabinet at around 35 degrees C does not seem to change the gloss at all, as can happen with some papers.

It tones well in selenium 1+9 for around two minutes; the colour change is marginal, but noticeable, and toning does give slightly richer blacks with perhaps a bit more separation.
Toning in selenium 1+4 leads to a fairly rapid change to a purplish-brown, not unpleasant if that's what you're after. I think it may therefore split-tone quite nicely, with care, but have yet to try that.

One thing I'm noticing particularly is that it does seem to dry-down quite a bit more than I'm used to. Not a problem, once I get used to it.

So that's my experience so far and I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has used it much and what they think of it.

I'm still not convinced I'll like it more than my Adox Nuance, but the speed is better and, of course, the variable contrast is very useful.

[Mark-NY]

Roy -

I have gone through almost a 25 sheet pack of this paper so far and my results have been quite similar to yours.

I used dektol developer with the standard 1:2 dilution for 2.5 minutes at approximately 72F. Tones were pretty much neutral to just a slight, slight hint of warmth. I dried prints on screens and then placed under a stack of books for two days after which they were quite flat - very happy with that aspect.

I toned in selenium diluted 1:20. Anywhere from 8 to 15 minutes increases the d-max but nothing dramatic -- no noticeable color change when compared to an untoned print. Increasing time to 40 minutes gave a little deeper blacks but still no color change. Next time I would try the 1:9 dilution that you used for 2-5 minutes - I think that is necessary and would be optimal for richening blacks but not generating the purplish tones.

Also, I think I will experiment with a warm tone developer to see what that produces as I wold like just a little bit more warmth. So far a wonderful paper with a lot of possibilities which will be revealed as one tries different developer and toning combinations. I am looking forward to hearing others' results here.

[As an aside, I have also used the Adox Variotone paper also developed in dektol 1:2. It is a warm tone paper with an even whiter base. For me, this really seems to give prints a lot of depth. It tones quite well in selenium producing beautiful deep chocolate blacks at 1:20 for 5-12 minutes. So far, my preference here would be at the 5 minute toning time: just a beautiful, rich warm tone. Next time I will see what a 3-5 minute time produces.]

[Tom Kershaw]

Originally Posted by Roy_H

I did a quick search in the Forum to see if I could find a more relevant post than this to tag on to, but had no luck.

Is anyone actually using Adox MCC and would care to share their experiences with it? I've read the lith feedback but I'm only using it for conventional printing at the moment.

I started my first box yesterday and am liking it so far. I'm printing with a Multigrade 500H head and finding it seems responsive to the filtration set, with good tonality across the grades.

Development so far has only been in Neutol WA 1+11, but I like the colour it produces in that dev and I'm finding that around two minutes at 24 deg (darkroom temp is high at the moment!) is about as much as it needs, with only marginal changes up to and after three minutes.

It handles well in processing and air-dries reasonably flat, between blotters. Drying prints back-to-back in my Marrutt cabinet at around 35 degrees C does not seem to change the gloss at all, as can happen with some papers.

It tones well in selenium 1+9 for around two minutes; the colour change is marginal, but noticeable, and toning does give slightly richer blacks with perhaps a bit more separation.
Toning in selenium 1+4 leads to a fairly rapid change to a purplish-brown, not unpleasant if that's what you're after. I think it may therefore split-tone quite nicely, with care, but have yet to try that.

One thing I'm noticing particularly is that it does seem to dry-down quite a bit more than I'm used to. Not a problem, once I get used to it.

So that's my experience so far and I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has used it much and what they think of it.

I'm still not convinced I'll like it more than my Adox Nuance, but the speed is better and, of course, the variable contrast is very useful.

Roy,

Disclaimer, contains potentially wrong and dangerous subjectivity:

I've not done full sensitometry on the MCC paper but through printing on both a DeVere 5108 Dichromat colour head and a Multigrade 500 system, I find the Adox paper is very predictable in terms of where tones will appear on the paper, not accounting for dry-down. I also seem to see smoother transitions in tone similar but distinctive from Ilfobrom Galerie (one of my favourite papers), compared to the more overtly stringent characteristics of ILFORD MGIV FB (which does well with my ILFORD XP2 Super negatives).

Tom