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  #11  
Old 31st March 2021, 12:16 PM
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skellum skellum is offline
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You can't learn to make good prints with paper of suspect quality. At this stage, you might struggle to distinguish between problems caused by poor choice of grade or exposure, and problems which were down to fogged/elderly paper.
Buy some new resin coated multigrade paper by any manufacturer. Its quick to process, easy to wash, dries flat and if it's new you at least know any disappointing prints are not down to the age of the paper.
As Alex says, with an old enlarger you should buy a new bulb now. Bulbs don't necessarily just 'pop' and fail. They can go off gradually, losing brightness and changing colour. You'd be better to rule that out now.
Condenser or colour head: really, both work. A colour head is actually very handy as you can easily dial in different filtration, and the built-in dichroic filters don't fade or scratch the way Ilford's gelatine Multigrade filters can.
There IS a difference in the contrast they produce. A colour head will print at least one grade softer than a condenser head.
However, with black and white you can vary your film eveloping time to make the negs suit your enlarger.
If you find that you seem to need grade 5 all the time then you can extend your developing time a little to boost their contrast. If you're always printing Grade 0 or 1, reduce development.
What you want is a typical negative printing at (about) G2 or 2 1/2 so that you have grade either side of 'normal' to fall back on.
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  #12  
Old 31st March 2021, 12:18 PM
Terry S Terry S is offline
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And for anyone who can't afford a full set of new Ilford filters, Ilford also offer a full grade only 'Educational' set for about £10, which will either fit in a filter drawer, or can be cut down to fit the plastic holders, to go beneath the lens. I bought a set not long ago, when Ilford had a free p/p offer, when I saw the price of a full set, at about £75. I have found myself mostly using a grade 3 filter for my printing, so the set was a great purchase for me.

Also, as mentioned, when starting out, it's best to have new / fresh everything i.e. paper, chemicals and filters, so you know everything is going to work. After a while, one can then try out old boxes of paper etc.

Terry S
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  #13  
Old 31st March 2021, 02:20 PM
beetcleaner beetcleaner is offline
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Thankyou again Alex for your advice. Also to skellum and Terry S. New bulbs are on the way andI'm going to pick up a Paterson safelight just to rule that out. A Durst one came with the enlarger but it had strips of plastic gel which looked more brown than red.
As you all say its about ruling out the obvious things that could go wrong. What a very helpful site this!
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  #14  
Old 31st March 2021, 03:30 PM
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Ilford MG paper is remarkably long-lived. Saying that, it is a good idea to eliminate as many variables as possible and start with a small pack of fresh paper so you know what the enlarger is capable of.

Ilford paper comes with a sheet of instructions which includes the filtration to set for the main types of colour enlarger head. Alternately, it will be on their website somewhere.

The under the lens filters are a good idea if you do not mind the expense, but your colour head will certainly do the job with a bit more fiddling about - possibly with the exception of a true grade-5 as some heads can not reach that - the Ilford info sheet will show if yours is one. As Alex says, don't buy used ones as they are likely faded - unless they are silly cheap and you can then buy a pack of new gelatin filters from Ilford that you can cut up to fit in the holders.
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Old 31st March 2021, 09:07 PM
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Martin Aislabie Martin Aislabie is offline
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I have recently worked my way through some very old Ilford Multigrade Fibre and it was stored at room temperature.

It was fairly flat - lacking contrast - and would not make a decent black.

The enlarger colour filters don't fade - so will be fine.

My advice would be to buy some fresh (new) paper - just to validate your technique.

Learning to print is hard enough when you have decent materials - when you have suspect materials it is almost impossible.

Martin
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