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Old 15th March 2021, 09:39 PM
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skellum skellum is offline
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Default Matt paprs

Evening all-

As a long standing user of glossy Ilford FB multigrade I'm considering giving Matt papers a whirl again. I used to really like Gallerie Matt, but I do want a multigrade paper.
I'm also thinking about using RC!! I'll never be famous, so I'm getting over my 'archival' worries about my prints, and could be ready to embrace short washing and the joy of flat prints.
For anyone regularly using RC Matt, is the surface dead flat? Gallerie almost looked like a charcoal drawing sometimes. Opinions? (accepting how much this is about personal taste of course)
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Old 15th March 2021, 10:33 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is online now
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I tried the Ilford RC Satin and yes in my opinion it is a lot flatter in appearance but never having used FB Matt I cannot say how it compares

It has been a while since I used it but I found that in some scenes it was as if too much came out a low contrast grey. However for certain kind of shots that may not be a problem such as shots of older relatives where for some reason I feel that older people can often look more natural and the same may apply to kids at play for instance

I would hope that Satin might lend itself to hand-colouring as well but I need to qualify a lot of what I have said by saying that this is my assumption as I have never tried hand-colouring

Mike
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Old 16th March 2021, 10:01 AM
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Thanks Mike, I tried the Ilford Pearl finish. It's OK, certainly nicer than the very high gloss on Ilford RC Glossy.
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Old 16th March 2021, 12:09 PM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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I have tried using matt paper, in my case a box of fomatone matt, and a box of MGFBWT matt, and I still have sheets left in both boxes, I found then to be very flat, almost muddy, and the contrast was very low, I far prefer gloss in FB, with RC satin, the same remarks apply, very flat, and I found the contrast lacking, I don't like the high gloss of RC glossy, I fin the oearl/lustre finish's to be very much better, pretty much the same sort of sheen you get with unglazed FB Glossy,
Richard
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Old 16th March 2021, 01:07 PM
Terry S Terry S is offline
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I just love Ilford's FB matt paper. Yes, it lacks contrast some will say, but I find that unless you lay two different surfaces side by side, I don't think you would notice. It's a great paper and with 10" x 8" being the biggest size I have used so far, I have found it to dry quite flat in a Paterson print drying rack. Any warp to the paper can easily be sorted out by putting between some heavy books for a couple of days. And it's great for toning as well.

Ilford's RC satin I also like and is not quite as flat a sheen as FB matt. I haven't tried colouring it, but RC pearl is okay but not brilliant for that, so I can only presume the same for the satin paper. FB matt is definitely the best if you want to wet colour, which is all that I've done so far.

It's well worth getting a couple of small packs to test, as they both might surprise you.

Terry S
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Old 17th March 2021, 08:36 PM
SlawekD SlawekD is offline
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I think FB matt warmtone is great if you have negative with good contrast and you'll print 1 grade higher than you would normally do. Matt then gives me expected grade once dry and looks perfect mounted behind the glass.
Otherwise I think it is better to get FB glossy and dry it in the air. Then it will be semi-matt keeping good overall contrast. For sure it is easier for me to get effect which I wanted.

Slawek
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