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Old 17th October 2010, 08:06 AM
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AmericanMrs AmericanMrs is offline
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Default Kentmere

Well having purchased some Kentmere FB paper I tried it for the first time last week. Wow!!!
The difference was noticeable straight away compared with the Ilford MG. The prints are very crisp and have an edge to them that they don't have with the Ilford (can't wait to try it with my cooltone dev!).

My only gripe is that this paper is fast! Exposure time reduced from 9sec with the Ilford to 5sec with the Kentmere and only 60 sec dev time!

So far I am really pleased with this paper...it's ideal for my subject matter (sculptures made of metal).
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Old 17th October 2010, 08:39 AM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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It is a very nice paper, very cool, and as you say very fast, but I would still tend to give it 2 minutes develop time,I have used it a lot in the past, using the warmtone varient, which is sadly no longer made by Harman,and that extra minute made a differance, when you get back to the darkroom try it, also try stopping the enlarger lens down further to give you more time for dodging/burning,Richard
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Old 17th October 2010, 11:24 AM
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That must be the Ilford made Kentmere - nice to see it still has the old speed qualities, suggesting they haven't messed with the formula too much beyond that necessary to run it through their more advanced equipment.

I have a rule of thumb (and it is only a rule of thumb) that I consider a paper developed when it has been in the soup for 6 times the first-appearance time: i.e. 6 times the time when the shadows first start to appear in the developing print. I hasten to add that I did not invent this idea: it is an old one, lost in time immemorial...

In general, warm-tone paper seems to take longer to develop, especially in warm-tone developers, than neutral papers so this helps to avoid pulling the paper too soon ('tho some people like to do this deliberately to effect the final tone).

I believe there are still some papers out there that this will not work with as they continue to build significant density the longer they are in the developer, but most papers' activity drops off rapidly as they reach "completion".
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Old 17th October 2010, 06:16 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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It is good stuff although I have only got the "old Kentmere" i.e. made by Kentmere in Kendall. The new stuff by Ilford has the same speed and look as the old by all accounts but the dual fitration now seems to be the same as that for Ilford MGIV.

I wonder if its toning qualities are the same/different/better/worse? Anyone any experience of this?

The fast speed is a bit of a problem with small prints such as 5x7 if there is dodging and burning to do. Other than smaller f stops, you could dial in ND in a dichroic head with added cyan or swap to the MF 80mm enlarger lens so the lens is a proportionally greater height for the same size print and usually there is an extra smaller f stop on 80mm lenses

Mike
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Old 17th October 2010, 06:16 PM
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The recommended time is 60-120 seconds....but we all know how that goes lol

I'll try extending the dev time when I get back into the darkroom in asbout a month (having major surgery this coming week).
I'll also be able to use my cooltone dev too....I can't wait.
I'm loving this paper!!!
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Old 17th October 2010, 06:19 PM
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Mike, if I remember my settings correctly I could still reduce the enlarger lens by two stops.
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Old 23rd October 2010, 04:20 AM
Tom Stanworth Tom Stanworth is offline
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it would be great if the new Harman version has the same contrast range as MG IV, because the Fineprint I have used runs out of puff at the top end of the scale. The speed is very welcome though as I often make large prints from dense 35mm negs. My preferred paper is MGWT (what beautiful separation and juiciness) but another stop of speed would be nice!
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Old 23rd October 2010, 07:12 AM
Dave miller Dave miller is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Stanworth View Post
it would be great if the new Harman version has the same contrast range as MG IV, because the Fineprint I have used runs out of puff at the top end of the scale. The speed is very welcome though as I often make large prints from dense 35mm negs. My preferred paper is MGWT (what beautiful separation and juiciness) but another stop of speed would be nice!
It seems that it's one or the other, on the whole I prefer the tonality of Kentmere, although I have yet to try the Harman Kentmere.
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Old 23rd October 2010, 12:17 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AmericanMrs View Post
Mike, if I remember my settings correctly I could still reduce the enlarger lens by two stops.
I'd have thought two extra stops is probably enough. With dual filtration I'd have thought that at f8 the time is proabably in the region of say 3-5 secs at least so two extra moves it to 12-20 secs which makes dodging more comfortable

Mike
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Old 23rd October 2010, 01:29 PM
Tom Kershaw Tom Kershaw is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Stanworth View Post
it would be great if the new Harman version has the same contrast range as MG IV, because the Fineprint I have used runs out of puff at the top end of the scale. The speed is very welcome though as I often make large prints from dense 35mm negs. My preferred paper is MGWT (what beautiful separation and juiciness) but another stop of speed would be nice!
I found the Kentmere fineprint paper of old ran out of steam at around grade 3. Perhaps I should get hold of some new stock 8x10" and check with a Stouffer wedge against my old unused stock (about 5 years old).

Edit: I've just check on Ag Photographic and Fineprint is listed as 'due for reformulation by ILFORD'

Tom
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