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Old 31st March 2009, 09:52 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Default Fotospeed Paper

Any users of this paper? For quite some time it was cheaper than Ilford at MORCO. I have just looked again and there is very little in it. MORCO by the way seems as cheap as any and cheaper than most just now for paper.

Anyway that's really a throw-in comment. I have never tried Fotospeed so can anyone here give any opinions on it? I am particularly interested in the Oyster surface and wondered how close it is to Ilford Satin as compared to Pearl.

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Mike
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Old 1st April 2009, 06:54 AM
Dave miller Dave miller is offline
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Strange that, whenever I have looked at it, it was always much dearer that others. I believe it was made by Kentmere, but possible to a slightly different formula than the standard Kentmere. It prints as well as any.
If cheap is the criteria then check out Silverprint also look at the Foma range from them or RK Photographic.
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Old 1st April 2009, 07:34 AM
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Trevor Crone Trevor Crone is offline
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Mike, I've used their RCVC paper in oyster and it's probably closer to a satin finish, being slightly smoother then pearl. What I did notice with RCVC, that it's about 1/2 grade more contrasty then Ilford's papers, grade for grade. Of course things may have changed somewhat for it's been a few years since I last used it.
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Old 1st April 2009, 05:56 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Thanks Trevor. Your reply is ringing bells. Maybe I have posted this before? Here I wonder? Am I going mad? No don't answer that:

The next bit is going to sound a bit nitpicky but I had always thought of Ilford Satin, despite its names as less smooth than Pearl. Satin seems more matt to me and have more of a "tooth" in its surface. Your comparison seems to suggest that Oyster is somewhere in between Pearl and Glossy on the Ilford scale or am I misreading your reply?

I was hoping that Oyster might be more matt and have more "tooth" than Ilford's Pearl.

Interesting point about it being more contrasty. This I think might be a plus point in terms of what I like.

Thanks

Mike
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Old 1st April 2009, 06:33 PM
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I use Fotospeed rcvc oyster a lot - I mean boxes of it. I love it. I love the look, the finish, the colour. It tones like a dream. Pricewise, Fotospeed seem to have an un-ending 'two for one' offer. That means you get one half price, or two for the price of one. It's not mentioned on their website though, so if you want it, call in your order and ask for the offer...
That makes it very cheap
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Old 1st April 2009, 09:42 PM
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Mike, I've just compared RCVC oyster with Ilford's RCWT pearl and the oyster has to my eyes slightly less 'tooth' then pearl and less of a sheen, but still some way from matt. It has a white paper base which sets off the ever so slightly warm emulsion very nicely.

As Peter says it does tone well to.

FWIW, Fotospeed made my all time favourite FBVC paper, Legacy. I think it was manufactured by Kentmere for them. Sadly long gone.
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Old 2nd April 2009, 12:05 AM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Hogan View Post
I use Fotospeed rcvc oyster a lot - I mean boxes of it. I love it. I love the look, the finish, the colour. It tones like a dream. Pricewise, Fotospeed seem to have an un-ending 'two for one' offer. That means you get one half price, or two for the price of one. It's not mentioned on their website though, so if you want it, call in your order and ask for the offer...
That makes it very cheap
Thanks Peter. I wrote to Fotospeed once asking it whether it could specify what it meant by its claim to having heavyweight paper in the RC range and it confirmed that it's weight was 240g per square metre thus justifying the name "heavyweight". On a like for like basis this made its paper only 10 grammes less per square metre than Ilford's portfolio and at a considerably cheaper price.

In the reply it mentioned the two for one offer and this was many months ago. This offer many months ago and your mention of this now would seem to confirm the perennial two for one offer.

MORCO aren't offering a two for one deal but if this was offered to MORCO this might explain why it can offer a good price on Fotospeed and still make a profit.

Sounds as if a phonecall to Fotospeed is what I need to make. It might prove cheaper than a purchase from MORCO.

Mike
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Old 2nd April 2009, 07:32 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Trevor Crone View Post

FWIW, Fotospeed made my all time favourite FBVC paper, Legacy. I think it was manufactured by Kentmere for them. Sadly long gone.

Trevor I agree that Legacy was a beautiful paper, I still have a few sheets in my darkroom. It was an Agfa paper.
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Old 2nd April 2009, 07:58 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Les McLean View Post
Trevor I agree that Legacy was a beautiful paper, I still have a few sheets in my darkroom. It was an Agfa paper.
Thanks for the correction Les. Lets hope someone like Adox release to the VC ranks something as equally beautiful.
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Old 2nd April 2009, 02:36 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Trevor Crone View Post
Mike, I've just compared RCVC oyster with Ilford's RCWT pearl and the oyster has to my eyes slightly less 'tooth' then pearl and less of a sheen, but still some way from matt. It has a white paper base which sets off the ever so slightly warm emulsion very nicely.

As Peter says it does tone well to.

FWIW, Fotospeed made my all time favourite FBVC paper, Legacy. I think it was manufactured by Kentmere for them. Sadly long gone.
Thanks Trevor. It certainly sounds as if Oyster is more matt than Pearl but has less of a tooth. So maybe somewhere between Ilford Pearl and Satin sheen wise but less of a tooth than Satin. So the most matt and "toothy" may be Ilford Satin.

I'll have to get a box and compare with Ilford Satin which I have used. I still find Ilford's use of the word "Satin" strange and a bit misleading for a paper that IMO is much more matt than Pearl. It might even account for why Satin is so much less in demand than Pearl. Unless you had an example of each in front of you, you'd go with Pearl believing that Satin is almost the same and as many retailer don't stock it, it doesn't come in the full range and is never seen in any "offers" low sales become a self-fulfilling situation.

Mike
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