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  #11  
Old 14th March 2018, 07:43 AM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EdmundH View Post
The one thing which spoils Art 300 paper for me is the slight sheen; it looks as if it's been brushed with egg white. If only it could have the texture, combined with a complete lack of shine like FB Classic Matt (my favourite paper when I can be bothered with the laborious washing procedure).
I have just had a look at some of the prints I have made on Art 300 and to my eyes the paper is dead matt, I can't see any sheen on it,lovely paper, very similer in looks to the old and much missed Kentmere art papers,maybe it.s my old eyes but to me it is matt
Richard
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  #12  
Old 14th March 2018, 01:59 PM
EdmundH EdmundH is offline
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Matt seems be a subjective term; I recently got a sample of Fuji Crystal Archive paper in ‘matte’ finish, and the surface is more like ‘pearl’


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  #13  
Old 14th March 2018, 02:14 PM
jeztastic jeztastic is offline
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That's really why I want a look at it before I buy...
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  #14  
Old 14th March 2018, 02:25 PM
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skellum skellum is offline
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I haven't used Art 300, but have received a couple of prints made on it in various exchanges. There seems to be some texture to the paper, and I would call it a true matte finish. For 6x6 contacts I wonder if the texture plus lack of gloss might make the image look too soft?
Of course that might be exactly what you want. It's also quite a warm paper I think. Maybe it was conceived to suit portraits? For those who've used it, does it do anything interesting colour-wise in selenium or a sulphide toner?

In passing, when I make stereoscopes I use 6x6 contacts trimmed and mounted. MG FB works well. The images are contrasty and crisp, without the high gloss of a RC paper which might create troublesome reflections.
It's surprising just how much you can actually see in such a small print.
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Old 14th March 2018, 05:36 PM
jeztastic jeztastic is offline
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Yes, i was wondering about the softness issue. Years ago, before I got into darkroom printing, I did some ink jet prints onto cartridge paper. I quite liked the resulting softness but they were larger prints.
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  #16  
Old 14th March 2018, 06:01 PM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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I don't find it that soft, no more than any other matt surface, and as far as I can tell it is coated with Ilfords W/T emulsion, at least the settings on my analyser/pro are identical for both warmtone and Mg art 300, it is ideal for portraits, especialy what I call retro protraits, for instance I recently did some pictures that I took at the Victorian Christmas event and tried to make Victorian style photos, and it worked a treat, I sent some for recent exchanges and they are posted in the gallery, also good for still life, and sometimes for landscape, depending upon the subject, It is said it doesn't scan well but for posting I scanned 4 sheets and had no problems at all, yes, there is a lot of texture on the surface, and when starting to use it I had problems telling the coated side from the back, it is indeed very warm, and for printing contacts you might have a problem without glass as it can be a problem getting the paper to lay flat, I think because it is a photo rag product it is, in spite of being almost triple weight paper it is very light, as far as toning, I have only toned in sepia, I don't use selenium but in sepia it is very good indeed, better than MG classic, as good as the old and much missed Kentmere art classic, I would say it is very much a replacement for the Kentmere art papers,
Richard
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  #17  
Old 15th March 2018, 01:08 PM
Terry S Terry S is offline
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I too have used Ilford Art 300 paper occasionally and have sent out a couple of prints in the exchanges.

Just looking at my 'Ilford paper swatches' it is described by Ilford as a 'Textured art paper' and is a FB paper.

To my eyes, it has the weight and texture of a watercolour paper and has a very slight sheen to it, when turned too and fro to the light. Interestingly it seems to be the only swatch that Ilford haven't put anymore details on eg base weight, base type or surface, although these are probably on their website.

Comparing it with all the other swatches, I would say that it is about one tone darker than MG RC warmtone pearl or MG FB warmtone glossy surface, overall, even in the borders when developed in ordinary MG developer, so no new developer is required, although I do wonder if the effect would be stronger in a warmtone developer?

The full range of tones from paper 'white' through to black are evident in the swatch.

As said, it's a lovely paper, that when paired with the right neg works very well.

Just the mention of it reminded that I have a box of it that I've not used for a while, so I'll have to put it on the top of my other paper boxes, to encourage me to print a sheet or two again when next in the darkroom.

Terry S

Last edited by Terry S; 15th March 2018 at 01:11 PM.
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  #18  
Old 15th March 2018, 01:21 PM
EdmundH EdmundH is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by skellum View Post
For those who've used it, does it do anything interesting colour-wise in selenium or a sulphide toner?
I did once try it with Fotospeed ST20 Sepia toner. It reacted very strongly and turned a sort of tobacco brown.

Don't get me wrong, it is a lovely paper, but annoyingly, there are some much nicer textures available to inkjet users (all without a hint of sheen).
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  #19  
Old 15th March 2018, 02:17 PM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EdmundH View Post
I did once try it with Fotospeed ST20 Sepia toner. It reacted very strongly and turned a sort of tobacco brown.

Don't get me wrong, it is a lovely paper, but annoyingly, there are some much nicer textures available to inkjet users (all without a hint of sheen).
Edmund if you try toning it this, or any other paper in the st20 toner try using both the toner and bleach at lower dilution strength if you want a true sepia with the toner mix 50ml of bleach to 1 liter of water, 50ml of toner to 1 liter of water and add around 20ml of the part 3, and you not only will find the bleach much easier to control, but the toner will give a much truer sepia tone, this applies to any bought toner, I experimented with sepia many moons ago, and I found this is the best rate of dilution, the given dilution of 1 in 9 I found much to strong, the image is quickly bleached out and sometimes takes a long time to re develop, and doesn't alaws re develop fully, where my method gives you a lot of control over the bleaching, so that you can have as much sepia as you want, but the image always fully develops,
Richard
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  #20  
Old 15th March 2018, 02:30 PM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry S View Post
I too have used Ilford Art 300 paper occasionally and have sent out a couple of prints in the exchanges.

Just looking at my 'Ilford paper swatches' it is described by Ilford as a 'Textured art paper' and is a FB paper.

To my eyes, it has the weight and texture of a watercolour paper and has a very slight sheen to it, when turned too and fro to the light. Interestingly it seems to be the only swatch that Ilford haven't put anymore details on eg base weight, base type or surface, although these are probably on their website.

Comparing it with all the other swatches, I would say that it is about one tone darker than MG RC warmtone pearl or MG FB warmtone glossy surface, overall, even in the borders when developed in ordinary MG developer, so no new developer is required, although I do wonder if the effect would be stronger in a warmtone developer?

The full range of tones from paper 'white' through to black are evident in the swatch.

As said, it's a lovely paper, that when paired with the right neg works very well.

Just the mention of it reminded that I have a box of it that I've not used for a while, so I'll have to put it on the top of my other paper boxes, to encourage me to print a sheet or two again when next in the darkroom.

Terry S
The base of this paper is photo rag, exclusively made for Harman by Hahnemule,and in a warm tone developer, I use the Fotospeed WT10, it is much warmer, warm in standard developers, but even more so with WT10 at 1/20 for 4 minutes, the weight remind's me of triple weight paper, like we used to get in the 60's from Kodak, If you have ever used the old Kentmere Art Classic then this paper is an almost direct replacement, very warm, if there is a sheen it is very slight, and tones beautifully, the only other paper that tone as well is the old Fomatone, I don't know about the new Fomatone, but before the cadnium was removed as far as surface is concerned it is unique to Art 300, not suitable for everything, but for Portraits and still life it is beautiful and I have printed some landscapes on it, for the right landscape it works well, I did some research on it before I started using it 3 years ago, the internet can be a useful tool You also asked about the base weight,it is given as 290 gsm fine art base, and the other interesting thing is that Ilford say the max washing time should not exceed 45 minutes due to it being photo rag base
Richard

Last edited by Richard Gould; 15th March 2018 at 02:36 PM.
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