RE: Trick for increasing speed of photo papers?

Loris,

It can be a real pain to have to make a large print from a dense neg,
particuarly when it involves a number of test prints. I haven't tested any
"speed increasing" ideas, but using your dev warmer and/or more concentrated
should make some difference, though not as much as you're hoping. If you
make up your own dev, try increasing the amount of metol or phenidone in the
formula.

And if you're printing on a warm-tone paper (Ilford WT, Forte Polywarm &c.),
they're usually a stop or more slower than cold papers. With a warm-tone
dev, too, you'll also need to give more exposure.

Any increase you do achieve will *probably* be at the expense of a colder
image tone and altered contrast.

Liam

-----Original Message-----
From: Ryuji Suzuki [mailto:rs@silvergrain.org]
Sent: 17 November 2004 23:10
To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca; loris_medici@mynet.com
Subject: Re: Trick for increasing speed of photo papers?

From: Loris Medici <loris_medici@mynet.com>
Subject: Trick for increasing speed of photo papers?
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 00:31:35 +0200

> Is there any trick that can be used to increase the sensivity of B&W
> photographic paper (by say... 2 or 3 stops for instance)

Nothing practical - it's usually easier to put more light than trying
to do the opposite. What paper are you using, and why do you want to
increase the speed?

--
Ryuji Suzuki
"You have to realize that junk is not the problem in and of itself.
Junk is the symptom, not the problem."
(Bob Dylan 1971; source: No Direction Home by Robert Shelton)