hallo

A bit of background first, I'm Jim Read and I live in Birmingham UK. I take photographs of woodland and nudes, these days with a 5 by 4 that I built myself, I use D23 developer for my Plus X film and for my prints I use Ilfords new warm tone resin coated which I develop in D163. Both the developers I mix up myself.

Anyway what this message is all about is RC paper!

I have an anecdote to relate, I was asked to do a dozen 20 by 16's to go on a brick wall in a suitable frame to help advertise an entertainment centre where I'd taken a lot of photographs. I did the prints and they were duly attached to the wall (south west facing), they were there for 18 months, withstood temperatures of -8 to +35 Celsius anddirect sunlight for long periods during the two summers. The prints had been treated in selenium after fixing. The paper used for this was a Kentmere RC glossy.

Afterwards, the prints being no worse for wear as far as I could see, two of them are still (4 years later) in the management office at the centre.

Has anyone else got a similar tale to relate, has anyone ever conducted any tests, does anyone know any definative answers to this longevity question?

I would be really grateful to anyone who can come up with something else, I do get concerned about the amount of precious water wasted with washing fibre paper. And for those who say usean eliminator, I say what do you do after toning, not just for permanence but for effect!

Please e-mail me at jread@porthill.com if you know anything at all. THANKS.

-- Jim Read (jread@porthill.com), September 19, 1998

Answers

Lots of people have conducted tests, but there seems to be little consensus. Ask again in 100 years.

I have Ilford RC prints that I made 20 years ago, no toning, that have been hanging (behind glass) ever since, with no visible deterioration.

-- Alan Gibson (gibson.al@mail.dec.com), September 20, 1998.

On their USA web site Ilford replied to this question in the FAQ area:

3.Is RC paper as archival as Fiber base paper? At present, there is no industry standard for testing the longevity of B&W papers. Though ILFORD believes that its RC papers can be as permanent as fiber base papers, if long term archival stability is a user's primary requirement, ILFORD continues to recommend fiber base papers as the medium of choice.

-- Don Karon (karon@ibm.net), April 28, 1999.