Hello! I just got off Ilford's website and low and behold no Galerie!I did a search and Ilford's site acted like the stuff never existed. I even tried spelling it Gallerie but to no avail. Does anyone out there know if this paper is gone for good? Calumet's ironic copy about all cold tone graded fiber base papers falling off the face of the earth is hard enough to take with the cancelling of graded Brilliant Bromide. There seems to be plenty of Galerie at places like Freestyle and B and H, but if its been discontinued, then for the sake of continuity I'll have to use something else. Has Galerie slithered into the tar pits like all the other dinosaurs? Any suggestions for a replacement? Thanks.

-- John Kasaian (www.kasai9@aol.com), January 17, 2002

Answers

You might want to try Bergger graded papers. We're not going nowhere.

-- John Horowy (sales@bergger.com), January 17, 2002.

Ilford is now using the Gallerie name for its digital inkjet papers. Gallerie graded paper has not been documented on the B&W section of the Ilford website for a long time (if ever) and it's still available at many large retailers (as you indicated). There has been no official statement from Ilford on this one way or the other that I have seen.

Oriental Seagull G is an excellent graded paper manufactured in a small company in Japan and available at large retailers in the US. Their website is at: http://www.orientalphotousa.com/

-- Michael Feldman (mfeldman@qwest.net), January 17, 2002.

The technical rep from Ilford has told our Printing & Finishing forum repeatedly that Ilford has no plans to discontinue Galerie. I hope that is true, but I think I better stock up before I find out otherwise. I've had excellent experience with Luminos bromide paper, and with Bergger. I've heard good things about the Forte cold tone paper, but haven't tried it yet.

-- Ed Buffaloe (edb@unblinkingeye.com), January 17, 2002.

Some one correct me if I'm wrong (stupid thing to say at this forum) but isn't Arista Classic graded at Freestyle Sales Co. really Ilford Galerie?

-- Jim Galli (jimgalli@lnett.com), January 17, 2002.

Thank you all! I'll definately give Bergger,Forte, Luminos, and Oriental a try and hold off using Galerie for my current project until I feel comfortable with Ilford's commitment to continue production.

-- John Kasaian (www.kasai9@aol.com), January 17, 2002.

John, that's an approach which, if everyone takes it, will ensure Galerie's demise. Here's something from the B&W Printing/Finishing board that Ed was talking about:

Go to this thread http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=006JiD

and see my Sept. 16, 2001 post concerning continued availability of Galerie.

-- Sal Santamaura (santamaura@earthlink.net), January 17, 2002.

Sal---Good point! I think its time to gather some negatives together, buy a good selection of graded fiberbase papers from as many manufacturers as I can(except Zone VI since they're out of the graded paper game) and see which one I like best---including Galerie and it's alter-ego from Freestyle. Probably something I should have done some time ago. Thanks for all the excellent input!

-- John Kasaian (www.kasai9@aol.com), January 17, 2002.

John, if you have interest in including the imminently vanished Zone VI Brilliant Bromide II, all evidence suggests it is manufactured by Kentmere, and therefore should also be available in the US as a Luminos product.

-- Sal Santamaura (santamaura@earthlink.net), January 18, 2002.

Hi Guys,

Way back when in school, we used Ilfobrom. When I came back to photography several years ago, I found that ilfobrom was now gallery, amd gallery was now warmtone. A quick test showed that the current warmtone and the old gallery are pretty darn close. You might try it yourself.

Will

-- William A. Rieselbach (jstream@execpc.com), January 23, 2002.

I don't think so.

-- (bmitch@home.com), January 23, 2002.

john, i actually just ordered ilford's ilfobrom galerie paper about a week and a half ago from Abbey Camera in Philadelphia. i've never used this paper before, but i've read many good things about it. the paper is on back order, but they will be delivering it to me (hopefully). what is so different about this paper? is there any special developing technique that i should be aware of? thanks, patty

-- patty meikle (meiklepa@aol.com), February 25, 2002.

Patty,

I havent used Galerie in over 10 years and i didnt use it much even then. I prefer Seagull for cold tones and Forte warmtone for warm, Galerie (if I remember correctly) falls in between. It does have a slightly greenish cast to it, I know that. This ( I think) can be removed by toning, and you might experiment with developers (or just add some benzotriazole) if you dont like the color but dont want to tone. There dont seem to be many people using it anymore, and i dont see it discussed often. It does have its devotees though, and you'll just have to try it to see if you are one. Although it may be similar to Ilfobrom (which I've never used), I dont think its identical. Hard to say, since Ilfobrom is long gone.

-- Wayne (wsteffen@skypoint.com), February 26, 2002.

Ilford has updated many of its black and white Fact Sheets in the last few months. They're on the Web site:

http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/homeng.html

and Ilfobrom Galerie FB is now included!

-- Sal Santamaura (santamaura@earthlink.net), May 09, 2002.