Paper Negative and Contact Print

Tags

8x10, analog, Analogue, black and white, darkroom, film photography, large format, monochrome, paper negative, Photography, silver, view camera, vintage

I recently got a 500-sheet box of Kodak single-weight polycontrast paper that turned out to be fogged.  While I got a full refund from the seller, I thought it would still be a pity to throw them out.  Looking around on the internet I found that the paper can in fact be used for paper negatives.  In fact, because the paper is already fogged, it didn’t even need to be pre-flashed to bring down the contrast typical of photographic paper.  Rating the paper at ISO 3, I was able to get very usable imaged from this approach.  In fact, I have never used my 8×10 Kodak View No.2 camera as much as I have this past week.  The images come out looking very “tactile”, for lack of better word.  I reckon I will be using this process a lot more in the coming weeks.

Digitally-inverted scan of paper negative

Contact print from paper negative

This is the camera I am using.

Kodak View Camera