IMHO paper grain does not get visibly bigger with age but you will see higher fog levels unless you add restrainers to the developer, in which case sensitivity goes down. Again, just my opinion (and it's more an impression and I haven't done the research to put numbers to this), developer incorporated papers such as Polycontrast III, Multigrade Rapid, etc. age faster than non-developer incorporated ones, VC papers age faster than graded (or contrast changes faster with age), and RC papers age faster than FB. Contrast seems to go down as fog levels go up--just what I would expect since I sometimes use a sub-threshold fogging exposure (a.k.a. a post flash exposure) to lower image contrast. darkroommike ---------- ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gregory Fraser" <Gregory.Fraser@pwgsc.gc.ca> To: "List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students" <photoforum@listserver.isc.rit.edu> Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2003 1:02 PM Subject: Discount Paper > I've seen film that is seriously outdated and it had huge grain. I presume this is due to age and the emulsion losing its sensitivity to light. I'm wondering if the emulsion on paper is basically the same as the emulsion on film and if outdated paper exhibits the same characteristics. > > I ask because I have yet to deplete my first package of photographic paper which is outdated Kodak RC. I'm printing 120 negatives and I feel that the images should be sharper and less grainy than they are. > > Greg Fraser > Master of Funk > http://users.imag.net/~lon2251/Gallery >
