[Leica] Question about old photo paper

[drr at purplehen.com (David Rodgers)]

Some papers seem to last longer than others before fogging becomes an 
issue. I just printed some Agfa Brovira that's old. I don't know how old, 
but certainly well past it's prime.  It was the hardest paper I had (6), 
and the only 16x20. I concocted a metol mix with...BAMMM!!! a touch of 
restrainer. The result were so good I'm shooting film again, and thankful I 
didn't sell my Leicas.

I haven't shot much film since I bought a D100 a couple of years ago. I've 
used a number of digital printing solutions, from Epson 3000 Piezography, 
to some the new multi black cart consumer printers. I'd been scanning and 
printing film even before I got the D100, but at least with film I had the 
option of making a silver print.

Great and amazing as modern inkjet solutions are, IMHO nothing can quite 
match a good silver print. With digital I can get 95 percent there, with 
half the effort. Which means, being the lazy person I am, I'll continue to 
shoot too much digital, and too little film. OTOH "fine art inkjet" remains 
oxymoronic to me.

Regarding the economics, I think I've spend more time and money becoming 
halfway proficient in digital printing than I ever did in darkroom 
printing. Well, maybe not time yet, but the gap is narrowing.

DR