Written by Oren Grad
What goes around comes around: What’s so special about the new Multigrade RC Deluxe paper?
Ilford’s most widely-used darkroom paper, Multigrade RC Deluxe, has been revised for the first time in 25 years. (The previous version was called Multigrade IV RC Deluxe, typically known by darkroom workers as "Multigrade IV RC" or "MGIVRC"; the new paper is called simply Multigrade RC Deluxe, dropping the IV. We're abbreviating this to "MGRC.")
In its announcement, Harman Technology noted that the emulsion has been redesigned “from the ground up.” An accompanying technical sheet with a detailed comparison of the new MGRC with the Multigrade IV RC paper it will be replacing makes clear that, as was the case back in 1994 when Multigrade IV replaced Multigrade III, the update represents a major change in the characteristics of the product. The differences will materially affect both printing workflow and print appearance.
Through most of the contrast filtration range—00 to 3—the new paper is slightly faster than the old. However, unlike prior generations of Ilford Multigrade papers, the new MG RC loses little speed at grades 4 and 5. No longer will it be necessary to double exposures when transitioning from grade 3 to grade 4.
Paper contrast has changed as well. Grade for grade, from 00 to 3, the new paper is contrastier than the old. At grade 4 they are matched, while at grade 5 the new paper is slightly softer. The overall range of contrasts achievable has been slightly reduced, with the extremes of the range slightly truncated at both ends. DMax has been slightly increased, from 2.05 to 2.15, and the color of the silver image has been changed from the neutral/cool to neutral/warm. The new paper is also said to be more responsive to both selenium and sepia toning.
No more kink
But most important of all from my perspective, the shape of the characteristic curve has apparently changed. To appreciate the significance of this, we need to take a brief detour to understand what was distinctive about the predecessor product. The tabular-grain films that began to appear in the late 1980s—Kodak T-Max 100, 400 and P3200, and Ilford 100 and 400 Delta—tended to have straighter characteristic curves with increased highlight contrast compared to popular older-generation films such as Kodak Tri-X. They also tended to be more sensitive to changes in development time and temperature. There is, to be sure, considerable variation within the breed. For example, with suitable choice of developer, T-Max 100 can be made to have a gentle shoulder in its curve, and the Ilford T-grain films were somewhat more forgiving in their response to development changes compared to the T-Max films. On the other hand, T-Max 400 was relatively difficult to tame, and tended to produce especially “hot” negatives with steep highlight contrast and a very high maximum density, particularly in the hands of less-skilled photographers. In the hands of typical users, these films often produced negatives that were relatively challenging to print on the black and white papers of the day.
Multigrade IV RC Deluxe was designed to make it easier to print these negatives, especially for less-experienced photographers, for commercial laboratories where efficiency was critical, and for those more experienced photographers who preferred to print relatively “straight” with a minimum of local manipulation. But the way it achieved this was heavy-handed: the characteristic curve has a distinct “kink” in the midrange, with contrast becoming abruptly lower in the upper midrange and extending into the highlights. This does wonders for getting the full tonal scale of “hot” negatives on to paper without darkroom heroics. But it often has pernicious effects on negatives made with shouldered films such as Tri-X, resulting in prints with excessively flat, lifeless upper-middle tones.
Now back to the new MGRC. Subtleties in the characteristic curve can be a bit difficult to parse in Ilford’s charts because of the lack of fine detail and the way the curves for the different contrast grades are superimposed. However, it looks as though the kink is gone. The text accompanying the curves refers to “a straighter curve shape and more uniform contrast response.”
Deluxe delight
For those who have tailored their choice of film, exposure and development to the characteristics of MGIVRC, and especially for those who have relied on it to tame “hot” negatives, the new paper’s combination of a straighter characteristic curve and contrast that is higher through most of the filtration range is likely to pose some challenges.
But as a die-hard user of Tri-X roll film, I’m delighted to see this. Back in the day, Multigrade III RC Deluxe had been my main paper for RC printing. But MGIV RC was such a poor match to my negatives that after 1994 I moved on to other papers, keeping some MGIVRC on hand primarily for occasional problem solving with especially difficult negatives.
I’m looking forward to testing the new MGRC Deluxe; if the published technical data is an accurate guide, I can see myself using a fair amount of it.
Oren
My longtime friend Oren Grad, polymath of all things photographic and a gentleman and scholar, is the reason TOP exists—it was Oren who suggested I try my hand at blogging when my life was at loose ends back in 2005. —Mike the Ed.
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Featured Comments from:
Sal Santamaura: "Re 'I’m looking forward to testing the new MGRC Deluxe.' Me too. I just ordered a box and will soon print some negatives (made with the annual special order 6-1/2 x 8-1/2 HP5 Plus that recently arrived) on it. My use of that film and format are both Oren-inspired. Thanks, Oren. :-) "
Dave Karp: "Yeah, Oren is the reason I own a whole plate camera too. I got to HP5+ on my own though. Oren, are you going to look at the fiber base papers too?"
hugh crawford: "But but but it's RC."
Mike replies: I believe I started making prints in 1980, when I was 23. I still have most of them. Know what has held up the best? Ilford RC prints. Even the carefully toned and archivally washed fiber-base fine-art prints look just slightly dingy after all these years. Many of my Ilford RC workprints, on the other hand, look just like they did the day they were made. Just sayin'.
