Round 1: Slavich Unibrom vs Lith

Some time ago I bought Slavich Unibrom from Moersch Chemie (although I can’t see it anymore on their website besides the bromportrait variant). It took a while to find the time to try this special paper..until today! To call this a special paper is quite the understatement 😉

First some technical stuff:

Paper used:
* Slavich Unibrom Grade 2 24×30 cm

Chemistry used:
* Moersch SE5 developer 1+1+24 (75+75+1800)
* Amaloco S10 stopping bath 1+19
* Amaloco X89 fixing bath 1+4

Other variables:
* Temperature of lith developer +/- 20 degrees Celsius
* No MG filters used when exposing the paper

I decided to use some negatives from our recent skiing holiday past March as I’ve done pretty much nothing with those yet. Images were shot on Kodak Tri-X 400 using my M6 with Elmarit 28mm f2,8, developed in Kodak HC110 dil. B. They came out rather funky to say the least. I almost couldn’t recognise where exactly they were taken 😉

The first print I made was exposed for 20 seconds and snatch point was at 4:04 minutes.

When making the second and third print from the same negative it became quite obvious getting an even development was going to be a challenge (one of the perks with this paper I knew upfront). I read some comments on FB and kept reducing agitation to a minimum during the following prints. With the last print I made agitation was pretty much brought down to a bare minimum. I have the feeling that is the key to an even development, or rather should I say, as even as possible perhaps.

The following print (print 5) was exposed for 40 seconds and snatch point was at 5:20 minutes.

This is where I got the feeling this paper isn’t for me. I think I’m more of a subtle lith-print-preferer than this is able to produce. But, it could also be my ignorance with this paper. Or both. I want to keep it at both.

The next print (print 6) was exposed for 20 seconds and snatch point was at 6:47 minutes.

I have the feeling (lots of feelings this time) the bath gets exhausted pretty fast as the results are getting more extreme. The last print (print 7) gave me black dots in white parts of the image (blotting?). I’ve used a one-step larger tray than the paper requires and made a bath of almost 2 litres as that’s said to make it more stable. Not sure if 7 prints is a lot with this paper / developer combo. It seemed a lot.

What struck me as daft (thanks David for that crafty word) was that for a long couple of minutes the image seemed to come up evenly dull greyish. And then, all of a sudden black parts start to appear and then zoeffff…it’s turning black rapidly with these weird structural thingies. Infectious development gets a whole new meaning with this paper 😉

Anyway, long story even longer, not sure whether I will keep at it with this paper. I like the more pronounced difference in soft lights and harsh darks with ‘regular’ papers such as Foma 131 etc. That is why I fell in love with lith in the first place; its subtleties with the potential of being harsh and in your face.