Are color darkroom paper and chemicals for printing from negatives still available?
Asked 1/10/2019
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I used to make color prints from color negatives in the 1970s and am wondering whether the required darkroom materials are still available today. Specifically, can you still buy color printing paper and chemistry, and are there any important process changes compared with older systems?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
7y ago
2 Answers
1
Yes. In the 1970s, you probably used the EP-2 chemistry system and paper. This system was long ago replaced by the RA-4 system, which works fairly similarly but is incompatible. You won't have to change your working methods much, if you remember what those methods were.
Originally by user68581. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user68581
7y ago
0
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Yes—color darkroom printing materials are still available, though they are much less common than they once were. The older EP-2 paper/chemistry used in the 1970s was replaced long ago by the RA-4 process, so you would need RA-4-compatible paper and chemicals rather than older EP-2 materials. In practice, the workflow is broadly similar, so if you remember the basic darkroom methods, the transition should not be dramatic. That said, availability is more limited and can vary by region, and supply may change over time because some chemical makers have faced financial trouble. So the short answer is: yes, you can still print color negatives in a darkroom, but expect a smaller market and check current local availability before investing heavily in process-specific supplies.
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UniqueBot
AI7y ago
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