Great to see Ilford responding to customer demand by reintroducing the matt version of its famous exhibition quality Galerie, news that will have exhibition printers and photographic artists jumping for joy.
The company announced this afternoon that a grade 2 version will be available from June in the UK and Europe. America will start receiving stocks of the new paper by July with Australia and the Far East getting theirs in August.
That means the fibre-based Galerie will be available in grades 2 and 3 in gloss and grade 2 in matt with sizes from 17.8cm x 24cm all the way up to 50.8cm x 61cm. Ilford said they are working closely with a finance company for those wishing to take out a second mortgage before ordering the largest size.*
Steven Brierley, sales and marketing director of HARMAN Technology Limited said (the capitals are all his own), "The ILFORD ILFOBROM GALERIE FB range is rightly considered as the zenith in silver gelatin print making for the discerning photographer, printer and collector.
"At this level of print making HARMAN Technology Limited have direct contact with many of the users and the clear request was to have a MATT alternative in the ILFOBROM GALERIE FB range.
"This decision is also clearly aligned with our stated strategy of keeping analogue photographers and printmakers supplied with the widest range of premium ILFORD PHOTO products that it is possible to produce".
If you've never tried Galerie then you're in for a treat. It's a superlative paper, quite possibly the best out there at the moment. Great blacks and silvery highlights. The whites are soft and subtle and never too "in yer face".
As with a lot of fine fibre-based papers, the print can have a barely noticeable olive-green tint but a soak in selenium toner soon gets rid of it. There's no appreciable colour shift after that, though, with the main effect being an intensifying of the already strong blacks. It's lovely stuff. If I ever reach the stage of consistently producing negatives that print easily on a normal grade (I'd need to stop photographing in dull weather for a start!), I'd use Galerie for everything with a preference for glossy over matt.
If you've never tried Galerie then you're in for a treat. It's a superlative paper, quite possibly the best out there at the moment. Great blacks and silvery highlights. The whites are soft and subtle and never too "in yer face".
As with a lot of fine fibre-based papers, the print can have a barely noticeable olive-green tint but a soak in selenium toner soon gets rid of it. There's no appreciable colour shift after that, though, with the main effect being an intensifying of the already strong blacks. It's lovely stuff. If I ever reach the stage of consistently producing negatives that print easily on a normal grade (I'd need to stop photographing in dull weather for a start!), I'd use Galerie for everything with a preference for glossy over matt.
* I made that bit up.
Used to use a lot of this but it did get very pricey. I dont think I could give up the contrast control of multigrade having used it for so long.
ReplyDeleteBest paper out there, as far as I am concerned, but massively expensive . .
ReplyDeleteI should know, I signed up for Harman's Left Kidney/Box of 100 8x10" scheme
Good decision Phil. Kidneys are so over-rated. :)
ReplyDeleteI know!
ReplyDelete