Azo is a very nice paper if you don't mind working with single weight paper
which wasn't a problem for me. I used Azo as long as the negative could be
printed in grades 2 or 3, or adjusted within these grades by use of a water
bath for part of the development time. Those were the only grades in which
Azo was generally available in 8x10 when I used it. If the negative called
for something other than grade 2 or 3 I switched to Polymax Fine Art and
used my enlarger's variable contrast light source.

Developers make a big difference with Azo. Amidol produced a warm tone,
Ilford Universal produced a noticeably blue cool tone which I didn't like.
The main thing I didn't like with Azo and Amidol (other than the need to
contstantly put on and take off gloves when using it) was the fact that out
of the fix the paper has a slightly greenish cast to it that has to be
removed with Kodak rapid selenium toner. The problem with that was that the
timing in the toner had to be almost perfect. If left in the toner too short
a time the greenish cast wasn't removed, if left in too long a time the
toner produced that purple selenium look. I wanted a neutral tone so it was
a matter of wateching each print with an eagle eye and pulling at just the
right time.

I should add that Michael Smith recommends highly dilute selenium to remove
the greenish cast, something like 1:120. I never tried that, I used a
stronger combintation, something like 1:10. Possibly if I had tried his
recommendation the timing wouldn't have been so critical (I forget now why I
didn't try it). As I'm sure others must have told you, Michael Smith is the
source for Azo paper and also the fount of much available knowledge about
it. You can find out a lot of information by visiting his web site.

"Collin Brendemuehl" wrote in message
om...
Ok, now that LF is taking my free time it's time to get
contact printing (& enlarging as well) done right.
Or at least to understand it more fully.

So, let's pursue 8x10 contact printing for now.
1. Is there a "best" contact printing paper?
1.1 Any online examples of AZO vs. whatever, to show the difference?

2. Do chemicals make any difference here?

Any other things to look at that you can think of?

TIA,

Collin