[2.35 lb] Good paper at a reasonable price.

[Multigrade] Excellent paper for day-to-day printing. Easy to work with and good results!

[2.35 lb] The Arista RC Peral finish. This is Very Good but a lighter weight paper than other brands. The development time is standard, the contrast and tones are Very Good. I will be purchasing again in the future.

[Fiber Base] A fraction warmer than Ilford Matte - a very light light ivory tone.
I like it!

[2.35 lb] I haven't done B&W printing since 1976, but I recently acquired some 2 1/4 and 4x5 negatives, and I thought it might be fun to try contact-printing in my bathroom. I purchased this paper and the Arista paper developer and odorless fixer from B&H. I used two food dishes for trays (faucet rinse as stop bath), the room light as an exposure source, and the eTone LED safelight as my only 21st Century accommodation.


Everything went really well: the paper has good blacks, good whites, developed easily, washes easily, dried easily without water spots! (Per Ilford's recommendation, I washed for more than a minute under the faucet after the fixer).


The best part was the safelight. I did color (Cibachrome) for another 10 years, but working with a safelight is so much more fun, and the B&W process so much faster! I did a safelight test as my first print, and I can say with confidence the eTone is 100% safe for this paper. It's fully portable (no cord) so I easily moved it from my dry area to my wet area as needed, and more than bright enough!


A few issues with Arista:
1. Not a lot of instructions and the company doesn't seems to have a website.
2. Very difficult to tell the emulsion from the base side of the paper except by looking under the safelight. The emulsion appeared glossy on this paper - but might be harder to discern on other finishes.
3. The paper dries to a moderate gloss - it does NOT have that old ferrotype super-glossy look, at least not with air drying.
4. The paper was too light-sensitive for my original plan to expose it upside-down on a light plate. The briefest exposure I could make this way was still too much light.

Again, very happy I tried Arista's B&W paper and chemicals! I would definitely recommend this!

[Negative] Last year I bought couple packs from B&H photo with intention to use this paper for proof prints for bromoil (I do bromoil printing) and decided to test this paper for bromoil.
And I can say-this paper can be used for bromoil.. Its not the best paper for such process ,but with some exceptions can be used for bromoil,

[2.35 lb] I love Arista and have no complaints yet. I've used Ilford as well and always find that Arista gets the job done and meets my standards, and it's more budget-friendly.

[Fiber Base] Great quality. What you would expect from RC paper.

[Multigrade] Nice gloss and image development. Expect it to curl up as it dries.

[Negative] This is my go to for Fibre Prints. If you like matte papers, this one is great. I have tried Ilford matte and Foma 112, as well as Bergger Semi matte fibre - and this Arista is my favorite. It dries really well without much curling, and prints beautifully. The Ilford curled more when drying, the Foma always looked like the paper had ripples in it, and the Bergger just isn't to my personal taste. The Bergger is beautiful though, the d-max is definitely more pronounced but that's just not always what I want for my work. The base has a slightly warmer tone than the Ilford, and about the same as Foma. It also has been the best paper I can find for hand coloring with oils. Just a great paper all around and a price that can't be beat.