Snipping...

    This is a serious problem now. Agfa is simply out of
the photographic materials business and Kodak has
discontinued papers. That leaves Ilford and to some extent
Kentmere. Both Agfa and Kodak had extensive laboratory
facilities and good quality controll, especially Kodak. I
think Ilford still has some lab facilities and pretty good
QC, not sure of Kentmere, but the small European
manufacturers probably are only following formulas and
techniques inhereted from larger companies. Its hard to know
even which brands are actually made by the company who's
name is on them. For instance Bergger seems to be rebranded
material from someone else. Both Ilford and Kentmere have
traditionally made paper on a contract basis. Ilford
announced at one time that they would discontinue the
practice but it appears that they have not. The problem is
getting any real technical data on these materials. This was
never a problem with Kodak, Agfa, or Ilford. Ilford seems to
be the one remaining "major league" company in the paper
business. I do not include Fuji because they do not sell
their B&W papers outside of Japan.