Digital BW, The Print

On 8/14/13 10:55 AM, "pdesmidt tds.net" <pdesmidt@...> wrote:

>I know this is off topic, but the composition of selenium toner changed.
>Tests at RIT's Image Permanence Institute showed that selenium toner no
>longer gives the same protection that it used to. Google "Doug Nishimura
>Selenium Toning."

I don't think it's off topic at all. The past can always inform the
present.
I tracked down that article. Thanks for mentioning it. I found it very
interesting.
This is the first I have heard any indication that light selenium toning
may not be as protective as once thought, though admittedly, I do not
follow silver photography at all any more.
And of course, there is the disturbing tendency that Kodak, especially
Kodak, and other manufacturers had of changing a formulation quite
significantly and not bothering to tell end users. They would even
significantly change the behavior of films and not tell anyone.

(I once got a Kodak technician in Rochester to admit over the phone that
in his opinion, "anhydrous" meant that a little water, enough to turn a
whole jar of chemical into a single clump, was OK!)

In workshops and with students I would compare the silver-gelatin B&W
process to building a sand castle. It was a constant effort to finish
creating what you wanted and get it out the door, before the next wave
came along and washed it all out to sea.

David Kachel

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