Selenium Toning Dried Prints

[Andre Noble]

O.K., great plenty to consider here, including evaluating my current fixer procedures. Andre

[Brian Ellis]

The usual advice is to avoid hardening fixer if you plan to tone a print. This may or may not be one of those photographic myths but since there's no real good reason I know of to use a hardening fix for prints (as opposed to film), I'd forget about the hardening fix in all events and particularly if you plan to later tone them.

[Doremus Scudder]

There seems to be consensus here except on one point. Scott, I would like more info about the fixing times you received from David Carper. I have the Ilford fact sheet "Processing Black-and-White Papers; Fibre-Base" and the recommendations there are for 60 seconds in each film-strength rapid fixing bath when using the two-bath method, despite the fact that the recommendation for using a single bath is also 60 seconds. I suspect that it has to do with what Ilford calls "Optimim Permanence" and capacities. In order to keep the residual silver levels in the fixer solution at 0.5g/liter (the level for ("optimum permanence"), the capacity of the fixer is greatly reduced as compared to the recommendation for "commercial use" of 2g/liter. This is especially noticeable in the one-bath procedure where Ilford recommends only 10 8x10-inch prints (!) per liter of fixer. Using two-bath at 60 seconds each extends this to 40 8x10s per liter. For those of us interested in "optimum permanence", i.e. all of the photographers who sell prints, it would be good for us to heed the capacity recommendations and test residual silver in the fixing bath regularly. I usually toss the fixer long before the recommended capacity is reached, adding my own "fudge factor" to the one almost certainly included by Ilford. Possibly David from Ilford would like to comment on this as well. Regards, ;^D)

[scott jones]

Hi there:

Answers to two questions posed to me above. My recommendations are for fiber paper. Secondly I was told by David at Ilford that 30 seconds in each of the two baths would be just fine and didn't have to do a full minute in each bath. In reality my total time in the fix is a little longer than this in that I do all my FB prints in a jobo (I know, it's strange, but works great!) so that by the time I pour in, pour out, pour in again, pour out again the total time is probably more like 90 seconds total (45 seconds each bath)just because of the time it takes to change over the fluid. Hope this helps...

Scott

[kthompson]

Doris, it always has been a pretty short fix time, in a fresh film-strength/non-hardening fix. In the old Ilford spec sheets & even the " Ilford Monochrome Darkroom Practice" manual (focal press)it was a short fix time. Another good book of that period was Dennis Inch & Lawrence Keefe Jr.'s "The Life of a Photograph" (also focal). Keefe went on (may still??) to work with Light Impressions. They have the archival sequence for fb paper (galerie) with a very short, strong fix. I always thought it was odd when Ilford revised their spec sheets in the paper packs with a 60 sec. fix. It could be just to be on the safe side really, because it used to be listed as a 20 sec fix, with 10 sec. fudge room. Then it moved up to 30 sec each bath. I know that with RC paper, in a processor like an Ilford 2150 (where the fix is basically mixed at a 1:4 ratio, but running at 80 something odd degrees), that the print moves through the rack in close to 20 seconds. Ilford techs have told me that was just right and I would assume that it would be the same for FB, as the big issue there is not with the emulsion, but with the base & residual fix being absorbed. Alot of this stuff changes every few years, so I wouldn't use a 20 yr. old book for the absolute reference. Just look at the requirements for acceptable residual fix levels, changes in toning sequences etc. It used to be that hypo eliminator was recommended by some people...and now HE is a thing of the past, and a little bit of fix left in the paper may be a good thing...

The big problem I would see with using a drum to process this way, might be with making sure the fix was hitting all parts of the print evenly. With the short time, it doesn't leave alot of room for error.