MCC shifts hardly at all in tone in
selenium -- I toned this for two minutes
in a 1:3 KRST solution, and could barely
notice a difference (if any) from the
untoned test print.
Strange, I saw some prints on the new Adox MCC while in the the UK last month and they'd certainly shifted very significantly in Selenium, in fact some had split toned.
Perhaps LPD is the wrong developer it may well have to much Benzotriazole, try using a warm tone developer instead, I used the old MCC extensively and that worked best with Neutol WA or Id-78 for selenium toning etc.
It could well be that two minutes is just to short a time to get a perceptible shift in color. It might take 10 minutes or more in some cases with selenium.
Sanders, I haven't used the new MCC myself yet, I still have some Agfa MCC left to finish. However I saw some test prints made by a UK distributor and it didn't seem to have quite the same warmth & tones but then the dev used and time/temp & exposure regime makes a big difference with warm toned papers. However Matt (Ag Photographics) indicated that it toned very quickly in KRST, and i looked at toned & untoned images.
I'd agree that 2 mins at 1:3 KRST should be ample time, but try leaving a test strip longer & see what happens, sometimes Selenium toning appears to be slow & nothing happening then suddenly changes, this happens particularly when the image starts with a colder tone, or is more fully developed. LPD is a Cold tone developer.
I have noticed the lack of response to selenium as well. I use Moersch SE6 cold tone developer. Tried selenium at 1:20 for 8 minutes and another for 10 minutes. There is either no tone change or a very almost imperceptible one. I did get some dmax increase with intensification of the blacks and greys. I think the lack of response is due to using a cold tone developer. I love this paper. I am not fighting with the paper, and I get great results. There is no "need" to tone to get rid of green casts or anything else, but selenium makes a subtle improvement.
That's a slightly ambiguous paragraph, and the piece you quote is more about tone in terms of density that image colour.
This is because with indirect toning there's a loss of contrast & density, so images need to be printed heavier, darker & a bit more contrast for other toners.
I looked at the doc that comes with the paper, and it does say image tone is not affected by selenium. However, it is somewhat ambiguous (it does say that blacks will become more full but also says contrast won't be increased). However, if you look at Moersch pages (do a web search) on 110/mcc he does say toning in selenium brings red shadows and there are other web references to same (one site said 3 min at 1:10 will bring red shadows). I have only tried 1:20 so far...i'll try 1:10 in the next week or so. I don't want red so the papers' resistance to tone change in selenium is actually a good thing...i can get protection without tone change and tone change isn't necessary...i have the tone i want with the se6. I'm just trying to figure out the different experiences people are having...seems the one variable is cold tone developer.
You also use a cold tone developer, that's not ideal,, first you've deliberately tried to kill the inherent warmth in the paper, then you want to put it back with Selenium.
It needs you to re-think what you actually wanting out of the paper, the images I saw have a verygood colour shift, and those left to long had a very red tinge. Olivia Parker (Weighing the Planets) and Thomas Joshua Cooper were/are the 2 photographers who raelly exploited the effects of selenium toning with this emulsion.