ADOX MCC + Dektol = greenish cast ?

Dear all,

Does Dektol give a greenish cast to ADOX MCC ?

I am about to order a couple of packs of MCC-paper. I spotted a post on the internet warning to use Dektol with MCC since it caused an ugly greenish cast. I have tried to verify this by searching this, and other forums, for a clear answer, but has just found contradictory suggestions.

The MCC-spec sheet suggest to use Neutol or Neutol WA. Does Neutol give a neutral tone to MCC, as it is supposed to do? It this a good choice to replace Dektol?

I used it in Dektol 1:3 and there was no green cast. It was quite neutral. Very nice paper. Never tried it in any other developers.

I use Dektol in 1:2 and also do not have a green cast.

Most black-and-white enlarging papers produce a slightly greenish cast upon development. It doesn’t seem dependent upon the particular developer used. It varies from one paper to another and is more noticeable when viewing the print in some light sources than others. Due to differences in our color perception some people see the green cast more than others.

Most papers loose their greenish cast given a modest toning in selenium or other toners. Even cold tone papers that don’t significantly change color can loose the slight greenish cast in selenium even though no other color change is seen.

The green cast is often unnoticed until two otherwise identical prints—one untoned and the other toned—are displayed side by side. Then the greenish cast of the untoned print is noticeable. This is one of the reasons that printers favor at least some toning. It eliminates the objectionable green color.

Ian C said:

The green cast is often unnoticed until two otherwise identical prints—one untoned and the other toned—are displayed side by side. Then the greenish cast of the untoned print is noticeable. This is one of the reasons that printers favor at least some toning. It eliminates the objectionable green color.

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Indeed. Just to bring the point home, the green-ish cast becomes quite noticeable under strong light while selenium toning. In fact, if the goal is to neutralize the cast without noticeable color shift, rather than tone for maximum archival stability, one watches for the change by having untoned prints nearby (perhaps in a water bath, waiting their turn), which will suddenly exhibit an obvious green-ish-ness. The toned print must be withdrawn quickly either at the point of, or slightly before, "noticeable" shift. Selenium toner may normally be re-used but the times at which prints should be pulled will increase as oxidation and depletion occurs.

Just depends what you mean by greenish. I am one of those folks who is very very conscious of
image tone. MCC in my opinion will not ever produce a true cold tone, even with gold toner. It
is always a tad off, and dektol even with selenium will not totally eradicate this tendency. So it just
depends on your expectations, and what other paper/dev you are comparing it to. This is not meant
to discourage its use. It's a wonderful paper. And dektol can be used very eloquently too. But it
might not be the appropriate paper for just every image, especially if you don't want any warm or
off-black cast at all.

IIIRC the AGFA MCC product had a greenish cast. The ADOX product is the same receipe , just on a very white base. Very slight toning selenium toning will shift the color to neutral.

Joe