Differences in selenium toner brands?

[Colin Corneau]

I've picked up both Harman/Ilford brand, and the Kodak brand selenium toner.

FWIW, I'll be using Ilford's FB VC Warmtone paper. It's up to me to experiment and find a dilution that works for me, but I'm wondering if people more experienced than I in toning (ie. everyone) feel there's a signifigant difference between these two brands.

all the best

 

[Andrew Moxom]

Colin, I've only tried Kodak RST, and Kentmere. The Kodak gives me richer image tones than Kentmere, but the Kentmere smells more of ammonia than Kodak. I found Kentmere much harder to change paper colors. Kodak was the best in that regard and I see no reason to try others myself anymore. Although Kentmere was cheaper, but I went back to KRST in the long run. YMMV

 

[Colin Corneau]

Thanks Andrew. I tried the Ilford/Harman ST mixed 1:10 for about 4 minutes -- as I said in an earlier thread, it really blackened those blacks (have to print differently if toning, was the lesson there) but did give an interesting subtle colour change.

You're right about the ammonia smell -- very sharp, but it reminded me to be careful with this chemical.

 

[Trevor Crone]

Colin, the only commercial brands of Se toner that I've used are KRST and Fotospeed SLT20. It seemed the KRST was more concentrated, needing a WS dilution of 1:9 as opposed to SLT20's WS dilution of 1:7 for an equal effect.

In the days before Se toner was readily available in the UK I made my own from formula, Kodak-T55 and that required a WS dilution of about 1:5.

These dilutions were for colour shifts.

Trevor.

 

[eclarke]

I print on Ilford MGWT FB and develop in a cooled Ansco130. I shoot for a slightly warmer than neutral tone on this paper which I can accomplish with KRST, the Harman tones to brown in a heartbeat so I use it for the MGIV neutral paper...Evan Clarke