Old/exhausted chemistry

[JeffNunn]

I don't - fact is that in an English translation, they use an Italian compound name, which is unnecessarily confusing and technically incorrect.

I’ll have to watch for that if I keep using Bellini I suppose! Even if I get the MSDS

It seems like there’s a solid group on Photrio/apug always willing to give advice if I have a question though… cheers!

 

[JeffNunn]

As posted before, probably the more critical are for long term/stable prints is the fix. Usually, my savings are on the developer area. If developer meets the criteria I want, then it is suitable.

I use fresh chemistry most of time because I make it myself (rodinal, POTA, E76 and other sorts of Phenidone/Citric acid developers). Since fixer problems may not be evident immediately, I usually try to keep fresh fixed.

Probably what I mean, be a cheapskate on developer, dont cut corner on fixer.

Regards

Well, yes! Good advice it seems! But may I ask if you’re processing paper with Rodinal and those other developers?

How does it look? I just checked on Photrio and it seems you can do so, and I can read those other threads but just wondering if that’s what you meant?

 

[koraks]

I’ll have to watch for that if I keep using Bellini

For sake of clarity, none of my criticism of Bellini's information provision should be taken as a discouragement for using their products. So far, I can only conclude that their product offering is suitable, there are no major quality issues that I'm aware of and I think much of what they offer is very reasonably priced.

It seems like there’s a solid group on Photrio/apug always willing to give advice if I have a question though… cheers!

Ad nauseam, haha!

buy a selenium toned print just so I could see one in the flesh

The question is how much good it would do you, because the effects of selenium toning can vary from barely perceptible to very strong. It depends on the extent of toning, the paper used to begin with and also how the paper was exposed and developed. For instance, a paper like Fomaspeed (RC) and I imagine Kentmere RC papers too will show an almost imperceptible color change when toned briefly in selenium. Most neutral tone papers if toned to a much greater extent will go a subtle eggplant/maroon hue, which gets more pronounced and ends up as an almost brick-red color as toning is taken to rather extreme extents. By contrast, warm-tone papers (Fomatone in particular, but other brands, too) tend to shift in hue much more strongly, going from usual somewhat greenish brown hues to a warmer chocolate brown, and this even happens with mild toning in selenium.
An extreme case is that of lith prints, which due to their very fine grain structure will respond very strongly indeed to any kind of toning.

So even if you were to purchase or view someone else's selenium-toned print, it still would only offer one example of a nearly infinite gamut of possibilities.

 

[koraks]

processing paper with Rodinal

Developing paper in rodinal is unpractical and relatively expensive (and slow) because you need to use a pretty large amount of rodinal to get the job done, and tray life is quite limited.
In general, using dedicated film developers to develop paper/prints is not a very good idea.

 

[JeffNunn]

So even if you were to purchase or view someone else's selenium-toned print, it still would only offer one example of a nearly infinite gamut of possibilities.

I hadn’t considered that, but of course and it seems to me that same gamut of possibilities could keep one busy for life.

And no worries on the Bellini chemistry, it seems like pretty great mud to me and yes very reasonably priced.

Appreciate the responses, gives me much more to think through/try out

 

[YoIaMoNwater]

Little bit late to the party but I'm looking to get some hardening fixers and it's a pain in the ass. I've found the safety sheets for Bellini FX5 Part A (https://www.freestylephoto.com/stat...RDENER_BWFX5-AM1_PART_A_SAFETY_DATA_SHEET.pdf) and Part B (https://www.freestylephoto.com/stat...RDENER_BWFX5-AM1_PART_B_SAFETY_DATA_SHEET.pdf), but it doesn't mention of containing alum.

Not sure if they are omitting this for some reason? Before I jump the gun, can anyone else confirm if it actually does function as a hardening fixer? @koraks Have you worked with this fixer?

 

[koraks]

@koraks Have you worked with this fixer?

Nope.

But quoting from the documents you linked to:

Factsheet
Fix and Hardener for B&W Process FX5 PRT A

So that's clearly a hardener.

it doesn't mention of containing alum.

Potassium alum probably doesn't have to be declared. It's considered safe for human consumption.

What do you need a hardening fixer for anyway?

 

[YoIaMoNwater]

Nope.

But quoting from the documents you linked to:

So that's clearly a hardener.


Potassium alum probably doesn't have to be declared. It's considered safe for human consumption.

What do you need a hardening fixer for anyway?

I'm getting back at B&W reversal again and wanted to follow the protocol I have made from before that uses a hardener fixer. Thanks, good to know that potassium alum doesn't have to be declared.

 

[koraks]

Ok, that's indeed one of the applications where a hardener really does make a lot of sense.
I assume that particular fixer uses potassium alum. It seems to be a variant on Kodak's F-5 hardening fixer.