Sistan

[thefizz]

I wish to know how Sistan compares to toning for archival purposes.

I don't want to change image colour so I was planning on using Sistan instead of toning. I know Selenium can be used in a way that changes the colour very little but Sistan is so easy to use and saves time.

Any thoughts?

Peter

 

[John Simmons]

Selenium may or may not cause a colorshift depending on the dilution, duration, and paper type. At dilution levels that are thought to give archival permanence (1+9 or less) you still have to tone the entire print to completion to be truely archival (according the Tim Rudman's book...the Photographers Toning Manual). Anyway, sistan is also mentioned in the book and Mr Rudman agreed that in theory it should work... but there has been no published research to document it...even from agfa.

 

[mono]

Sistan has nothing to do with toning, it is just for archival purposes.

 

[thefizz]

Thanks for the replys.

Yes I know Sistan is not a toner but I wanted to know how it preformed archivally when compared to toning a print.

 

[mono]

I mostly use both: Selenium and Sistan! Just for "eternity" ;-))

 

[Ed Sukach]

Thanks for the replys.

Yes I know Sistan is not a toner but I wanted to know how it preformed archivally when compared to toning a print.

I use Sistan - a LOT, and I've asked the same question.

The best I've been able to obtain is: "In theory, it SHOULD work - and work well, but we have no objective evidence that it, in fact, does."

Then again - hard, objective information about the longevity increased by ANY form of toning is not easy to find.

 

[mono]

I think it depends on one`s own preferences!?

 

[blansky]

Sistan is like "faith" or taking vitamins.

You hope it works, you can't see it work, some people will swear it works but in the end, who knows.

Selenium is a chemical process that converts the silver to something a bit more stable so it too should work.

You probably won't get a color shift unless you are using warm tone papers.


Michael

 

[Photo Engineer]

See Ctein's article (mentioned elsewhere) for details.

Basically, Sistan is a solution of sodium thiocyanate. When a photo is soaked in Sistan, the thiocyanate acts like a mild 'toner' in the sense that as it oxidizes in air, it forms a sulfur coating on the silver image and acts to preserve it. The level is so low that you see no toning, but silver sulfide is formed to a tiny extent, and it forms slowly from what I understand of the chemistry.

Your print is protected from air by the silver sulfide coating on the silver image.

PE

 

[thefizz]

Thank you all for your help.

Peter