Toning a gelatin silver print to look like platinum

Nikonic said:

Mark, that's a bold claim, and runs counter to what I've heard elsewhere. I'm not saying you're wrong, but, have you done the numbers?

I would love it if it were true! but there are a lot of disposables and external devices required that might not have gone into the calculation.

For example, I, and anyone else starting a digital neg platinum workflow needs at a minimum a high quality scanner, high quality ($1K+ (tell me if there are printers that can do digital negs for less!)), and possibly a UV bed.

Then you add up contact printing frames (my enlarger beseler 45 XL was $150 with all the trappings and both incandescent and diffusion heads), sheets of fine watercolor paper (surely no less than $0.50 per 8X10 sheet), maybe some red graphic masking film, and of course, those platinum salts! For which I don't know the # of print capacity per gram. But if you knew the per sheet cost of something like FB MG IV, and then also knew the per sheet cost of a fully prepared, sensitized piece of platinum paper, you'd arrive at a pretty good idea.

Oh, and time.

The most valuable thing of all.

A shoot>develop>scan>photoshop>print digital neg>contact print digital neg sounds like much more time involved than a shoot>develop>print workflow!

-S

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Bob Carnie said:

Mark is correct IMO

When I make exhibition quality Silver prints I need at least 8 sheets of paper which totals about $80 including the chem mix.
These days the same quality Pt Pd print with ( technology) is about $35 including chems.

I came to this conclusion over the last few years of printing both for hire and it shocked me as well.

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Ian Grant said:

I agree, one of my friends does Pt/Pd prints and it definitely works out cheaper than FB Silver Gelatin exhibition prints, I plan to make more Pt/Pd prints myself in the future.

Ian

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