uhoepfner
Hello to all analogue photographers,
I bought some AdoStab yesterday (by the way, thanks to the team at Impex for their expert and friendly advice, as always).
Can I also treat paper that has already been processed (i.e. has been dry for weeks)?
MirkoBoeddecker
Hi Uwe,
You can actually use ADOSTAB to stabilise any print that hasn’t yet shown signs of deterioration. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a few weeks or a few years old.
Simply pre-soak it until it’s evenly wet, let it drain, and place it in the ADOSTAB.
There’s no need to rinse the ADOSTAB out again.
Best regards,
Mirko
uhoepfner
Thanks for the info.
The bottle says 2 minutes on the front and 1 minute on the back. The ADOX.de website says 2 minutes. So I suppose the 2 minutes are correct?
Is 1 minute enough to pre-soak dry paper?
Robin_
Hello,
I’ve now also given a few PE prints a retroactive Adostab bath. I followed the instructions to the letter. Today I took the prints off the line and noticed that there are reddish marks on the back of them. Some have more, some have fewer. But only on the back.
What are these spots? And can they be removed by soaking them again?
Best regards,
Robin
Bonderer
Hello
It’s better to use selenium toner or Goldbad for stabilisation, but you’ll need to rinse the film again afterwards. I used Adostab for film and had no problems. Then I used it for a large batch of RC prints, and that’s when disaster struck. There were pale spots on the emulsion side of almost all the prints, rendering them unusable. The samples I sent to FOTOIMPEX for a complaint were unfortunately lost there; before they could investigate the cause, I never found out what had gone wrong. I haven’t used Adostab since, and it’s just as well it didn’t affect my negatives.
piu58
I use Sistan and haven't had any problems with it.
Robin_
I've just given them another rinse. All the stains are gone. Lucky me :)
TR
I’ll just chime in here: I use selenium toner to improve archival stability, remove a green cast and slightly increase the black levels.
Sometimes, the entire sheet of paper – including the unexposed or ‘fixed away’ white margins without silver – takes on a very slight ‘ivory tone’. The paper then looks as if it were one of those “pseudo-warm-tone papers” with a dyed base. I assume that in this case the fixer hadn’t been completely removed. Can anyone confirm this? Or is this perhaps a sign that the selenium toner is running out?
Gast
Hello
It’s better to use selenium toner or a gold bath for stabilisation, but you’ll need to rinse the film again afterwards. I used Adostab for film and had no problems. Then I used it for a large batch of RC prints, and that’s when disaster struck. There were pale patches on the emulsion side of almost all the prints, rendering them unusable. The samples I sent to FOTOIMPEX for a complaint were unfortunately lost there; before they could investigate the cause, I never found out what the problem was. I haven’t used Adostab since, and it’s just as well it didn’t affect my negatives.
In the description of Sistan (AG-Stab), I found the following:
[size=3]
[font=verdana,geneva]"Warning!
[font=verdana,geneva] An excessively high AG STAB concentration can lead to spots that only become visible after some time – especially if the images are in close contact (stacked storage). Care must therefore be taken to wipe the front and back of the prints before drying, so that no partial over-concentration occurs due to drying AG STAB droplets. When processing in developing machines and continuous dryers, the squeeze and transport rollers must be carefully wiped down to prevent the AG STAB solution from settling on them and crystallising[/size]"
piu58
> that in this case the fixer hadn’t been completely drained off yet. Can anyone confirm this?
Selenium toner is actually a sensitive test for proper fixing and washing.
TR
> that in this case the fixer hadn’t been properly rinsed out yet. Can anyone confirm this?
Selenium toner is actually a sensitive test for proper fixing and washing.
Exactly. But people here are always talking about ‘staining’. In my case, however, the paper is uniformly ‘coloured’. As with a subtle toning. That’s why I’m asking.
piu58
> uniformly "coloured
If the silver ion content is uniform, then so will the colour be.
TiMo
Sometimes, the entire sheet of paper—including the unexposed or ‘fixed-away’ white margins without silver—takes on a very slight ‘ivory tone’. The paper then looks as though it were one of those ‘pseudo-warm-tone papers’ with a dyed backing. I assume that in this case the fixer hadn’t been fully drained out yet. Can anyone confirm this? Or is this perhaps a sign that the selenium toner is exhausted?
Hello Thomas,
I’ve always assumed that, if the processing time is long enough, the paper will always take on a slight tint. After all, it is a toner. I use Adox Selenium Toner 1+19. If I leave the paper in the toner long enough, it always turns a subtle brownish-yellow. I notice this even with RC paper, which I’m quite sure has been properly rinsed.
Tim
piu58
[indent=1]> If I leave it in the toner for long enough, it always turns a subtle brownish-yellow.[/indent]
[indent=1]I use the toner in a much more concentrated form, 1+9. I’ve never noticed any change in the image’s whiteness.[/indent]
TR
Thanks for the tips.
Timo, when I use selenium toner, my paper clearly shifts towards magenta. I mustn’t tone it too intensely here. Areas of the image that no longer contain silver (i.e. the white margins) shouldn’t undergo any colour change, as there is (or should be) nothing left there for the toner to react with. I also think that, in my case, the selenium toner has reacted with fixer that hasn’t been completely removed. I was just surprised by the uniform reaction, as the literature always mentions ‘staining’.
TiMo
Hello Thomas and Uwe,
The edges naturally remain white for me. Everything in the image takes on a tone, except for the absolute highlights. In that respect, my previous post wasn’t quite right, because I was talking about ‘paper’. In any case, the overall effect of the image becomes warmer, but the dark areas also become slightly less dense if I tone it for a long time.
Why not give it a go and wash a sheet of paper incompletely, then tone it? Then you’ll know whether you end up with lots of small patches or just one large patch across the whole sheet.
Best regards, Tim
Bonderer
Back to the beginning
Actually, a well-watered RC/PE paper doesn’t need a stabilizer. It lasts as long as it lasts, and anyone who likes can tone it, treat it with whatever they like, or use Sistan or something similar. I doubt I’ll see my PE photos deteriorate in my lifetime. It was more important to me with the negatives; I’ve always treated those with Sistan. I can make a new print, but a destroyed negative remains destroyed.
People do the stabilising because they’ve read about it or learnt it; I picked it up from various books and newspapers. For PE and baryta, I now only use the gold bath. It improves durability but only alters the blacks, and only slightly. However, everyone must decide for themselves how to handle this.
During my disaster with ADOSTAB, I had stripped the prints very well and then put them through the dryer. You can’t do any more than that with a dryer like that – how are you actually supposed to clean the rollers? You can’t get to any of them, and because of the direction of travel, you can’t just wipe them down with a damp cloth either; it simply doesn’t work well. And the manufacturers – they’ve always written a lot, but if it didn’t work, it was always down to user error.
The point of RC/PE papers was faster, easier and better workability. It was never about durability. When it comes to durability, baryta certainly has the edge, but who’s actually going to see their prints disintegrate?
TR
I’ve had a bad experience with tinted prints and a conveyor dryer: the PE prints ended up with a sticky surface. Perhaps such prints need to be air-dried.
