Ornano sepia toner gone, alternatives?

[Marco Gilardetti]

Good morning gentle fellows photographers.

I have just discovered that the classic two-bath sepia toner made for years and years by Ornano chemicals is no longer in the product range of the brand. It is probably very old news, but as I had some packets in stock I didn't know so far.

There are two alternatives that I can purchase relatively easy: Tetenal Triponal and Foma Fomatoner.

About Triponal I couldn't find any significant information, and it also seems no longer present on the producer's website. Perhaps it's some old stock. Any comments on it? Is it a classic two-bath sepia toner?

The Fomatoner, instead, comes rich of tech specifications, but it seems to deliver different results than the classic Ornano toner. The charts say the tone will change from yellow to brown to purple depending on temperature, which is something I'm not used to. Also, it says that working solutions are to be used within 7 days, while Ornano's last almost indefinitely. Anyone has comments, please?

Also, more in general, I see that there are also one-bath sepia toners. Do they have the same protecting effect on images as the classic two-baths process has?

Thanks for reading and have a nice day.

[Marco Gilardetti]

I am very surprised that nobody has comments on sepia toners. I thought this place was plenty of people doing true darkroom activity.

Another doubtful paragraph on Fomatoner fact sheet says that the original image must have deep shadows, as the toned image will be lighter. This is at least surprising, as sepia toning is a notorious mild reinforcing technique, and the classic texts usually report it also as a reinforcing treatment for thin negatives. Does anyone have comments on this?

[Ian Grant]

There's plenty of Sepia toners available but Ornano was a small company and you need to tell us what type it was, presumablt A Bromide/Ferricyanide bleach followed by a wash then redevelopmeny in either as Sulphide or Thiourea toner.

There can be quite a variance in image colour depending on the exact formula so you need to experiment, As toners are the easiest of all to make up yourself I'd suggest going down this route.

Ian

[Marco Gilardetti]

Hello Ian, and thanks for your answer.

Whichever product Ornano was, it's gone and that's all. It was a generic sepia toner, and as such it behaved. I'm not looking for a xerox copy, just for another standard sepia toner.

I'm posing questions here because the Foma sepia toner does not behave like a "standard" sepia toner. It lightens the shadows, or so the fact sheet says. As it is not a "normal" sepia toner, does it prolong life expectancy of photos like sepia toners usually do?

Does Tetenal sepia toner do? Is it a two bath? Their fact sheet is so poor they didn't even write if it's two- or monobath. Did anyone try it?

[Renato Tonelli]

Fotospeed offers two types of Sepia Toners; the Traditional might be close to what you are looking for. Fotospeed is a European product so you should be able to obtain it.


http://www.freestylephoto.biz/306610...ter?cat_id=306

[R gould]

Marco,
The tetenal toners are still in production, and they make two, the first is a traditional two bath Sulphide toner,the one that smells of rotten eggs, and the other is the triponal, a variable two bath toner, you add the toner control part to the toner to control the color of the sepia tone.Having used the Classic sepia toner and the Foma toner I would say that the two are virtually the same and I would opt for the foma product, which is a traditional two bath odorless sepia toner, as was the Classic,
Richard

[Aurelien]

Have you looked at the Rollei Sepia Toner?

[Marco Gilardetti]

Richard and Renato, thank you very much for your informative reply.

[Marco Gilardetti]

Aurelien, I know that product exists, but Rollei is still not in assortment here. Only (some) films so far.