Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/04/18

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Subject: RE: Glowing photograpers and toners
From: "BIRKEY, DUANE" <dbirkey@hcjb.org.ec>
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 1997 8:52:15 -0400

>I  wrote:
>
>>Uranium toner???????  Never heard of such a toner.  How would 
describe 
>>it's effect and color on the print and where can you buy it?   I'm 
not 
>>sure I want to anyhow, I use a  selenium for increasing D-max without 

>>significant color changes .
>>
>>(I can't resist this one)  Is this how you achieve the Leica "glow" 
>>with your Contax TVS?
>>
>>Still chuckling,

Oddmund Replied
snip
>Chuckling over Contax T2/TVS is not very wise. You should remember 
that
>these cameras have excellent Carl Zeiss Sonnar lenses, designed by 
Zeiss
>Oberkochen and made from Schott optical glass.
snip
>Well, it is OK to ask if you don't know, but chuckling and using irony 
when
>you have no idea about what you are talking about, is a sign of 
weakness.

>And Jim Brick continues...

>This was all meant in jest. But perhaps the irony is reversed. I've 
been in
>this business a very long time. I had my first darkroom in 1948, 
attended
>Brooks Institute of Photography 1959-1961, and have either directly 
used or
>been exposed to most processes over the years. You can say anything 
you
>wish about me, I really don't care. Meaningless. I do, however, know 
about
>"uranium toner/intensifier." My colleagues and I gave-up playing with 
it
>many many years ago. The results did not warrant the effort. Your 
bringing
>it up and Duane's "glow" joke brought back old memories (and jokes.) 
This
>certainly is not the first time uranium toner and photographers glow 
has
>been "chuckled" about.
snip
>and because of the above mentioned hazard, at least here in the US, it 
has
>become (for the average person):
>UNOBTANIUM!  ;-)
snip
> I'm of the opinion that mixing it yourself in the ordinary darkroom 
would be foolish. But... good luck

For the record, I was not chuckling about Oddmund using a Contax TVS,  
nor was I implying that only Leica can give a "glow".  It was a joke!   
I use lighting to achieve a sense of glow in my images and I use Canon 
FD and EOS. (I don't shoot with Leica yet!!!) It was a joke!  I've been 
subscribing to this list in order to learn everything I can about Leica 
equipment because I want a quiet unabtrusive camera that doesn't get 
the "holy cow, mother of all camera" reactions my EOS1n's and L lenses 
get.  It was a joke!   I completed reading the entire volume of LUGgers 
digests last night (over 400) and there is a wealth of information 
contained it and if you skip some of the threads and ignore a few of 
the posters,  it makes for enjoyable reading.  It was a "glow" joke! 
Not a Oddmund joke nor a Contax joke!

Thanks to Jim and Ken for the effort they put in to telling us both the 
formulation and health risks of the product.  There certainly is a 
wealth of information on this list.  I'm only 31 so my guess is this 
toner has been unobtainable for longer than I've owned a camera. 

I'm still chuckling (sort of) about Oddmund using uranium or uranic 
toner, but I think after what's been said, the jokes on him.

Duane