Agfa Graphics products, what can I use them for

[BirgerA]

Hello all

When I bought my enlarger a few years ago (5), I got some Agfa Graphics products bundled in. They were promptly stowed away and not thought about until they resurfaced during an excavation in our loft. Does anyone have any idea as to what I can use them for?

The products are as follows:

One roll of Agfa-Gevaert WOA 2 film

One roll of Agfa Graphic Avitone AP2-2 paper

Some G101c developer

Some G333c fixer

Some Aditan (Hardener?)


I know that I can experiment with the fixer and developer, as they are ammoniumthiosulphate and Hydroquinone based (respectively), but I'm most interested in the film and paper.

Any help will be appreciated.

Regards

Birger A.

 

[David H. Bebbington]

The basic principle wth unknown material is to have a lot of it so that you can do tests and still have enough to produce some pictures. Is the film in its original packaging? If so, it will probably say what safelight the film can be handled under. If not, you can cut a piece off in total darkness, leave it lying in the darkroom partly covered by an opaque object (coins are the traditional choice) for 30 minutes or so and develop it to see if it has fogged. OR you can just assume it is orthochromatic (sensitive to blue and green) and handle it under red light. The film is almost certain to be high contrast. you will probably be able to take normal pictures if you give a lot of exposure (start testing at EI [ISO speed] 1 or 2) and use a soft-working developer (like a print developer at 3 times the usual dilution). Other fun things to do with big rolls of film are to make display transparencies from b+w negs and enlarged negatives to try alternative printing processes (cyanotype is an easy one to start with). The paper will probably also be high contrast, you may find it is too slow to make enlargements. All the materials may of course be too old to give good results but could be worth experimenting with if you have time.

Regards,

David

 

[rtuttle]

The G101c is rapid access developer. You can develop continuous tone film in it however your results will not be the finest of grain and it will be a bit contrasty. The G333c is concentrated rapid fixer. I use this with both my film and paper as it's easy for me to come by. You can mix the G333c about 3:1. The G101c gets mixed 2:1 for graphic arts films at 100d so you might try like 4:1 or so to get what your looking for. The Additan is glacial acetic acid which you can use as a hardener or if you dilute it out enough a stop bath. The two films you mentioned are not in the graphics assortment but appear to me to be aerial film.