Ansco 130 user experience, questions, comments, appreciation...

[GregY]

Did you try the "Oriental" VC paper that was around for a while until maybe 5-10 years ago? It didn't have anything to do with the older Oriental papers as far as I know but around 2007-2008 I used a lot of it for a portfolio and it seemed to be quite good. Despite a Japan label my understanding is it was actually made by Harman.

I liked the Fotoimpex/Adox MCC 110 paper but it seems unlikely that will be seen again.

I still have a box and a half of 16x20" Oriental VC, i bought from an aficionado from Calgary right around covid time. I think i paid $250 Cad for two boxes and he drove out to Canmore and we met up in my bank's parking lot. It's not as contrasty as new FOMA or Ilford Cooltone, yet i've gotten some nice prints from a matched negative....processed in Ansco 130 and selenium toned.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Everyone was out of Cooltone for half a year, so I snatched up a box of 16X20 from B&H. Next round, there it will probably be even more expensive due to tariffs. Ironically, MGWT is better priced at the moment; and I'm down to half a box, so should probably get some more of that too. I presume they order a lot more of MGWT at a time, and strategically sell it on a very slim margin due to its popularity.

 

[john_s]

The thing that people seem to want to ignore is that, with the synchem capacities Kodak, Ilford etc had, Glycin would have been very easy to make (compared to colour couplers). Considerably more interesting is Ilford's hints at the ways that Phenidones could be modified to deliver significant differences in print colour (especially to the warmer end).


.......

There is one obvious reason for the big brands to not use glycin, and that is storage life.

 

[GregY]

The redux Oriental Seagull graded, under new ownership, did replicate the hue and toning qualities of the original quite well. But it lacked the same impact, for lack of a better way of stating it; and the Grade 4 version was a lackluster bellyflop. I was certainly disappointed with it, and even more disappointed with the VC version, but still did manage some very nice prints. Nowhere near as flexible as the original Seagull, despite being VC. Yet it too kept continuity with at least the special image tone of Seagull tradition. The quality control of the Seagull brand pretty much fell apart in recent years.

MCC 110 had its own native image tone, which was too confining for me personally; but it split toned decently (not as dramatic as MGWT).

Drew, did you ever use the original Bergger papers in the '90s. I got some very nice prints on the VCCB...it was more expensive than Forte back then.....before Harman started making it.

 

[DREW WILEY]

I don't recall that. I did try some earlier Forte, which seemed quite a bit different from the current selection. The latest Bergger neutral tone VC (Prestige?) is something I could leverage into an Oriental Seagull "feel", with a nice rich tone and deep DMax, though not quite the same image color. Cold tone papers are almost unobtainable at the moment, were it not for another batch of MG Cooltone showing up, which is more versatile for me than Bergger, if not quite as rich.

I'm trying to remember which paper I last developed in amidol. I think it was the last of my Galerie graded, and shots I took in the Ruby Mtns in Nevada, a stunning range not many people know about, with some stunning thunderstorms.