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

GregY

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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

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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

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

GregY

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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

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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.
 
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Milpool

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Anyone remember Sterling paper? I remember sending away for a free sample pack probably some time in the early 1990s?

The limited supply of cold tone paper is why I mentioned Phenyl Mercapto Tetrazole which will make anything cold if MG Cooltone isn't available.
 

DREW WILEY

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I remember Sterling. Nothing will make just any paper cold - and what specifically do you mean by cold? - it can have all kinds of hue biases, which might or might not be appropriate to a specific image. Ironically, to get the best cold tone using gold chloride toner, you actually want the print coming out of the developer having finer divided warmer silver grain, hence sticking with KBr restrainer in 130 rather than benzotriazole. Sounds counterintuitive, but that's how GP-1 works (though I have my own tweak of that).

And when it comes to VC papers, even MG Cooltone can split tone with the wrong mix of toners - and not in a nice way like MGWT. These newer papers aren't like old MG IV, which came out remarkably predictable - predictably blaah for me, though I bagged a few excellent prints with it when nothing else seemed available. Never a true neutral cold tone like Galerie graded, however.

Thanks for the tip, however. I believe PMT is, or was, available from Freestyle. Expensive; maybe a last resort option.
 
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Alex Benjamin

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I've recently toned in selenium (1+9 and 1+19 dilutions) the same print, made on Ilford Multigrade FB Classic Glossy, developed in Ansco 130 and in D-72. The Ansco 130 print exhibited very little colour change and did not seem to have increased contrast, while the D-72 acted more how one would expect (considering this Ilford paper is not known to tone very well).

Anybody have the same experience ? Has anybody tried either sepia or split-tone sepia & selenium after printing in Ansco 130 ?
 

DREW WILEY

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No. That's not been my experience at all. I've done split tone and tri-tone many times in relation to 130 dev. Depends on the paper. MGWT does it better than Classic; but Classic can still be worthwhile in this respect. But old MGIV toned poorly. D-72 cold tone dev is not ideal for this purpose. You want more finely divided silver when gold toner comes into play as the primary cooling agent, almost counterintuitively.

I go with cold toner first - my own tweak of GP1, followed by a sulfide equivalent to Kodak Brown Toner, and sometimes a little bit of selenium toning too.

I really don't like over the top sepia tones, although I had my own phase of that long ago. Less is more.
 
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chuckroast

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I tone Fomabrom Variant 111 VC FB in KRST 1:40. The Ansco 130 processed prints definitely do not get to colour quite as quickly as those done in Dektol but you can get there with a bit of extended time in the toner with this paper.

(And yes, Dektol+Ilford MG tones dreadfully in KRST if memory serves. I had to get the dilution down to something like 1+4 as I recall to get the colour changes I wanted.)
 
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Alex Benjamin

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Thanks for your answers. Clearly I have to do more tests.

@chuckroast I'm pretty jealous that you're able to print on Variant 111. Impossible to find in Canada, and with the exchange rate, it's gotten too expensive to buy either from the US or directly from Europe. I loved 112 when I had the chance to try it, and I hear 111's glossy isn't as glossy as Ilford's.
 

chuckroast

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Yeah, that paper is pretty great. But like all thing Foma, it can, occasionally, have problems with emulsion chipping on the edges.

It is not as glossy as Ilford and, to my eye at least, it has much more pleasant blacks than, say MGIV AND tones better in selenium.

As I watched the tariff stuff ramp up this year, I slowly stocked up as much of this paper as I could afford. Hopefully, some of this will settle down before I have to restock. Unfortunately, there is no longer any paper made in US, so whatever I buy is going to have some tariff applied.
 
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Alex Benjamin

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Well, just got proof that B&H doesn't check its stock of Photographers Formulary Developer 130 very often. Opened both backs, and the Glycin was this colour :



I advised B&H and they offered a refund.
 

chuckroast

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Well, just got proof that B&H doesn't check its stock of Photographers Formulary Developer 130 very often. Opened both backs, and the Glycin was this colour :

View attachment 406362

I advised B&H and they offered a refund.

So I talked to PF about this, because mine also showed up looking like that, but it worked fine.

PF told me that B&H actually goes through a fair bit of 130 so they were surprised.

I would order this directly from PF to try to minimize the risk of bad glycin. I will say that the 100g of glycin I bought from them recently was still a light tan color but not quite that dark.
 
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Alex Benjamin

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I sent the photos to B&H and they told me they would talk to PF about it.

I thought about make it with the brown glycin, but since I have no way to check whether or not it's active — they really should devise a test for that — I changed my mind.

I just ordered100g of Glycin directly from Photographers' Formulary, so the other components from the B&H packs won't go to waste.
 

DREW WILEY

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Perhaps a symptom of not rotating the inventory in their warehouse. A light chocolate color gylcin powder will work, but with a more limited lifespan. That's why I don't buy 130 kits, but the separate bulk chemicals, from PF. I keep a reserve of fresh glycin powder in the freezer; it doesn't change frozen.
 

chuckroast

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Upon your recommendation, I did/do just that, but the Glycin I got from PF was light tan brown.
 

DREW WILEY

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Light tan glycin is relatively fresh. It can be off white, but that is less common, it seems. Mocha is usable, but getting over the hill. Once it's Hershey Bar chocolate, it's questionable.
 
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Alex Benjamin

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Light tan glycin is relatively fresh. It can be off white, but that is less common, it seems. Mocha is usable, but getting over the hill. Once it's Hershey Bar chocolate, it's questionable.

What I have seems mocha to me, if not darker, but since I'm not that good at judging colours, let me know what you think from the photo I posted.
 

MattKing

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Is there a possibility that there is no reliable direct correlation between the colour of glycin and its efficacy?
 

GregY

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Is there a possibility that there is no reliable direct correlation between the colour of glycin and its efficacy?

Matt in the more than 10 years that i've been using Formulary 130, that's always been the stated correlation...& why i either mixed it immediately or separated the kit and stored the glycin in the freezer.
 
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MattKing

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Matt in the more than 10 years that i've been using Formulary 130, that's always been the stated correlation...& why i either mixed it immediately or separated the kit and stored the glycin in the freezer.

Understood,
But perhaps that is one of those things that reflects different times, different suppliers of different constituent components and different external factors.
 

GregY

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Understood,
But perhaps that is one of those things that reflects different times, different suppliers of different constituent components and different external factors.

Matt, there's been no update...I really can't say...but i'm betting B&H doesn't keep their stock in the freezer. I'd be interested to see a current photo from PF....if it's an issue from their end.
 
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