Ansco 130

PVia

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Yes, David...Ansco 130 is a superb print developer. Even Ansco 120, the soft working lower contrast dev is amazing, too.

Another developer with super-long tray life is Ethol LPD, and the tones are wonderful as well. A nice feature of LPD is the fact that you can get warmer tone by increasing the dilution, with no change in contrast. A great parlor trick!
 

Thomas Bertilsson

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A-130 with Delta 100 4x5

Here is an example of using it as a film developer. Just a test neg shot in my back yard.

Delta 100 exposed at box speed. Developed in Ansco-130 (Photographer's Formulary version anyway) 1+4 for 4 minutes at constant agitation. About 68*F temp. This is a neg scan.

It seems to work very well, and holds wonderful shadow detail.

- Thomas
 

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David A. Goldfarb

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I have a few formulas for glycin film developers, which I've never tried. If there's interest, I could start a new item and post them.
 

David A. Goldfarb

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Four glycin formulas for film posted at--

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)
 

michael9793

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Francesco said:
Anyone has experience using Ansco 130 and AZO paper? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I have been using A130 and Azo for several years now and I will say I love it. i get very deep blacks and good separation in the shadow and highlight areas. I use 2:1 dilution as a standard for 2 mins. then go to 1:1 and stock for more contrast. Less contrast? 3:1, 4:1 etc..... and remember never throw out your developer. I have the same developer for two years. I just replenish when it gets low with another bottle of 2:1 diluted developer. Yes it will get black but gives much better tones as it ages.

mike andersen
 

Bob F.

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buze said:
Does anyone know if it's possible to find Glycin in the UK ? I ordered a box of Lodima, so I need to find some Glycin to make Ansco/Agfa 130..
Click to expand...
No dealers stock it as far as I know. Unless a user in the UK has excess they are willing to sell you (midnight; park bench next to the pond; password: "The ducks are flying low this eventide"; come alone...) you'll have to order from The Formulary in the US - a fairly painless experience I have found in the past.

I have two bottles of Neutol WA to get through before I make up any more A130...

Good luck, Bob.
 

Mahler_one

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buze....I too have ordered Lodima, and will make up a batch of Amidol as per Michael. However, I have noted increasing posts about the excellent results obtained with other developers used with Azo type papers. I wonder if you have used Ansco 130 before with Azo paper, and if you compared the results with Amidol. Just curious, for obviously other non staining developers are more convenient to use.

Ed
 

David A. Goldfarb

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Azo in Ansco 130 is very close to amidol, and other glycin developers I've tried can also be interesting as well--some warmer toned--but amidol gives better waterbath control than glycin. Here are Azo prints in two glycin developers, with some discussion to attempt to describe what isn't coming through in the digitized versions--

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

If you don't have a supply of cheap amidol and want to try to conserve it, I think a good strategy would be to use Ansco 130, and save up the negs that would benefit from waterbath treatment for sessions using amidol. When I'm using amidol, I usually have a combination of contact prints and enlargements to make, so I do the contact prints on Azo first, then add the requisite amounts of KBr and benzotriazole to the solution to use it for enlarging paper. Efke Emaks is a paper that really benefits from amidol. Most other enlarging papers will also look good in amidol, just not much better than they would in something more common like Dektol.
 

Justin Cormack

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Bob F.

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I don't think glycin is one of the banned chemicals unless thinigs have changed lately; I and others have imported it in the past. The other chemicals (i.e. all except the glycin) for making A-130 are readily available from Silverprint amongst others.

Please let us know what the final cost works out including shipping, customs fees and VAT etc. It will be interesting to see if shipping the whole kit from the US works out cheaper than just importing the glycin and buying the rest locally - I suspect there will not be much in it.

Cheers, Bob.
 

JBrunner

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IIRC it's just a few grams.
 

JBrunner

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Bob F. said:
Ah... Sorry. Warning: local colloquialism at work! "not much in it" meaning "not much difference" between the costs of each option.
Click to expand...

Ahh.. I understand now. I thought you would have known that, but my inherent helpfulness got to me. And in return I learned something new!
 

TheFlyingCamera

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Another alternative to Ansco 130 is PPPD - it's a Pyro developer for paper.

750 ml water

30 grams sodium sulfite

.34 grams of phenidone A in 20 ml of 91 % alcohol heated to appr 125 degrees to dissolve

10 grams catechol

10 grams pyrogallol

40 grams of sodium carbonate

3 1/2 grams of potassium bromide

5 grams of citric acid

water to make 1 liter

(add chemicals in order specified and make sure that each is fully dissolved before adding the subsequent chemical.)

over two hours and it was still active (emergence times still at 25 seconds after two hours) and it did not stain the paper. Still delivers a good dmax. Increasing the pyrogallol sets the blacks better.

This should give improved performance over the MAS Amidol for enlarging paper at a sizeable savings.
 

Philippe-Georges

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I have been reading this treat with a lot of interest.
But, I found the (slightly?) different formula's of Ansco 130 a bit confusing and I am left with a few questions.
What is Ansco 130 (Glycin) in the first place, a film or paper developer?
What is the ultimate formula for the actual Multicontrast papers?

Thank you,

Philippe
 

PVia

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Ansco 130 is mainly a paper developer but will work for film developing as well, as attested to by members of this forum. Beautiful glowing highlights and rich dark tones make this a favorite for many. I use it as my everyday developer along with LPD and Dektol. The difference is subtle, don't expect huge differences, allow yourself to get familiar with it and how it works in your darkroom with your papers and workflow.

The main formula is in the "recipes" section of the forum.
 

Alex Hawley

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TheFlyingCamera said:
Another alternative to Ansco 130 is PPPD - it's a Pyro developer for paper.
Click to expand...

I've used PPPD a fair amount. Made it my standard developer for about a year. In its straight form with equal amounts of catechol and pyrogallol (50/50 mix), it leaves a very warm tone. A neutral-tone paper will look as warm as a warm-tone paper. Pyrogallol oxidizes relatively fast and its tray life is about 6 hours in the 50/50 mix. That's far shorter than the Smith amidol formula which would stay active for about thirty-two hours

Because the 50/50 mix was too warm for my taste, I started mixing it using 20 grams catechol, no pyrogallol. Storage life was a nearly two weeks and the tone was entirely neutral.

In both mixes, PPPD allowed using a water bath for contrast control. The water bath capability of 130 is about the same. Neither developer gives as much water bath control as an amidol formula does.

I believe Ansco/PF 130 gives just as good development results as any amidol formula or PPPD. Having used all three, I like them all and don't favor one over the others. But, 130 has an incredibly long tray/storage life. It just never seems to give out. Its nice not having to mix developer from scratch for every session and this makes it very economical. That was the deciding factor for me. I'm well into my second year of using it as my only paper developer and don't have any plans for change as long as it stays available.
 

Philippe-Georges

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Thank you, PVia and Alex, for the swift answers!
Alex, I was thinking about Ansco 130 and its variations.
Till now I have worked a lot with E 72 (Eric Patton's formula) on FOMABROM variant III but, unless I give the print a KRST toning, the blacks are not 'deep' enough for me, even after 5 min at 22°C (1+1), the mid tones and highlights are good (the film is Fomapan 100 & -400/120 in Pyro-HD).
And once Selenium toned, to 'reinforce' the D-max, the Thiorea toning is not working as I would like it.

Philippe
 

VincentM

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Ansco 130 + filter 4

Hello, I am new to Ansco 130. I used it at 1+1 for two weeks now and compare to my ohter prints I would say again that the difference is very subtle. Overall the values in the print seem more open.

Though I have a question, I wonder if using a higher filter (ie:3 or 4) doesn't result in changing the tone in the print. Less subtle tones, more black and white. It might just be coming from the use of such a filter but then I have the feeling the developer is enhancing this. Should I not use a lesser dilution for 'weak'negatives instead of using filters? Do you have any feedback?

Thanks, Vincent
 

PVia

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Hmmm...I always use it at 1:2 (so far)...and my negs are optimized (I can hear them laughing at me) for Grade 2.

One of the things I love about Ansco 130, is the way skin tones look, especially the very glowing tones you can get from natural window light.

Used 1:1 and with a Grade 4 paper (Slavich, Emaks). I'd like to see what it could do with some of my older, much thinner negatives.
 

Justin Cormack

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$77.45 - no customs charges, so £52 all in. Thats the 16 litre kit.
 
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