Ansco 70 vs Kodalith

[removedacct3]

Does anybody know what the history of Ansco 70 / Kodalith is? They share the same formula. Copied Kodak Ansco or was it other way around? Googling did not provide much info on this. Just curious ...

 

[Ian Grant]

Agfa 70 (Germany), Agfa Ansco 70, Kodak D153, and Ilford ID-13 are all identical high contrast developers. Kodak had access to all Agfa Ansco's data/formulae after the US government seized the company during WWII. D153 was a Kodak Ltd formula rather than Eastman Kodak so not copied from Agfa Ansco.

Kodalith developer was D85, it gives much better edge sharpness compared to D153/ID-13, I used it regularly in the 1970's and 80's always mixing from raw chemicals.

Ian

 

[removedacct3]

Kodalith developer was D85

Ian

Okay, that is interesting. I thought that Kodalith was the same as this one: http://stores.photoformulary.com/developer-70-kodalith/

And Ansco and Agfa were one and the same? Agfa operating in Europe and Ansco in America?

 

[Ian Grant]

Okay, that is interesting. I thought that Kodalith was the same as this one: http://stores.photoformulary.com/developer-70-kodalith/

And Ansco and Agfa were one and the same? Agfa operating in Europe and Ansco in America?

Agfa had a presence in the US long before they took over Ansco, Agfa Ansco had some developers etc not made by Afa in Germany and vice versa. Many common developers have different formulae number, I think only 3 are the same. There's similar differences between Eastman Kodak (US) and Kodak Ltd (UK and selling to Europe) in terms of products (not Formulae numbers).

Agfa Ansco's commercial Lith developer was Agfa Ansco 79, the Formulary has incorrect information probably from the Photo Lab Index's which were riddled with errors and these were perpetuated in almost all US publications. The only US books with correct formulae are The Darkroom Cookbook 3r & 4th editions.

Ian