Anscochrome AR-Id process

Ryuji · Dec 11, 2006

Does anyone know what is this process? It appears to be a reversal process similar to Eastman E-4 or E-6, but is this an equivalent of either, or something else? What was the color developing agent and what was the bleaching agent? Was the fogging done by fogging agents (such as DMAB in E-4; a nasty chemical) or by other means?

Someone found a deadstock of this chemical (in cans) and I'm having to decide, ASAP, whether to take it for historical collection, actual use, or send it to disposal facility.

Any relevant info is appreciated.

Ryuji

PHOTOTONE · Dec 12, 2006

Any chemistry set labeled "Ansco" would be no newer than the early 1970's, and the film designed for it, if you could find it, would be so old as to be useless. Ansco color slide film was not compatible with Kodak process.

McCluney Photo

Photo Engineer · Dec 12, 2006

Ryuji;

Ansco processes used Dicolamine as color developing agent in just about every case. If the color developer contains a bottle of liquid, that liquid is probably Benzyl Amine, as they were prohibited from using Benzyl Alcohol by Kodak patents.

AFAIK, they never used a fogging agent. My kits from the time always used a reversal exposure. The bleach, last time I used it was a standard rehal ferricyanide, and the hardener (if any) was chrome alum.

The films they made were quite stable during keeping before and after exposure, but IDK about keeping over 30 years, I'm talking about 5 years or so. The final dye stability of the film was quite good compared to some other products at the time. The images, when they changed, seemed to become gray in tone rather than shifting in color.

PE

Paul Howell · Dec 12, 2006

I bought some bulk Anscocrome 100, had been reportly s mhombougth

Paul Howell · Dec 12, 2006

Sorry for the above post, hit the wrong key when my phone rang. The Anscocrome was frozen, I had several GAF kits, all dated back to the 70's, and it worked, I rated the film at 50, the kit mixed up well, I needed to find a very bright lamp for the reversal. I dont know how long these slides will last, my GAF 500 slides from the 70's are fading fast.

Helen B · Dec 12, 2006

Ryuji,

The 1977 BJP Annual includes the BJP version of AR-1. I'll email a pdf of it to you if you wish.

Best,
Helen

Photo Engineer · Dec 12, 2006

Helen;

I would appreciate a copy. Along the way, most all of my Ansco data sheets and info have vanished. All I have is one book by Ansco on color photography and a lot of my old Anscochromes and Printon prints.

Thanks.

PE

Ryuji · Dec 12, 2006

Thanks Helen!!

So the color developer bath of AR-Id is an ordinary color developer using N-ethyl-N-hydroxyethyl-p-phenylenediamine as the developer (5g/L) and beta-phenylethylamine (2g/L) as the coupling enhancer at pH of 10.8. Perhaps the noticeable difference from modern formulation is that the developer contains a lot of sulfate as an antiswelling agent.

I'm curious to see what kind of color this developer makes with modern couplers. I think I'm skipping first developer and stop hardener to make a negative with this color developer for cross processing of modern Ektachrome films.

I also have the original GAF instruction that came with the chemicals, so I'll report if I find anything interesting.

Paul Howell · Dec 13, 2006

Ryuji said:
Thanks Helen!!

So the color developer bath of AR-Id is an ordinary color developer using N-ethyl-N-hydroxyethyl-p-phenylenediamine as the developer (5g/L) and beta-phenylethylamine (2g/L) as the coupling enhancer at pH of 10.8. Perhaps the noticeable difference from modern formulation is that the developer contains a lot of sulfate as an antiswelling agent.

I'm curious to see what kind of color this developer makes with modern couplers. I think I'm skipping first developer and stop hardener to make a negative with this color developer for cross processing of modern Ektachrome films.

I also have the original GAF instruction that came with the chemicals, so I'll report if I find anything interesting.

I have a can of Anscochrome 200 that was reportable frozen, I used all my GAF kits developing some 100. Post me if you want it.

Bill Mitchell · Dec 13, 2006

QUICK! Throw it all away, and hope that it hasn't contaminated anything photographic in your house!

Canelo · Oct 11, 2016

Paul Howell said:
Sorry for the above post, hit the wrong key when my phone rang. The Anscocrome was frozen, I had several GAF kits, all dated back to the 70's, and it worked, I rated the film at 50, the kit mixed up well, I needed to find a very bright lamp for the reversal. I dont know how long these slides will last, my GAF 500 slides from the 70's are fading fast.

Hello. Just saw this old post. I also have some Anscochrome powder chemicals, as well as unused film. I am missing the instructions for developing, however. Can you please share that information? Thank you.

Canelo · Nov 14, 2016

Helen B said:
Ryuji,

The 1977 BJP Annual includes the BJP version of AR-1. I'll email a pdf of it to you if you wish.

Best,
Helen

Greetings. Can you please email me the PDF as well?

Thank you

MattKing · Nov 14, 2016

Canelo said:
Greetings. Can you please email me the PDF as well?

Thank you

Helen B hasn't been seen around here since 2012 (unfortunately).

You could try "Starting a Conversation" with her.

Down Under · Nov 14, 2016

Scan your old slides before they vanish.

Dispose of Anscochrome films and processing chemicals/kits on Ebay. Collectors out there will pay good money for them.

Interesting there should be two postings about Anscochrome one after the other in this forum. I sense a conspiracy...

darkroommike · Nov 15, 2016

I have the 1975 and 1984 BJP Annuals, both with formulas for Agfachrome reversal materials, neither calls the process AR-1. There are slight differences in the formulas as published in the nine years between publication. BJP Annuals come up for sale on Ebay all the time. The golden years would be from about 1965-1985, give or take, when Geoff Crawley was the editor.

And there's an APUG thread titled
Gevachrome and orwochrome and E6

in which Ian Grant posted the formulas from BJP.

Y'all need to read this thread, it has BOTH Ian Grant and PE discussing reversal color processing (or in Ian's case colour reversal processing).

Anscochrome AR-Id process

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