Ethol Blue Formula?

sepiareverb · Jan 15, 2011

Just saw some old negatives, Tri-X I ran in Ethol Blue many years ago- and am wondering about mixing some of this up. Grit and grain has some appeal of late.

I did some searching for the recipe, but no luck. Anybody??

sepiareverb · Jan 15, 2011

Found this, a start anyway.

bobwysiwyg · Jan 15, 2011

This anything like it?

http://www.jackspcs.com/fdnb.htm

I don't know a thing about it, but your question got me Googling.

Gerald C Koch · Jan 15, 2011

Looked for years and could never find a formula or something similar. It was popular for a time but was withdrawn by the manufacturer. Since it used sodium hydroxide as the activator and not sodium carbonate and contained hydroqinone it was not the same as the Beutler formula. The only thing even close and still made would be Ethol TEC.

sepiareverb · Jan 15, 2011

Gerald C Koch said:
Looked for years and could never find a formula or something similar.

Grrrr.

sepiareverb · Jan 17, 2011

Got this email in response to my query about availability of Ethol Blue or the recipe from Omega/Brandess:

No longer available. I would suggest the “Darkroom Cookbook” written by my friend Mr.Stephen Anchell. It should have similar formula if not the exact Ethol Blue recipe. Rodinal type developers at less dilute concentrations will give you the result desired, or any developers with higher borax or sodium carbonate components.

Best Regards.

Gregory Blank

nworth · Jan 17, 2011

bobwysiwyg said:
This anything like it?

http://www.jackspcs.com/fdnb.htm

I don't know a thing about it, but your question got me Googling.

Doesn't appear to be. Neofin Blue was reported to be a commercial version of the Beutler formula. Ethol Blue seems to be different. According to the MSDS, it appears to be an MQ developer with sodium hydroxide as the accelerator. Most developers using this combination are designed for high contrast, rapid processing, or both. X-ray developers commonly use these ingredients. But with sufficient dilution things can be calmed down. I notice there are several catechol based compensating developers that use sodium hydroxide at concentrations of 150 - 500 mg/l of working solution.

Rick A · Jan 17, 2011

I've consulted my Photo Lab Index, and no recipe. There is plenty of info on use and time and temp charts for it though.

Ethol Blue Formula?

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