Got some Amidol, now need a formula!

PHOTOTONE · Feb 3, 2007

I had heard how swell Amidol is as a paper developer. Well, I acquired some, and I now need a good formula (or two) to mix up and try it out. I have everything else needed for almost all paper and film developers.

I looked through the Articles section here and didn't find anything under paper developers, and I have a couple of reference darkroom books, and I only found one formula, and it says it has an ultra-short life and can only develop just a few prints. Is this always the case?

David A. Goldfarb · Feb 3, 2007

Go to www.michaelandpaula.com and then navigate to the "formulas and procedures" section, where he has a formula for Azo and a formula for enlarging papers which contains more restrainer. When I'm printing with Azo and enlarging paper in the same session, I'll print the Azo prints first, add the requisite amounts of benzotriazole and KBr, and then continue with enlarging paper.

PHOTOTONE · Feb 3, 2007

OK, found the formula, but I guess I am dense. What is KBr? (component in the formula)

David A. Goldfarb · Feb 3, 2007

Potassium bromide

I think there may also be some amidol formulas on unblinkingeye.com

JLP · Feb 3, 2007

There's one for both paper and Azo on the Photographers Formulary web site.
http://www.photoformulary.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=5&tabid=23

jan

nworth · Feb 3, 2007

As you can see, Amidol developer formulas are all over the place. The concentration of the components varies widely, but they all seem to work about the same. Amidol developers seem to give a bit more contrast than normal developers. They generally give a fog and stain free print, although benzotriazole can be useful as the developer ages (a matter of hours). The reason for the different formulas for Azo and enlarging papers is the different nature of simple silver chloride contact emulsions and modern chlorobromide enlarging emulsions. Much the same effect can be had by diluting the contact developers for use with bromide papers. Note that ordinary acetic acid stop baths will not stop the action of amidol developers. You should use a fairly strong citric acid stop bath, both to stop the action and to prevent carryover and possible stains from developer oxidation products. Even so, you will note that the fixer gets colored with developer products.

Just for fun, here are a couple of more formulas:

Amidol Teaspoon Formula
From "Practical Photography No. 5" (1935). For bromide and chloride papers. Recommended for bromide enlargements to be used in the bromoil process.

Water (20C) 1 pint (500 ml)
Sodium sulfite 1 tbsp (6.8 g)
Amidol 1 tsp (1.7 g)
Potassium bromide 1/8 tsp (700 mg )

Use more potassium bromide as needed.
Use undiluter or dilute 1+1. Develop 1-1/2 to 2 minutes.

Ansco 113 cold tone paper developer

Water 750 ml
Amidol 6.6 g
Sodium sulfite (anh) 44 g
Potasssium bromide 500 mg
WTM 1 l

Mix immediately before use.
Do not dilute. Develop 2 minutes, followed by citric acid stop bath.
May be diluted up to 1:20 for progressively softer results.

Fein’s amidol

Water (125F) 750 ml
Benzotriaole 800 mg
Sodium sulfite (anh) 58.5 g
Allow solution to cool and add
Amidol 8.8 g
Citric acid 13.5 g
Water to make 1 l

Amidol Paper Developer

Sodium sulfite (anh) 30 g
Citric acid (mono) 1.5 g
Potassium bromide 2 g
Amidol 6 g
Water to make 1 l

Develop chlorobromide enlarging papers 1.5 to 2 minutes.

Tom Hoskinson · Feb 4, 2007

I've tried most of the Amidol Recipes and didn't find any that could equal Michael and Paula's.

mohmad khatab · May 29, 2020

I got a promise from a chemical dealer that he would sell me half a kilo of amidol at a very good price.
In fact, I find it an excellent opportunity that I cannot allow the loss of that deal.
But at the same time, I do not have a significant recipe for preparing a developer for negatives.
Most of the recipes available in books are for printing only.
Does anyone have a recipe for negative and long shelf?

David A. Goldfarb · May 29, 2020

Amidol has a short life in solution. I don't think there's a good way around that.

Raghu Kuvempunagar · May 29, 2020

mohmad khatab said:
I do not have a significant recipe for preparing a developer for negatives.
Most of the recipes available in books are for printing only.
Does anyone have a recipe for negative and long shelf?

Here's one film developer recipe based on Amidol by Ilford:
https://www.digitaltruth.com/data/formula.php?FormulaID=110

I've not used nor do I plan to use it. Amidol is super expensive here in India.

@Ian Grant may be able to throw more light on this formula as it's also published on his site.

Luis-F-S · May 29, 2020

I’ve got 3 kilos I bought some 30 years ago. Maybe y can use it now.

Jarin Blaschke · May 29, 2020

David A. Goldfarb said:
Amidol has a short life in solution. I don't think there's a good way around that.

There is: citric acid in your formula. I’ve never had Amidol poop out on me. Unless 8 hours is considered a short printing session....

DREW WILEY · May 29, 2020

My personal formula is quite economical and has good tray life, that is, for a full day session : 500ml hot water, 20g sodium sulfite, 2 g citric acid, 0.2g benzotriazole. This can be mixed in advance. Immediately prior to the work session add 4 g amidol, then dilute 1:3 for use. Brief plain water stop followed by preferably an alkaline fixer like TF4. Works best with bromide and cold tone papers. You have to be careful with your amidol source. Much of the product from China has contamination, possibly nickel, that stains the paper. I last obtained good quality European amidol from ArtCraft in NYC.
This is obviously a formula for paper, and it's dependable. But I found film development with amidol to be somewhat unpredictable.

Patrick Robert James · May 29, 2020

I have a bunch of Amidol here. Couple of pounds. I was thinking about putting it in suspension with Propylene Glycol. That seems to me to be a possible solution to get it out of powder (YUCK!) form and still be able to easily use it. I haven't tried it yet though. I have been messing around lately with Rodinal as a paper developer.

David A. Goldfarb · May 29, 2020

Jarin Blaschke said:
There is: citric acid in your formula. I’ve never had Amidol poop out on me. Unless 8 hours is considered a short printing session....

Indeed, I think the question was aimed at a longer time scale. I also use citric acid with amidol and consider that good for a day’s printing.

Raghu Kuvempunagar · May 29, 2020

mohmad khatab said:
Does anyone have a recipe for negative and long shelf?

@mohmad khatab:
Not surprisingly there's a Gainer formula for your perusal:

gainer said:
The following is a pretty good developer.

10 grams ascorbic or erythorbic acid.
0.1 gram amidol
Propylene glycol to 100 ml.

!0 ml of this in 250 ml water will require 2 ml of TEA to work in a reasonable time. With 10 ml TEA it will develop HP5+ or whatever the current Arista II in about 6 minutes.

mohmad khatab · May 30, 2020

Raghu Kuvempunagar said:
Here's one film developer recipe based on Amidol by Ilford:
https://www.digitaltruth.com/data/formula.php?FormulaID=110

I've not used nor do I plan to use it. Amidol is super expensive here in India.

@Ian Grant may be able to throw more light on this formula as it's also published on his site.

God bless you.
I don’t know how many days this developer can survive.
- If I want to give you a little, I agree with that - I will buy half a kilo and I am ready to give some friends a maximum of 50 grams.

Raghu Kuvempunagar · May 30, 2020

mohmad khatab said:
God bless you.
I don’t know how many days this developer can survive.

Stock solution of Gainer's amidol- ascorbic acid film developer (see post #16 for the formula) should have long shelf life as it uses glycol. It's reasonably economical for one shot use of working solution.

tezzasmall · May 30, 2020

I have been using the teaspoon formula for D72 print developer recently (easily googled) and have been impressed with it and it has a good shelf and working life.

Terry S

mohmad khatab · May 31, 2020

Raghu Kuvempunagar said:
Stock solution of Gainer's amidol- ascorbic acid film developer (see post #16 for the formula) should have long shelf life as it uses glycol. It's reasonably economical for one shot use of working solution.

Dear brother ,,
This is an odd and inconsistent recipe.
Is it a one-shot recipe or what?
The amount of amidol in the recipe is very low (0.1). Is this number correct?
Written in the recipe (! 0 ml of this in 250 ml water will require 2 ml of TEA) and I wonder, what is meant by (0ml)?
Have you tested and tried that recipe?
- Please, the recipe needs more clarifications and explanations.
God bless you

Raghu Kuvempunagar · May 31, 2020

mohmad khatab said:
Dear brother ,,
This is an odd and inconsistent recipe.
Is it a one-shot recipe or what?
The amount of amidol in the recipe is very low (0.1). Is this number correct?
Written in the recipe (! 0 ml of this in 250 ml water will require 2 ml of TEA) and I wonder, what is meant by (0ml)?
Have you tested and tried that recipe?
- Please, the recipe needs more clarifications and explanations.
God bless you

Mohmad, it's a PC-Glycol/TEA style developer by Patrick Gainer who proposed and experimented with several such developers. His PC-TEA developer is quite a popular developer.

Gainer experimented with several developer formulas where he paired developing agents with TEA. Some of them relied on superadditive property of the paired developing agents. Maybe he found that amidol and ascorbic acid are superadditive and hence his formula uses only a small amount of amidol. Unfortunately Gainer passed some years ago and won't be able to provide clarification. He might also be the only one who used this amidol-ascorbic acid developer recipe for developing film.

The formula provided is for stock solution which should have a long shelf-life. For preparing working solution, you need to dilute the stock solution in water at the dilution 1:25. In addition to water, small amount of TEA is added. Working solution is for one time use only.

Amidol unfortunately is super expensive in India and a minimum of 25g needs to be bought. If I could get 5g cheaply I would have played with Gainer's formula and given my feedback to you. At present I can't help you beyond providing information. It should be easy to experiment with the developer if you have the ingredients. If you try it do share your experience.

bnxvs · May 31, 2020

Just look at the keyboard of your computer to understand what it means "! 0 ml"

mohmad khatab · May 31, 2020

bnxvs said:
Just look at the keyboard of your computer to understand what it means "! 0 ml"

10 g ?
... God bless you.

mohmad khatab · May 31, 2020

Raghu Kuvempunagar said:
Mohmad, it's a PC-Glycol/TEA style developer by Patrick Gainer who proposed and experimented with several such developers. His PC-TEA developer is quite a popular developer.

Gainer experimented with several developer formulas where he paired developing agents with TEA. Some of them relied on superadditive property of the paired developing agents. Maybe he found that amidol and ascorbic acid are superadditive and hence his formula uses only a small amount of amidol. Unfortunately Gainer passed some years ago and won't be able to provide clarification. He might also be the only one who used this amidol-ascorbic acid developer recipe for developing film.

The formula provided is for stock solution which should have a long shelf-life. For preparing working solution, you need to dilute the stock solution in water at the dilution 1:25. In addition to water, small amount of TEA is added. Working solution is for one time use only.

Amidol unfortunately is super expensive in India and a minimum of 25g needs to be bought. If I could get 5g cheaply I would have played with Gainer's formula and given my feedback to you. At present I can't help you beyond providing information. It should be easy to experiment with the developer if you have the ingredients. If you try it do share your experience.

Raghu Kuvempunagar

I'm a little confused about that recipe.
I don’t know how many grams I should add of tea. ?
And what kind of tea?
Is it green tea, lipton tea, ceylon or Indian tea? Do I add powdered tea, leaves or solution and if it is solution, how much concentration?
It really makes people confused.
The writer said that tea should be added before the film can be developed, but there is an exception that some categories of films require a lower or higher proportion of tea.
I don't understand the last line of that weird recipe.
But I am determined to prepare that recipe ..
- I have a roll of Ilford Pan 100 ,,

Raghu Kuvempunagar · May 31, 2020

mohmad khatab said:
Raghu Kuvempunagar

I don’t know how many grams I should add of tea. ?
And what kind of tea?
Is it green tea, lipton tea, ceylon or Indian tea? Do I add powdered tea, leaves or solution and if it is solution, how much concentration?

@mohmad khatab:

TEA mentioned in Gainer's recipe is Triethanolamine, an alkali widely used in photochemical processes. It is a liquid at room temperature and you can measure 2ml using a clinical syringe.

Got some Amidol, now need a formula!

PHOTOTONE

David A. Goldfarb

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PHOTOTONE

David A. Goldfarb

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JLP

nworth

Tom Hoskinson

mohmad khatab

David A. Goldfarb

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Raghu Kuvempunagar

Luis-F-S

Jarin Blaschke

DREW WILEY

Patrick Robert James

David A. Goldfarb

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Raghu Kuvempunagar

mohmad khatab

Raghu Kuvempunagar

tezzasmall

mohmad khatab

Raghu Kuvempunagar

bnxvs

mohmad khatab

mohmad khatab

Raghu Kuvempunagar

Got some Amidol, now need a formula!

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