MurrayMinchin
Membership Council
Hi there,
My source for Glycin recently raised its price from $22.50 US, to $40.00 US for 100 grams. Besides Photographers Formulary (PF), where else in the World can it be found? Does PF actually make it themselves, or do they buy it in bulk from somebody else? What company would that be?
I came to use a Glycin/Metol print developer because I am a beligerant guy when it comes to photography. I "got serious" after moving up to 4x5 - I ran all my tests and spent a couple years gaining experience on the original Zone VI Brilliant graded papers, using a cold light. When they "improved" it and gave us Brilliant II, I found that what once printed on grade 2 with normal print developer/dilution/time now needed to be on grade 1 in a combination of Selectol Soft and Zone VI developers. Beligerance made me change paper manufacturers rather than change my negatives normal developer/dilution/time...Ilford Galerie grade 2 matched the original Brilliant grade 2.
When I switched to variable contrast I was seduced by the Zone VI VC head. My first prints were horrifyingly heinous in that the contrast was EXTREME! There was no way I was going to change now after over 20 years of developing my negatives the same way! I was determined to get my "perfect test negative" (dark rock, wet log, grass, flowing near-white water) to print with the Soft light and Hard light at equal settings.
The answer in the end was...Multigrade IV fibre based glossy paper...a CC40Y filter below the light source...a glass negative carrier (the green cast of the glass was worth about a 1/2 grade reduction)...a Glycin/Metol developer with 30ml of 2% Benzatriazole per litre of stock solution, and 3 minutes in Selenium toner at 1:10.
I was happily surprised to discover a few things about Glycin:
1) With other developing agents I've used, after full development is reached all the print densities darken at about the same rate. With Glycin in the mix the darks get darker proportionaly faster than the lights. A great help in fine tuning contrast.
2) Legs...like marathon legs...like soloing Everest at a trot without bottled oxygen legs. Because health issues got in the way this year, I left my used working solution (in a mylar wine bag) for 6 months. Its light honey colour hadn't changed. The test negative at standard print contrast/exposure and standard print processing was identical to one made 6 months before. (I use the emergence time -ET- of the negatives clear edge multiplied by a factor to determine development time...Glycin slows the ET to allow using the negatives clear edge). When fresh ET is 42 seconds @ 72 degrees. I mix new working solution when ET reaches 55 seconds.
3) Life ever lasting in stock solution. Since I ran out of Glycin before I could find a new source, I mixed up a batch of 26 month (!) old stock solution that had been pushed into a corner. I've used it for a couple printing sessions and so far it's behaving normally.
4) Trying to get Glycin to dissolve in water is like trying to herd cats. It dissolves easily when added after the other ingredients in a formula.
5) The colour, quality, life in my prints has never been better.
So you see...I am really interested in finding out where in the World the stuff comes from!!!!!!
Murray
My source for Glycin recently raised its price from $22.50 US, to $40.00 US for 100 grams. Besides Photographers Formulary (PF), where else in the World can it be found? Does PF actually make it themselves, or do they buy it in bulk from somebody else? What company would that be?
I came to use a Glycin/Metol print developer because I am a beligerant guy when it comes to photography. I "got serious" after moving up to 4x5 - I ran all my tests and spent a couple years gaining experience on the original Zone VI Brilliant graded papers, using a cold light. When they "improved" it and gave us Brilliant II, I found that what once printed on grade 2 with normal print developer/dilution/time now needed to be on grade 1 in a combination of Selectol Soft and Zone VI developers. Beligerance made me change paper manufacturers rather than change my negatives normal developer/dilution/time...Ilford Galerie grade 2 matched the original Brilliant grade 2.
When I switched to variable contrast I was seduced by the Zone VI VC head. My first prints were horrifyingly heinous in that the contrast was EXTREME! There was no way I was going to change now after over 20 years of developing my negatives the same way! I was determined to get my "perfect test negative" (dark rock, wet log, grass, flowing near-white water) to print with the Soft light and Hard light at equal settings.
The answer in the end was...Multigrade IV fibre based glossy paper...a CC40Y filter below the light source...a glass negative carrier (the green cast of the glass was worth about a 1/2 grade reduction)...a Glycin/Metol developer with 30ml of 2% Benzatriazole per litre of stock solution, and 3 minutes in Selenium toner at 1:10.
I was happily surprised to discover a few things about Glycin:
1) With other developing agents I've used, after full development is reached all the print densities darken at about the same rate. With Glycin in the mix the darks get darker proportionaly faster than the lights. A great help in fine tuning contrast.
2) Legs...like marathon legs...like soloing Everest at a trot without bottled oxygen legs. Because health issues got in the way this year, I left my used working solution (in a mylar wine bag) for 6 months. Its light honey colour hadn't changed. The test negative at standard print contrast/exposure and standard print processing was identical to one made 6 months before. (I use the emergence time -ET- of the negatives clear edge multiplied by a factor to determine development time...Glycin slows the ET to allow using the negatives clear edge). When fresh ET is 42 seconds @ 72 degrees. I mix new working solution when ET reaches 55 seconds.
3) Life ever lasting in stock solution. Since I ran out of Glycin before I could find a new source, I mixed up a batch of 26 month (!) old stock solution that had been pushed into a corner. I've used it for a couple printing sessions and so far it's behaving normally.
4) Trying to get Glycin to dissolve in water is like trying to herd cats. It dissolves easily when added after the other ingredients in a formula.
5) The colour, quality, life in my prints has never been better.
So you see...I am really interested in finding out where in the World the stuff comes from!!!!!!
Murray
