How Good Ansco 130

[Bruce Osgood]

Don't laugh at me but I substitute 30cc 1% benzotriazole for the bromide (I make 2L of stock) dilute 1+1 and print on Ilford Warmtone FB. It produces a lovely steely color in the print. This mix seems to turn less brown with time..Evan Clarke

Evan,
I'm not laughing and find your embellishment intriguing. I looked at your gallery to see if I could see your results but, alas, it is all negative scans. Do you have an image you can put up that shows the final print?

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

Don't laugh at me but I substitute 30cc 1% benzotriazole for the bromide (I make 2L of stock) dilute 1+1 and print on Ilford Warmtone FB. It produces a lovely steely color in the print. This mix seems to turn less brown with time..Evan Clarke

Good info, thanks Evan!

 

[haryanto]

Don't laugh at me but I substitute 30cc 1% benzotriazole for the bromide (I make 2L of stock) dilute 1+1 and print on Ilford Warmtone FB. It produces a lovely steely color in the print. This mix seems to turn less brown with time..Evan Clarke

thanks for info clarke, sounds great

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

I hope I'm not stealing the thunder in someone else's thread, but how do you see it working in a 'seasoned' tank such as yours, compared to fresh developer in a tray?

The reason I'm asking is that I used to work in a lab where we replenished Xtol for film developing. Mainly for consistent results, but the person responsible for b&w developing like the quality as well.

I love Ansco 130, by the way. It is together with VersaPrint II the best print developer I've ever tried. I used it entirely for my last show and it was the first time ever I hung more than 2-3 prints (12 this time) that I was completely happy with every one. It's well worth trying. Scott (flyingcamera) very helpfully pointed out once that warming the developer to 70-72*F instead of standard 68*F helps out. I too use 3 minutes as a standard time.

- Thom

I love it in my Vertical processor. That stuff stays in there for months and months and months. I never empty it. I just throw out half of it, and add 1:1 more to fill it up.

 

[eclarke]

Evan,
I'm not laughing and find your embellishment intriguing. I looked at your gallery to see if I could see your results but, alas, it is all negative scans. Do you have an image you can put up that shows the final print?

Hi Bruce,
I'll scan a new print and post it. I hope the web color thing will show the effect. I wasn't thinking before but in my last printing sessions I have increased the carbonate to 160g/2L, I saw a suggestion somewhere that this would improve the blacks. The prints look pretty good so I think I will leave the formula at this:

For 2L stock.

1400cc Water 100° F. ( I have a Corning heated stirrer)
4.4 g Metol
100g Sodium Sulfite
22 g Hydroquinone
160 g Sodium Carbonate (anh)
22 g Glycin
30 cc 1% benzotriazole solution
cold water to 2L

Dilute 1+1 and develop 1 min. 30 sec. @70° F.

Evan Clarke

 

[Bob F.]

Interesting Evan - I was looking for a cold-tone developer formula earlier today in The Darkroom Cookbook and given that I love 130 as a general developer, I'll have to give this a try. Thanks.

Cheers, Bob.

 

[eclarke]

Hi All,
I scanned a print but the digital just doesn't display the color nuance of the wet print, I'm sorry. I have a series of photos from a grove of oak trees which we enc ountered in the fog one morning. This paper/developer combo really renders the fog nicely. It is an easy formula to try and I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Bob, this gives a really nice cool tone on Ilford MGIV.
I use an LPL vcce enlarger with a tungsten light source and have had some trouble reaching higher contrasts. With the warmtone paper and this formula, I can get all the contrast I want (grade 4 so far, I haven't needed any more).

 

[Richard Jepsen]

I agree 130 is much less active below temps of 66F. I don't notice blacks being deeper than low tones developed in LPD or Dektol. 130 has less contrast and is warmer than Dektol. I think zone VI prints lighter in 130 than paper developed in Dektol/LPD. Aged 130 will stain highlights which may account for reports of glow. The stain can be attractive but it is hard to repeat if you reprint. 130 is nice put various papers produce more visible change in prints.

 

[Alex Hawley]

Good info guys. Thanks for posting it.

 

[haryanto]

it's ok Thomas

That's interesting info from you, Richard,
but I thing I'm not searching for deep blacks I just want to search for developer that has a good separations between tonal, such as local contrast, I've seen many many print by Barnbaum, H Bond, Sexton, AA print by A Ross, tonal relationship make a good black that's not very black but beautiful to see because a harmony between contrast

thanks for your info

btw dektol make slighty greenish

 

[eclarke]

I agree 130 is much less active below temps of 66F. I don't notice blacks being deeper than low tones developed in LPD or Dektol. 130 has less contrast and is warmer than Dektol. I think zone VI prints lighter in 130 than paper developed in Dektol/LPD. Aged 130 will stain highlights which may account for reports of glow. The stain can be attractive but it is hard to repeat if you reprint. 130 is nice put various papers produce more visible change in prints.

With the increased carbonate the blacks are very good. I don't have a reflective densitometer so can't make data. The benzotriazole has a cooling effect and on the Ilford Warmtone, the characteristic is that the shadows and very low midtones are fairly cool and graduate to a slightly warm color as you proceed to the highlights..I like this color very much

 

[ChuckP]

I noticed on the Formulary 130 data sheet that they show developing time of 45-60 seconds. I've always used 2 minutes. Wondering why they recommend the shorter time. Warmer?

 

[reellis67]

My understanding is that cool tones are a result of fully complete development, and that warm tones are development that is restrained slightly in some way. I'd have to look up the exact wording to be sure that I'm passing along the correct information, but I fairly certain that it is something like what I put above.

- Randy

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I have no idea why they recommend sub 1 minute times for Ansco 130. Everyone I've ever talked to about it has recommended MORE than 2 minutes for development to completion. I've stuck with this and been very pleased with the results.

 

[Harrigan]

Ansco 130 is on the list of cold tone developers that I have and it is considerably colder than say 135. I ran pretty extensive tests with 130 under a very well known darkroom master and concluded 130 does not produce a better black than your regular developers. I was looking for it to becasue of all the myths about it but I could not back it up with results. As far as the other attributes you'de have to look at my book of test prints in hand there are way too many to scan.

 

[Paul Howell]

Ansco 130 is on the list of cold tone developers that I have and it is considerably colder than say 135. I ran pretty extensive tests with 130 under a very well known darkroom master and concluded 130 does not produce a better black than your regular developers.

I agree, I do use the PF version of Ansco 130, but I have not found any signifcant differance between 130 and Zonal Pro, Edwal Ultra Black, or Clayton P 20. What I like about Ansco 130 is that I can keep working solution for weeks in a jug.

 

[eclarke]

At any rate, it's a good developer that lasts, is pretty easy to make and has spme options..good to have in one's arsenal when prepared developers are gone..EC 8^((

 

[haryanto]

this I print with Ilford MGIV and Ansco 120 combine with dektol + Benzo 1% 15ml, neg is tmax100 on tmax dev, shoot with hasselblad 250mm, I'm still waiting for my glycin to try Ansco 130

 

[Rolleiflexible]

I've use 130 and LPD as my main developers. As has been stated already, 130 can acheive excellent blacks.

Brian, can you offer a comparison between 130 and LPD? I use LPD all the time, and have wondered what differences (if any) I would see by moving to 130. Sanders

 

[dancqu]

This I print with Ilford MGIV and Ansco 120 combine with
dektol ... I'm still waiting for my glycin to try Ansco 130

Very good subject and print. I understand that P. Formulary
is our only source for Glycin and that they only ship it freshly
compounded. How often they manufacture I couldn't say but
expect back-orders must meet a minimum. Dan

 

[PhotoJim]

Very good subject and print. I understand that P. Formulary
is our only source for Glycin and that they only ship it freshly
compounded. How often they manufacture I couldn't say but
expect back-orders must meet a minimum. Dan

I have read (in many disparate places) that PF makes fresh glycin every two weeks.

 

[juan]

And I'll add that I have kept glycin frozen in my freezer for more than two years and find it still perfectly good in film developers that use only glycin as a developing agent. I have also used the frozen glycin in making 130 - so I'm assuming that the glycin is still working in that formula, too. Perhaps some of the chemists can make a better test.
juan

 

[PHOTOTONE]

I have ordered glycin twice from PF, and both times they had it in stock and I got it promptly.

 

[PHOTOTONE]

PF actually makes glycin and other chems?

I have read (in many disparate places) that PF makes fresh glycin every two weeks.

I thought Photographers Formulary was like the other chemical suppliers that purchased in bulk and repackaged for our photography market? You are saying that they actually MAKE glycin and other chemicals?

 

[removed account4]

I thought Photographers Formulary was like the other chemical suppliers that purchased in bulk and repackaged for our photography market? You are saying that they actually MAKE glycin and other chemicals?

i am not sure about the other chemicals, but they make
glycin at the formulary, dry it out package it.
there are some place that sell glycin,
i think there may be threads burried here and there about it, but some
of these places do not sell photo-grade (what ever that might mean ) glycin,
while others just buy a bunch from the formulary and resell it ...