Hyfinol film developer

[raucousimages]

Anyone have any info on Ansco Hyfinol film developer? I can't find anything and I just found several sealed cans.

 

[Paul Howell]

I have used it as GAF Hyfinol (maybe another developed with a similiar name), the Air Force bought some in the early 70s, I don't know what the formula was, but I recall it as a fine grain developer with good tones, I used it with 35 and MF.

Paul

 

[Paul Howell]

I just an odd hit for GAF Hyfinol on a State of NY tax site, it was from 1979 and listed all of the products listed by both Kodak and GAF. GAF is still in business making Roofing Materials, just maybe they have an archive.

 

[Gerald Koch]

I have always considered Hyfinol to be Ansco's version of D-76.

 

[gainer]

I have always considered Hyfinol to be Ansco's version of D-76.

I used it quite a lot when Ansco Super Hypan film was the fiest to have a box speed of 500. I don't think it was equivalent to D-76. The instructions on the side of the can said a quart would do 25 rolls without replenishment, And I seem to remember putting that to the test. I thought perhaps it used phenidone and an excess of hydroquinone. The excess of hydroquinone would assure a working mixture of P-Q, and phenidone is less sensitive to bromide content than metol. Anyway, it was a good developer. Try it and see if what you got is still good.

 

[raucousimages]

Thanks.
I think start as if it were d-76 and go from there.

 

[gainer]

Thanks.
I think start as if it were d-76 and go from there.

You have more than one can. Mix one and use it as you would D-76, which these days means diluted and one-shot. Mix another and try it full strength using times for D-76, but save it. I often shoot a whole roll of the same subject and use short pieces of this roll for developer tests. You will find that Hyfinol keeps well and will do more rolls of film full strength than diluted. Even if you use an 8 ounce tank and dilute 1:1 you can only do 4 rolls per quart. You can, of course, compare the quality of diluted vs full strength and make your decision on that basis.

Either way, I guarantee that if it is good to start, it will not die suddenly without ample warning.

 

[Gerald Koch]

I don't think it was equivalent to D-76. The instructions on the side of the can said a quart would do 25 rolls without replenishment, And I seem to remember putting that to the test. I thought perhaps it used phenidone and an excess of hydroquinone.

I doubt that it contains Phenidone as Hyfinol may predate Ilford's Microphen and Ilford had a patent on Phenidone. Remember Kodak was forced to patent its own phenidone derivatives Dimezone and Dimezone-S in order to market a PQ developer HC-110.

I do remember the cans were the same size as Kodak's cans for D-76 so whatever the formula it contained at lot of sodium sulfite.

Kodak states that D-76 will do 16 rolls per gallon (4/qt) at full strength. This is assuming no prolongation of development time with use. Ansco's claim of 25 rolls per quart may be based on the system then in use of extending development time by 5 to 10% for each roll developed or it may just be marketing hype. Some really fantastic claims were made those days for various developers.

I wish that manufacturers would be kind enough to publish the formulas for their extinct products. So much knowledge is lost.

 

[fhovie]

Reusing developer can be really ugly business - When I use D76 - (usually for IR film) I figure for 500ml stock solution - Roll one and two are at standard development time with roll 3 at +5% and roll 4 at +10%. If I use it 1:1 as a one shot, I get 2 rolls done. This is actually preferable to me because 1:1 usually gives more pleasing results anyway. It seems i got the same life out of color developers - except they had an increase each roll.

 

[gainer]

I doubt that it contains Phenidone as Hyfinol may predate Ilford's Microphen and Ilford had a patent on Phenidone. Remember Kodak was forced to patent its own phenidone derivatives Dimezone and Dimezone-S in order to market a PQ developer HC-110.

I do remember the cans were the same size as Kodak's cans for D-76 so whatever the formula it contained at lot of sodium sulfite.

Kodak states that D-76 will do 16 rolls per gallon (4/qt) at full strength. This is assuming no prolongation of development time with use. Ansco's claim of 25 rolls per quart may be based on the system then in use of extending development time by 5 to 10% for each roll developed or it may just be marketing hype. Some really fantastic claims were made those days for various developers.

I wish that manufacturers would be kind enough to publish the formulas for their extinct products. So much knowledge is lost.

There was no requirement for extending development time with each roll. That and the claim of 25 rolls per quart are why I remember it so vividly. I was using it in the 1970's and I'm sure phenidone had been invented. It was not long after that I made my own concoction of phenidone, hydroquinone and sulfite that I could use until it got to looking so bad I couldn't stand it. It never let me down.

 

[Gerald Koch]

There was no requirement for extending development time with each roll. That and the claim of 25 rolls per quart are why I remember it so vividly. I was using it in the 1970's and I'm sure phenidone had been invented.

Phenidone was proposed as a developing agent by J. D. Kendall in an English patent in 1942. It did not come into anything like popular use until the 50's. Hyfinol had been available before WWII, and I personally find it doubtful that Ansco would reformulate it to contain phenidone particularly since its use was patented by Ilford. Sadly, GAF closed down their photography unit in 1977 so we will never know for certain.

 

[gainer]

Phenidone was proposed as a developing agent by J. D. Kendall in an English patent in 1942. It did not come into anything like popular use until the 50's. Hyfinol had been available before WWII, and I personally find it doubtful that Ansco would reformulate it to contain phenidone particularly since its use was patented by Ilford. Sadly, GAF closed down their photography unit in 1977 so we will never know for certain.

At the time I was using Hyfinol and Super Hypan film, I was working for NASA. I had access to a book which was a compilation of articles translated from Russian which appeared to be mostly translated from English. I guess we wanted to know if they knew what we know. I wish I had that book now, for old times sake. I had need of that book because some of my research projects involved photographic processes. Not their design but their use. We had a lot of fun doing good research on a low budget

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

The Compact Photo Lab Index, Morgan and Morgan, 1977 lists:

GAF HYFINOL DEVELOPER
High energy developer in ready-to-mix single powder form. It produces negatives with extremely fine grain, moderate contrast and maximum image sharpness, without lowering film speed.

CONTRAST
Negatives developed in Hyfinol have moderate contrast.

DEVELOPING TIME
At 68 deg. F average developing time in Hyfinol is 7 minutes.

WORKING LIFE
One gallon unreplenished Hyfinol will uniformly develop about 100 rolls of 120 size film (developing time increase is not required).

STORAGE LIFE
Unopened package (HYFINOL).............Indefinitely (under 90 deg. F)
Full bottle, used................................3-6 months
Partially filled bottle...........................Up to 1 month

GAF 17M FINE GRAIN METABORATE TANK DEVELOPER appears to share several of HYFINOL's attributes (but must be replenished to maintain capacity and development time). GAF 17M is a Metol/Hydroquinone/Metaborate developer

 

[raucousimages]

Thanks to everyone. I will post results.
John

 

[gainer]

The Compact Photo Lab Index, Morgan and Morgan, 1977 lists:

GAF HYFINOL DEVELOPER
High energy developer in ready-to-mix single powder form. It produces negatives with extremely fine grain, moderate contrast and maximum image sharpness, without lowering film speed.

CONTRAST
Negatives developed in Hyfinol have moderate contrast.

DEVELOPING TIME
At 68 deg. F average developing time in Hyfinol is 7 minutes.

WORKING LIFE
One gallon unreplenished Hyfinol will uniformly develop about 100 rolls of 120 size film (developing time increase is not required).

STORAGE LIFE
Unopened package (HYFINOL).............Indefinitely (under 90 deg. F)
Full bottle, used................................3-6 months
Partially filled bottle...........................Up to 1 month

GAF 17M FINE GRAIN METABORATE TANK DEVELOPER appears to share several of HYFINOL's attributes (but must be replenished to maintain capacity and development time). GAF 17M is a Metol/Hydroquinone/Metaborate developer

Thanks, Tom, for the memories. (I guess that song was written about the same time.) It makes me feel better at my age when something I remember actually happened.

 

[Werewolfman]

As I recall speaking with a retired GAF specialist over 3 decades ago, the formula for Hyfinol is Kodak's DK-50 when it comes to the Metol, Hydroquinone and the Balanced Alkali, with the addition of 110 grams of sodium sulfite per liter. I hope that this helps. The "High Acutance" is due to the increased amount of sodium sulfite, which minimizes the grain clumping of the silver halides during development.

 

[Werewolfman]

Anyone have any info on Ansco Hyfinol film developer? I can't find anything and I just found several sealed cans.

Do you still those cans of Hyfinol?