Ilford Cooltone developer

[Mark Layne]

I need to stock up some CT developer while stocks last here . Does anyone have any information on it's shelf life?
Mark

 

[pentaxuser]

I am using my 1 litre still that I got on the Ilford trip in June 2006 and started using about Sept of that year. No special storage. Just a squirt of protectan each time I replenish the Nova slot. My printing has been very low volume

Once opened my guess is that you will use each 1 litre long before it goes bad. If you intend to stock several containers unopened then much longer would be my guess but you need a more accurate answer that I cannot give. I have been impressed by its longevity in very low volume use.

pentaxuser

 

[Mark Layne]

Pity they discontinued it- in conjuction with MGWT it gave a look of a gold toned print
Mark

 

[blaze-on]

Still available here at Freestyle. I keep seeing in threads it's discontinued...heck, it just came out a year and a half ago or so..

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Matt-

It was posted here from the horses mouth himself, Simon Galley. They killed it off. It's a great developer, which is a shame. It does last seemingly forever at stock strength.

 

[blaze-on]

Really? That's odd..and I didn't see that post either.

Seems it had a short shelf life after all..

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

According to his post, the stuff didn't sell well. The folks who did buy it, loved it. Just not enough of them.

 

[Bruce Osgood]

Is what you are referring to (Ilford Cooltone) different than what we here on APUG have been discussing as Ilford PQ developer? Are they two different products?

The reason I ask is I just brewed some PQ from a formula found somewhere here and just loving it.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Ilford PQ is a brew-yourself formula. Ilford Cooltone came as a pre-mixed liquid, and was a new product.

 

[Travis Nunn]

Here is the thread where Simon made the announcement
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[Silverhead]

I've used Arista Premium Coldtone developer and have had no complaints about it. I've seen it take Agfa Classic and zap it over to a Seagull-like neutral/cool tone. I also remember Henry Gilpin saying a few years ago how pleasantly surprised he was with the results.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Another good cooltone developer as an alternative is Ansco 130. It's a mix-yourself developer, but it is pretty easy to work with and lasts forever even at working dilutions.

 

[haziz]

Another good cooltone developer as an alternative is Ansco 130. It's a mix-yourself developer, but it is pretty easy to work with and lasts forever even at working dilutions.

Ansco 130 however is a warmtone rather than cooltone developer.

Bruce Barlow had done some fairy extensive paper and developer testing. It was originally published in View Camera magazine but you can now download the articles directly from his website:

Dead Link Removed

Dead Link Removed

I can personally recommend the Sprint Quicksilver developer, it is meant as a neutral tone but does in fact produce fairly cool prints.

Sincerely,

Hany.

 

[Pete H]

I like Tetenal Dokumol for cool tones. The strength of the effect varies with paper though - it's good with bromide papers.

Pete H

 

[Aurelien]

Dear SImon, there is no hope with this developer? It is very wonderful!!! It's a pity to see it disappear!!!

 

[bwakel]

I've been using Ilford Cooltone and love it and was distraught when I heard that it was being discontinued so soon. I've just developed my first prints in Tetental Eukobrom to see if it's an alternitive. The mid-tones are nice but the blacks don't go as deep and don't seem to strengthen as well in selenium. Looks like I'll have to keep looking. May try some Dokumol as suggested and see if that's any better.

The sad thing is that despite trying to support Ilford I seem to have ended up with a complete set of Tetenal chemicals - developer, stop and odourless fix (which I find nicer to use than the Ilford Rapid Fixer). And I'm using Neofin Blue for slower films so that just leaves DDX for certain films and, fortunately, the Ilford film itself. Given that I generally print on Foma paper, I'm not helping them much!

Barry

 

[Marco B]

Why are you all saying that "Ilford" discontinued CT developer?? :confused:

According to the Harman / Ilford website (who took over or continued Ilford's BW paper / chemical section), they *ARE* still producing both CT and WT developer:

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/products/productlist.asp?n=36&t=Paper+Developers

I have just the other day bought a bottle of the new Harman / Ilford WT developer, and in the same rack of the shop here in the Netherlands where I bought it, there were at least a dozen bottles of the Harman / Ilford CT developer!

Cheers,

Marco

 

[Dave Miller]

I’m puzzled too as I couldn’t get any noticeable colour shift with the Ilford Warm Tone developer, but could obtain a marked change with the Cool Tone; that with Ilford MG warm and standard papers and Kentmere VC. I guess cool is uncool at the moment.

As Marco states, these products are on the shelves, so stock up before they disappear.

 

[Dan Henderson]

I love this stuff too, and have about 1/2 of a bottle left. I'm planning to buy some Benzatriazole from the Formulary and spike PQ, my regular developer, with it. If it gives the same nice cool tones, I guess the silver (or perhaps blue) lining is one less chemical to keep.

 

[Keith Tapscott.]

I’m puzzled too as I couldn’t get any noticeable colour shift with the Ilford Warm Tone developer, but could obtain a marked change with the Cool Tone; that with Ilford MG warm and standard papers and Kentmere VC. I guess cool is uncool at the moment.

As Marco states, these products are on the shelves, so stock up before they disappear.

Where can I still buy some in the UK?

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Ansco 130 however is a warmtone rather than cooltone developer.

Bruce Barlow had done some fairy extensive paper and developer testing. It was originally published in View Camera magazine but you can now download the articles directly from his website:

Dead Link Removed

Dead Link Removed

I can personally recommend the Sprint Quicksilver developer, it is meant as a neutral tone but does in fact produce fairly cool prints.

Sincerely,

Hany.

If you look at my paper tests here on APUG, Ansco 130 is more neutral than warm- it depends on the paper. With Kentmere VC, a cold-tone paper, it produced no perceptible warming. With Bergger VCCB, a warmtone paper, it was not as warm as the Ilford Warmtone developer, nor as cold as the Ilford Cooltone developer.

 

[Dave Miller]

Where can I still buy some in the UK?

Try

http://www.secondhanddarkroom.co.uk/www.secondhanddarkroom.co.uk/info.php?p=8&cat=16917

They may still have some.

 

[Marco B]

You can buy it at SilverPrint in London:

http://www.silverprint.co.uk/

And again: Harman / Ilford is still producing it, or maybe I should better say it has just started producing it again as a new product under the combined Harman / Ilford brand, so it's probably going to stay for a while and should become more widely available I guesse...

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/products/productlist.asp?n=36&t=Paper+Developers

Marco

 

[Dave Miller]

You can buy it at SilverPrint in London:

http://www.silverprint.co.uk/

And again: Harman / Ilford is still producing it, or maybe I should better say it has just started producing it again as a new product under the combined Harman / Ilford brand, so it's probably going to stay for a while and should become more widely available I guesse...

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/products/productlist.asp?n=36&t=Paper+Developers

Marco

Silverprint no longer list it as far as I can see.

 

[Marco B]

Silverprint no longer list it as far as I can see.

Ok, sorry, you're right, they only stock the Harman / Ilford Warmtone developer... I assumed, seeing that on the webpage, that they would also have Cooltone, but I never scrolled down to check it.

However, I think they will be able to supply it, if you ask them to order it from Harman, considering they have the WT developer...