Paterson chemistry dicontinued? Is this true?

[hortense]

ACUTOL

Hi,

...Paterson chemistry is discontinued. ...

I just switched to Patterson’s high definition non-solvent developer ACUTOL that satisfied my need for high acutance and pictorial gradation … so, now I’m looking for the same chemistry. Or, a developer that will bring me the same great results I’ve been obtaining.

Recommendations, ideas, or solutions would be appreciated

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

I just switched to Patterson’s high definition non-solvent developer ACUTOL that satisfied my need for high acutance and pictorial gradation … so, now I’m looking for the same chemistry. Or, a developer that will bring me the same great results I’ve been obtaining.

Recommendations, ideas, or solutions would be appreciated

I recommend trying Pyrocat P and Pyrocat M. In my experience both of these modified Pyrocat-HD developers deliver high acutance and excellent microcontrast. They are very well suited for Stand and Semi-Stand agitation and also give excellent results with rotational agitation. The formulas for these two developers are posted in APUG and are also available as premixes from several sources.

 

[Chazzy]

I agree--it would be very sporting of Paterson to reveal the formula, if there is no possibility of their making it anymore. They would have nothing to lose and would gain good will.

 

[haris]

I agree--it would be very sporting of Paterson to reveal the formula, if there is no possibility of their making it anymore. They would have nothing to lose and would gain good will.

Let's hope...

 

[Keith Tapscott.]

I agree--it would be very sporting of Paterson to reveal the formula, if there is no possibility of their making it anymore. They would have nothing to lose and would gain good will.

I doubt if Paterson will ever reveal their B&W film developer formulae for the public domain.

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

Let's hope...

Another excellent reason for not using proprietary recipe "Magic Bullet" devlopers IMO.

 

[gainer]

When I compared Acutol with PC-TEA I didn't see any difference in curve shape or grain. If I had seen Acutol as better in some way, I would not have let my bottle of it go bad.

 

[richo]

I have wrote to Paterson after my supplier informed me that Paterson is not producing chemicals anymore. Today I have received answer:

The situation is that our sub contractor who mixed our formulations as
closed its UK plant leaving us without a chemistry producer. We are trying to find a replacement contractor who can manufacture the
chemistry a reasonable cost. So although we are currently in a no stock situation there is a possibility that we may be able to re-introduce.
We are making efforts to rectify the situation but that there is no firm news at this point in time.

 

[Lachlan Young]

When I compared Acutol with PC-TEA I didn't see any difference in curve shape or grain. If I had seen Acutol as better in some way, I would not have let my bottle of it go bad.

Hooray, there is a God! His name is Gadget Gainer and He has found a way to produce one of the highest definition developers of all time in a stock soultion that will last halfway to forever!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry for the outburst :rolleyes: - I am just really happy that one of my favourite developers has a replacement that only needs three ingredients.

Thanks be to Gadget Gainer!

Lachlan

 

[titrisol]

I think Clayton will be their new supplier

I have wrote to Paterson after my supplier informed me that Paterson is not producing chemicals anymore. Today I have received answer:

The situation is that our sub contractor who mixed our formulations as
closed its UK plant leaving us without a chemistry producer. We are trying to find a replacement contractor who can manufacture the
chemistry a reasonable cost. So although we are currently in a no stock situation there is a possibility that we may be able to re-introduce.
We are making efforts to rectify the situation but that there is no firm news at this point in time.

 

[Keith Tapscott.]

I think Clayton will be their new supplier

Yes I beleive Clayton have given Paterson a cost to supply to their formulas.
Perhaps they are looking at other possible suppliers too.

 

[Michael W]

Hi all, can anyone tell me a shop in central London where you can walk in & buy Aculux 2 off the shelf? I can't find any in Sydney & it costs a fortune to have it posted over. My brother in law visits London quite often & is happy to bring some back for me. He said that he tried a couple of photo shops in London & they all said the same thing - nowadays they concentrate on digital & don't bother stocking analog materials. Surely someone on this forum can tell me a shop that will stock this. I think around Chelsea, Soho, financial district would be ideal. thanks, Michael

 

[Bob F.]

I suspect you are out of luck regarding walking in to a shop and buying Aculux. The only two that spring to mind are Silverprint and Process Supplies but neither appear to supply Paterson chemicals... He could try the large Jessops at 63-69 New Oxford Street, WC1A 1DG (5 mins from Tottenham Court Road tube) but as already reported, most places do not stock much by way of chemicals anymore.

Plus it is possible that all supplies are now sold out until such time as Paterson
can find a new supplier.

Mailorder, if he is here for a week or more, he could try Nova (http://www.novadarkroom.com).

Good luck, Bob.

 

[Brac]

Hi all, can anyone tell me a shop in central London where you can walk in & buy Aculux 2 off the shelf? I can't find any in Sydney & it costs a fortune to have it posted over. My brother in law visits London quite often & is happy to bring some back for me. He said that he tried a couple of photo shops in London & they all said the same thing - nowadays they concentrate on digital & don't bother stocking analog materials. Surely someone on this forum can tell me a shop that will stock this. I think around Chelsea, Soho, financial district would be ideal. thanks, Michael

As has been said elsewhere in this thread, really your only hope of getting Aculux at present is from a mail order supplier who has it still in stock. One such (according to their website) is First Call who are a large supplier to educational facilities but also supply to individuals. The web address is http://www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk They also still have various other Paterson chemicals, as do Speed Graphic http://www.speedgraphic.co.uk but they don't have Aculux but still have FX 50. Best of luck.

 

[Black Dog]

Retro Photographic also have stocks.

 

[Michael W]

Thanks for the advice everyone.
My brother-in-law does have a UK postal address that he can collect from, so I have made an enquiry with Nova as their name came up first.
If that doesn't work out I will contact some of the other firms suggested.

 

[pentaxuser]

I was at Nova Darkroom for its weekend sale on 22/23 April and met the owner. I said that I didn't understand why moving manufacture to Spain should be a major problem. Transport costs should only add a little to the price. His view was that the real problem is that the new chemical manufacturer in Spain was demanding that Paterson place minimum order quantites which Paterson fears it cannot sell before they reach their sell-by date.

So the real question is to whom, distributor-wise, will this new chemical manufacturer sell in the UK which believes it can sell in the quantities required to make the import worthwhile. If there is no-one, then the manufacturer loses what I would have thought was a major slice of the B&W and colour market. So will the manufacturer be persuaded to lower its minimum order quantities to get a sale?

In theory there is still hope that "something will turn up"

pentaxuser

 

[Black Dog]

Who will they sell to? APUGGERS of course!

 

[jrong]

Goldie, there is another walk-in shop that your BIL could try - that is Calumet Photographic on Wardour St, in Soho. It's been a while since I was there, but the last time I visited, they had quite a good array of chemicals available. Not sure about Aculux though, but it's worth a try.

 

[Michael W]

He did say that he had walked around Soho with no luck, not sure if he tried that store.
Thanks for the tip on Nova, I've ordered from them & the dev is now delivered to a UK address & waiting for the brother-in-law to collect next week.
Shame it has to be this difficult, just the way things are these days i suppose.

 

[Michael W]

Mailorder, if he is here for a week or more, he could try Nova (http://www.novadarkroom.com).

Good luck, Bob.

Thanks for the tip, Bob.
I ordered from Nova & my brother in law collected the bottles from the UK, now in my hands in Sydney. Looking forward to trying Neopan 400 in this dev.

 

[Bob F.]

Thanks for the tip, Bob.
I ordered from Nova & my brother in law collected the bottles from the UK, now in my hands in Sydney. Looking forward to trying Neopan 400 in this dev.

Now that's what I call a convoluted way of getting your hands on a small bottle of liquid! Pity it has to be that complicated.... Good luck with it.

Cheers, Bob.

 

[clay]

I just got an email from the Paterson US distributor this last week indicating all of the B&W chemistry is being discontinued. Bummer about that because FX-39 was one my go-to developers for small format film. Anybody know the formula?

 

[Steve Smith]

FX-39 was one my go-to developers for small format film. Anybody know the formula?

The FX-37 is in the recipes section here: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

The article states that this is the closest published formula to FX-39.

Steve.