Substitute for Ansco 130

Lyn Arnold

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I've been mixing and using Ansco 130 for a few years and love it for its "look" and keeping qualities as a paper developer. But the combined cost of Glycin and shipping to Australia is getting prohibitive. Can anyone suggest an alternative?

I prefer to mix my own developers rather than buying proprietary products.

Thanks in advance

Lyn
 

jim appleyard

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Ethol's LPD is a fairly long-lasting dev, but I don't know if you can find it there. However, you should be able to find Dektol; lasts fairly well and should be much cheaper than glycin.
 

TheFlyingCamera

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Dektol won't give you the Ansco 130 look. It also doesn't last nearly as long as 130. Look around and see if you can find the Ilford Warmtone pre-mixed liquid. I know it's a proprietary developer, but it is relatively economical, and if the Ilford importer in Australia brings it in, it should be readily available.
 

PhotoJim

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Nothing is really like Ansco 130, unfortunately.

Perhaps ordering larger quantities of glycin and mixing up larger quantities of stock solution (which keep for a very long time) will be your answer. I've also read that many people have had good luck freezing glycin, although I personally have not tried this. Supposedly the powder will keep years when frozen.
 

PHOTOTONE

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TheFlyingCamera said:
Look around and see if you can find the Ilford Warmtone pre-mixed liquid. I know it's a proprietary developer, but it is relatively economical, and if the Ilford importer in Australia brings it in, it should be readily available.
Click to expand...

I think Ilford has actually discontinued their Warmtone developer.
 

Michel Hardy-Vallée

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Well, given the keeping properties of Ansco 130, you could make a bigger order to amortize costs?

Otherwise, I found that PolymaxT is a pretty decent substitute, and has a slight edge over Dektol in terms of look. It's a commercial product, but it might be easier to find.

You might want to have a look at the recipes in here:
http://www.jackspcs.com/pdev.htm

Or invest in The Darkroom Cookbook, which has quite a few formulae as well. The authors' explanations should help to guide you.
 

dpurdy

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According to my first tests with Ansco 130 (which I liked quite a lot) the biggest difference is in print color. It gave me very warm prints with good contrast. It was warmer than anything I have been able to mix up but you might try mixing a developer with a lot of potas Bromide and not much sodium Carbonate.

If you are mixing from scratch as opposed to a box mix the Ansco 130 isn't all that expensive in the greater scheme of things.
Dennis
 

Thomas Bertilsson

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Far as I know, the only one they discontinued was the cooltone developer.

PHOTOTONE said:
I think Ilford has actually discontinued their Warmtone developer.
Click to expand...
 

Thomas Bertilsson

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A developer I always liked, but that almost requires a selenium toning session afterwards (unless you like a green cast) is Ilford Bromophen.
I have used it diluted to 1+3 and have had good results from it. It's sold in powder form so shipping should be reasonable. It works really well with Kentmere Kentona paper and Ilford Warmtone.
I can't say that it's precisely like A-130, but it does display a really nice tonal scale, and its keeping properties was good in my darkroom. I used the same concentrate, stored in a glass bottle, for almost a year without any noticeable change.

- Thomas

 

eclarke

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Has anyone tinkered with putting their Glycin in solution to maintain longevity? I use about 1# every 5-6 months so have not had any problems with the stuff from Formulary....EC
 

DeBone 75

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I too like 130 but my Glycin is old and brown and can't afford any new. It still works but I try to save it for special times. So I also was looking around. I was reading a post on Salvich Bromide. While reading the artical I saw he ( Liam Lawless) had a warmtone dev. I tryed it, and with some tweeking and playing I came very close to the 130 look. I upped the bromide slightly and I did not put the carbonate in until I mix the working. At a dilution of 1:12 I get a nice warm but not brown print. I dev. this for 3 min. My paper is Arista II. I have not tryed it on other papers yet. I will try it with Varycon. Here is the url Dead Link Removed. The dev. formula is about a third the way done.
 

Tom Hoskinson

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eclarke said:
Has anyone tinkered with putting their Glycin in solution to maintain longevity? I use about 1# every 5-6 months so have not had any problems with the stuff from Formulary....EC
Click to expand...

Yes, I have posted on that topic here on APUG. I disolved the Glycin in TEA (Triethanolamine). Worked fine.
 

Tom Hoskinson

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I have used Ilford ID-78 with excellent results (I mix it from scratch and add more Potassium Bromide). Ian Grant posted the ID-78 recipe in the APUG recipes section a long time ago - but it has since disappeared.
 

ongarine

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Here the ID-78 formula:
ID-78

750 ml. water
50 grams Sodium sulfite anidro
62 grammi Sodium carbonate anidro
12 grammi Idrochinon
0.50 grammi Phenidone in 20 ml. alcool
*4.5 grammi Potassium Bromide

Diluition 1+1 water 1 minute developing time at 20 C.
Diluition 1+3 water 2 minutes tdeveloping time at 20 C.
* you can add until 10 grams of Potassium Bromide to increase warm tones
For all the lovers of warm tones paper developer here there is a tab in French with interesting paper developers.
 

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jim appleyard

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There is also Kodak's DK-93. From Anchell's Darkroom Cookbook:

p-aminiphenol HCl 5 grams
Sod. Sulfite 30g
HQ 2.5g
Sod. Metaborate 20g
Pot. Bro. .5g

For warm tones on paper, use w/o dilution dev for 2 min. For colder tones, 2x the Sod. Metabortate and dev for 1-2 min.

You can also use this dev for film.

I included this dev as it may use more readily available chems.
 
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Tom Hoskinson

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I've mixed this one too (from Kodak's published recipe that I posted on Apug a while back - now it's gone). I found it an interesting and useful developer.

The Hydroquinone and Phenidone in ID-78 are readily available - as are the Potassium Bromide, Sodium Sulfite and Sodium Carbonate.
 

eclarke

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Tom,
I found a previous post about Ansco 130 and it was a response to me. Have you done just Glycin in TEA? I use glycin in a couple formulas...EC
 
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OP

Lyn Arnold

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Thank you one and all for your responses. APUG is such a wonderful source of photographic experience and wisdom.

I'll give the Kodak DK-93 and the ID-78 a try. I have Anchell's publication.

Greetings for the festive season -- it's getting hot here, but good beach weather!

Lyn
 

JBrunner

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The suggestions of other developers are good, but none will "substitute" for 130. It's about the glycin. The suggestions for ordering glycin in a large amount and mixing and keeping it in solution to preserve it are the best ones, if you are truly looking for 130 like properties.
 
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dpurdy

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Just to chime in on Glycin, I just ordered via telephone from Photographer's Formulary today a Pound of Glycin which cost 80 USD. Compared to Hydroquinone that is a lot of money. But if you figure you use a liter of working solution and you only use 5 grams of Glycin that means it costs something around a dollar a batch for the Glycin which isn't enough to worry about too much but then the issue is definitely storage if you want to keep it bright and fresh. However I just tried it out last week with Glycin that was stored room temp in a drawer for something like 2.5 years and it was a light brown color but worked fine.

PS Also right now at Photographers Formulary they have free shipping for a pound of Glycin.
 

ronlamarsh

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Ansco 130

I don't know if "brown "glycin means itsd bad but photographers formulary in Montana(usa) has their own 130 developer pre-packaged in a box at a very fair price. I don't know if its any easier to get into Australia though.
 
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Lyn Arnold

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Looks as though I will have to 'bite the bullet' and order more Glycin. Last time the shipping charge was more than one third of the total cost for just 100 grams. I'll order a larger amount this time.

Thanks all
 
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