The Ethol net question

garryl · Jun 30, 2005

Even though Ethol still makes their chemistry( UFG,TEC,LPD), How come I never see them mentioned on forum threads? I only had a short love affair with LPD. That stuff sure could last in an open tray. But then I was lured away by liguid developers when it started disappearing from shelves. Any one out there working in the Ethol-sphere?

DKT · Jun 30, 2005

lots of people use LPD...I have for years, both powder and liquid. very user friendly, easy to replenish, if you want to go that route or you can get a wide range of tones out of it through dilution. metol free. It's still around--carried by Brandess kalt. Same distribution pretty much as accufine, diafine and heico products like permawash and NH5. One product that seems to be gone, is ethol blue though....

ann · Jun 30, 2005

we use a lot of their chemistry.

LPD has been our standard developer for at least 10 years.

photomc · Jun 30, 2005

have never used it gary, but did notice while in that little town to the east of us (Dallas) a couple of weeks ago, there was someone buying some of the very same LPD at one of the Dallas camera stores...just dropped in to see what they had, Think she bought about 6 cans of the stuff. If you are interested in the name of the place, PM me and I will look it up...it was one of those deals where I was over there for training and passed by a camera shop and well..you know how it is, can't pass up a chance to stop at a camera store.

jim appleyard · Jun 30, 2005

Some companies just don't seem to push thier product like others do. Ethol/BKA seems to be one of these; at least to me. I've tried most of the Ethol line and found them to be just what they say they are. I did like LPD the one time I used it. I don't really know why I don't use their products moe often. Perhaps it's because they aren't "in my face" like the X-Tols, Rodinals are.

One dev I always wanted to try again is Ethol 90. It was a powder in the usual little can that you mixed into a stock solution. As I remember, you could shoot Tri-x at a very high speed (EI 6400???) and soup it for 90 sec., 1+0 (or was it at 90F--or both?) and get very printable negs with pretty fine grain. I'll bet Ethol 90 is no longer made; haven't seen it in 10 years.

David A. Goldfarb · Jun 30, 2005

Don't they also make Acufine, Acu-1, and Diafine? They get some attention. I use Acufine.

I like their marketing approach--use the same packaging they've used for at least 40 years. What else comes in a can anymore?

garryl · Jun 30, 2005

David A. Goldfarb said:
Don't they also make Acufine, Acu-1, and Diafine? They get some attention. I use Acufine.

I like their marketing approach--use the same packaging they've used for at least 40 years. What else comes in a can anymore?

BNK distributes both products, but they are manufactured by two different companies.

The trivia part is that both UFG and Acufine were formulated by the same man.

titrisol · Jul 1, 2005

no writers in magazines pushing for their products.... IMHO

DKT · Jul 1, 2005

well, back when C&D magazine was around, they used to mention LPD quite a bit. 'course, Camera & Darkroom is history now, like so many other good photo magazines. almost none of them really push any products anymore, other than digital. LPD is kind of a workhorse developer though, I'm not sure how much advertising they really need. It's like advertising dektol.

if you look at heico for example--BKA distributes them as well--and heico doesn't really exist anymore as far as photo chemicals, afik. Its' BKA pretty much. It could be the same way with ethol, and accufine for all I know.

John Cook · Jul 1, 2005

Ethol T.E.C. (which stands for thin emulsion compensating) is a liquid high acutance film developer, sold in 4-ounce brown glass bottles and diluted 1:15.

Absolutely the finest of its type. I worked my way through Art Center making wet-mounted big Kodak murals from 35mm Panatomic-X developed in this product. The grain was tack-sharp, super-tiny and resembled a fine pencil sketch at this magnification (five feet).

I read somewhere that Leica recommends it as their developer of choice.

Once the bottle is opened, you need to refrigerate the remainder and use it up within a week. Very short shelf life.

Difficult to find. Last year I called Calumet looking for some. They didn't know if they had any or if not, when they could get more. Not in any mood to go out of their way to sell me a case. So I let it slide.

You reminded me I should maybe try again. Someone must want my money...

David A. Goldfarb · Jul 1, 2005

B&H usually has the Ethol developers in stock.

garryl · Jul 1, 2005

John Cook said:
Ethol T.E.C. (which stands for thin emulsion compensating)

Difficult to find. Last year I called Calumet looking for some. They didn't know if they had any or if not, when they could get more. Not in any mood to go out of their way to sell me a case. So I let it slide.

You reminded me I should maybe try again. Someone must want my money...

Strange! A search of their cambridge site shows they sell it and can be ordered onlined. :confused:

garryl · Jul 1, 2005

David A. Goldfarb said:
B&H usually has the Ethol developers in stock.

But their website says they won't ship it. You can only buy it in their store.

Allan Connery · Jul 1, 2005

Ethol T.E.C. is available from Brandess Kalt Aetna (www.bkaphoto.com) and also from B&H Photo, though for some reason they won't ship it. You have to go to their store.
Google shows a few mentions of Ethol Blue, but nobody offering to sell it.

DKT · Jul 1, 2005

John--there's a store in my town, that has a few bottles of TEC on the shelf...most of that stuff hasn't moved very well. I'm one of the few customers they have who actually seems to be buying the darkroom stuff still. LPD was similar in some ways. I had to order it by the case, and it wasn't until maybe 5 yrs ago, that they started to stock it on the shelves. They still have an odd assortment though--TEC, TST developer, FG7, TG7, accufine, diafine etc. this store stocks sprint, nacco, kodak, ilford, agfa and the BKA products though--just not in huge quantities.

ann · Jul 1, 2005

strange, when we get TEC, have always gotten in from Calumet. B&h doesn't shipped much chemistry, so don't even think of them in that regard.

Paul Sorensen · Jul 1, 2005

Freestyle has TEC according to their web site, and they ship it.

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/sc_prod.php?cat_id=&pid=1000000704

And, they are an APUG sponsor!

Paul.

fschifano · Jul 1, 2005

Adorama has LPD and UFG, but they don't list TEC. They do ship.

John Cook · Jul 2, 2005

Paul:

Thank you kindly for the link to Freestyle for T.E.C. I have bookmarked it.

Since moving to the East Coast from Hollywood thirty years ago, I forget about the old suppliers out there. Having renewed my relationship with Freestyle a few months ago (for Kentmere paper) I was very impressed with their customer service and their packing department. Should have checked for chemistry as well.

As Sergeant Preston of the RCMP used to say on the radio, "Thanks to you, King, the case is closed".

Gerald Koch · Jul 5, 2005

Ethol Blue is no longer manufactured even though BKA lists an MSDS for it.

titrisol · Jul 5, 2005

Good to know I'm not the only one buying weird stuff from Peace St.

DKT said:
John--there's a store in my town, that has a few bottles of TEC on the shelf...most of that stuff hasn't moved very well. I'm one of the few customers they have who actually seems to be buying the darkroom stuff still. LPD was similar in some ways. I had to order it by the case, and it wasn't until maybe 5 yrs ago, that they started to stock it on the shelves. They still have an odd assortment though--TEC, TST developer, FG7, TG7, accufine, diafine etc. this store stocks sprint, nacco, kodak, ilford, agfa and the BKA products though--just not in huge quantities.

jim appleyard · Jul 5, 2005

Gerald Koch said:
Ethol Blue is no longer manufactured even though BKA lists an MSDS for it.

Adorama lists "Neofin Blue" from the Formulary, but has no info on it. B&H carries Formulary products, but doesn't list this dev. Formualry itself doesn't even list it, at least that I could find. I don't know whether Ethol Blue was/is their version of Neofin Blue/Beutler; anyone know anything about this one?

Paul Sorensen · Jul 5, 2005

jim appleyard said:
Adorama lists "Neofin Blue" from the Formulary, but has no info on it. B&H carries Formulary products, but doesn't list this dev. Formualry itself doesn't even list it, at least that I could find. I don't know whether Ethol Blue was/is their version of Neofin Blue/Beutler; anyone know anything about this one?

I don't know anything about the developer, but JandC carries it.

http://www.jandcphoto.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=109

Paul.

Gerald Koch · Jul 5, 2005

Ethol Blue was a very energetic developer containing Metol, hydroquinone and sodium hydroxide. It bore no resemblence to Neofin Blue. From the MSDS I suspect it was similar to the modified Kalogen formula published in the Dignan Newletter.

John Cook · Jul 5, 2005

My historical knowledge of European chemistry is limited. But I believe Tetenal makes, or did make, Neofin Blue (Blau) for slow films and Neofin Red (Rot) for fast films. Blau, as Paul correctly states, is available at J and C.

This may be too broad a generalization for the nit-pickers out there, but my experience has been that Neofin Blau is virtually identical (in results) to Ethol T.E.C.

Even though both developers are advertised for use with slow films, I have had outstanding results with Tri-X and HP-5 Plus. These developers make no attempt to either disguise nor magnify inherent film grain.

You have to forgo movement, color and sound with b&w still photography. All you have left is superior acutance (sharpness) over all other media. To maximize this single advantage in the face of so many "disadvantages", this type of developer is the answer.

The Ethol net question

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