Light Farm silver gelatin web tutorials

[dwross]

Jerevan and AgX, Thanks!

It certainly is a shame that Kodak is folding as fast as it is. I'm very glad Henk is working so hard at compiling his EU list. It may turn out that it will be easier to get the components for basic emulsions than to get processing chemistry. I've started working with D23 as my first-choice film developer because I know I can buy enough metol and sodium sulfite to last my lifetime. I swear that one of these days I'm going to finally try Caffenol!

It is an oversight on my part that I haven't tested Ilford's version of Photoflo 200 in an emulsion. Don't know why I haven't. Ilford products are in my personal pantheon. So, new question for EU friends: How hard/expensive is it to get Ilford products outside of the UK? This makes it look pretty easy (??)
http://www.ilfordphoto.com/contact.asp

Now, if we can just get Simon to sell silver nitrate, gelatin, etc! I've always maintained that d.i.y. will be part of saving commercial. If photographers know that homemade is possible, they won't be afraid to commit to a "dying" medium.

Anyway, I'm going to be ordering some Ilfotol Wetting Agent today and give it a spin asap.

d

[Polder]

Hi to you all,

Kodak is no option anymore, I just canīt find a way to contact them by mail. Perhaps someone else can, but I tried also in french. But when searching french websites an extensive site of a webshop dedicated to silver gelatin photography
emerged http://www.labo-argentique.com/
It looks reliable, didnīt check it.

henk

Henk

[Jerevan]

Hello Jerevan,

I contacted a couple of firms in Sweden by mail to see if they sell raw chemicals to private persons, i am still compiling a list of european firms. Do you have by chance contacts with these firms.
Thanks
Henk

Which firms did you contact? Sweden is a bit iffy. If you do it the correct and legal way, you often have to have a permit for handling chemicals like potassium dichromate. And most of the time companies do not sell to private persons and in some cases even declining too small companies. I'll see if I can get you anything in the way of links.

Ilford stuff? It's easy to get here in Sweden, either buying locally (in town, over counter even!) or getting it from Berlin (Fotoimpex).

[Jerevan]

Another wetting agent you can find in Europe is Foma Fotonal, sold by the APUG Partner Fomafoto.com.

[Polder]

Hej jerevan,

Thanks for your reply, I contacted Photax in Nybro, others I deleted, then I just asked for the availability of chemicals only, not wetting agents like photo flo or Ilfotol. But if you could produce some addresses, that would be fine,
I donīt know if Foma fotonal is based on another chemical formula compared to Ilford or Kodak, so it could have a different effect on the emulsion.

Tack sa mycket

Henk

[Photo Engineer]

Hi to you all,

Kodak is no option anymore, I just canīt find a way to contact them by mail. Perhaps someone else can, but I tried also in french. But when searching french websites an extensive site of a webshop dedicated to silver gelatin photography
emerged http://www.labo-argentique.com/
It looks reliable, didnīt check it.

henk

Henk

Henk;

Please note that this site sells Formulary products and thus might be able to get the unlisted emulsion making chemistry from them.

Denise;

Have you tried Formaflo? This is a very good wetting agent. It is ionic (IIRC) and thus solves some coating problems outright.

PE

[dwross]

Ron,

Thanks for the tip about Formaflo. I've never used it, but it sounds like a good product. All the Formulary products are top notch. It's unfortunate they have such high shipping costs.

I don't have any problems with Photofl0 200. I did have to make a few tweaks to my recipes so I could use it instead of Photoflo 600. I'm trying really hard to stay with products that are readily available for everyone -- and changing my recipes if that's what it takes. 600 is no longer being made. I have enough 600 for several lifetimes, but 200 is just fine (and safer), and it should be available in the US for quite a while. The problem is in the EU, which is why I thought of Ilford's wetting agent. Hopefully, if it works, it could be their go-to surfactant for emulsion making.

[Photo Engineer]

Denise;

For those interested I have a huge bottle of PF600 literally given to me by a local camera store. They could not sell it. I have trouble using it as it is so strong. I'm willing to part with it, as you can apparently ship it with no problem.

PE

[Polder]

Hello PE

Thank you, Iīll drop them a line. As a novice to all this I notice that I have a lack of knowledge on these chemical stuff. Never cope with you all, one can but try.

Henk

[AgX]

But when searching french websites an extensive site of a webshop dedicated to silver gelatin photography
emerged http://www.labo-argentique.com/
It looks reliable, didnīt check it.

This shop is run by a fellow Apuger.

http://www.apug.org/forums/members/aurelien/