Hubl's Glycin Paste

[semeuse]

a glycin developer, excellent for stand development, popular from the early 20th century (reference Cassell's Cyclopedia of Photography and Anchell & Troop)

hot water (125F / 52C) 500ml
sodium sulfite 165g
glycin 135g

mix well - takes some time to get all the glycin to dissolve
then add

potassium carbonate, crystaline 625g
water to 1000ml

This makes a thick, creamy stock solution with great shelf life (I have used year old stock with no problems). When diluting for use, I have found that I must use distilled water or else I end up with a cloudy solution that gives uneven results (I assume there is something in my tap water that reacts with the chemistry). Distilled water gives a clear pinkish solution (kind of looks like gasoline) that is a wonderful stand developer.

Suggested starting points for use:
diluted 1:30 for 10 minutes with minimal agitation for Efke PM50

I particularly like this for roll films:
diluted 1:55 for 45 minutes, agitate for first minute, then leave it alone; after 45' a 30 second water rinse, then fix.

[Trask]

Thanks for providing the formula -- very interesting.

[jim appleyard]

Thanks. I've always wondered about this dev and the times one would use, althought I never wanted to risk 135g of glycin on testing. Good to know someone is using this dev.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Yes, 135g of glycin was the first thing I noticed. I guess if I just wanted to try it, I'd make something like 100ml of the stock solution.

[Chazzy]

Very tempting. One of these days you guys are going to get me to try stand development.

[Trask]

Or just divide all the chemical amounts by 31 and mix those amounts in one liter of water. This works out to 5.3 grams of sodium sulfite, 4.4 grams of glycin and 20.2 grams of potassium carbonate. Looked at that way, it doesn't appear to be all that unusual in terms of composition. In terms of performance, the pictures speak for themselves.

[David A. Goldfarb]

So how thick is the stock solution, really? Is it easy to measure in small quantities?

[Richard Wasserman]

So how thick is the stock solution, really? Is it easy to measure in small quantities?

And what are the positive attributes of this developer?

Richard Wasserman

[juan]

And what are the positive attributes of this developer?

Richard Wasserman

Atget used it.
juan

[Richard Wasserman]

Atget used it.
juan

Perfect! I always wanted to photograph early 20th Century Paris...