Ansco 130

[Ray Bidegain]

Hi:

I am trying ansco 130 for the first time and have been using 1:1 dilution and 60 sec as was recommended. I feel like 60 sec is to short, and am wondering what the rest of you who use this developer use for time and dilution.

[jnanian]

hi ray

for paper - 72º ( glycin likes to work warmer than 68º ) 1:2 about 2 minutes.

for film - 72º, 1:5 about 7 1/2 mins.


- john

[Ole]

I use 1:1 for 2-4 minutes - with fiber paper, there is a litle change in contrast with extended times. Rare prints get up to 10 minutes...

I have no idea of temperature. I'm happy as long as my darkroom is comfortable to warm (19-24 °C).

[steve simmons]

I have used Ansco 130 at a 1:3 dilution for 3 minutes. More time made little noticeable difference.

This is my favorite developer for paper.

steve simmons
www.cameraarts.com
www.viewcamera.com

[jnanian]

hi again

i mention the film times because most people these days only use ansco 130 for paper, and it seems folks don't know that it was marketed for developing film as well. about 7 years ago i lived in a loft outside of boston. there was a can of "GAF Universal Developer" that sat on a drafty sill in the darkroom. i ran out of $$ at one point, and while i had a bunch of film, i didn't have a lot of money for developer ... so i thought "what the heck". i mixed the can that made 5 gallons of developer and decided to use it. first i made prints with it, to make sure it was okay, after all it was a can in a window sill for the better part of 20 years .. and boy did the darkroom get hot in the summer and cold in the winter ...
my prints were really nice - grays i hadn't seen before seemed to just appear ...
you folks that use ansco 130 / forumlary paper developer know what i mean

i thought, wow, if it does this for paper, what the heck will my film look like!

i shot as much film as possible that summer - roll and sheet, and processed like mad. now i know that ansco 130 has a huge shelf life, but back then i had never heard of ansco 130 so i thought, "if this summer is like last summer i better shoot and process fast cause the developer will die and die quick" ..

i must have shot 100 rolls of 35 mm film and 3 boxes of 4x5 film. my negatives looked as nice as the paper i printed.

when i finished up with the 5 gallons: i was kind of depressed. i asked as many people as i could about GAF Universal, and the only people that had a clue were old timers, and they smiled and said that i was outta luck since GAF was out of the photo-biz ... the internet was kind of young in those days and even though i did searches, i found nothing.

over the years i had been intouch with jc welch at equinox photographic in oregon. we got talking about "stuff" and i mentioned the developer - he knew it, and looked the name up in a reference book he had. he told me that it was the same as ansco 130 - the same stuff that the forumulary sells as their paper developer

... that was 3-4 years ago, and i haven't used another developer since. all i can say is that if you like what it does for your paper, try it with film. it is a fine grain developer, and gives really nice tonal values.

have a nice new year!

john

[Francesco]

Anyone has experience using Ansco 130 and AZO paper? Thanks in advance.

[ronlamarsh]

I have used a form of ansco 130(photographers formulary 130) for year and love it. I normally use it diluted 1:3 with either Ilford multi IV fiber or forte polygrade fiber.
I recently discovered that extending dev to 4min(my norm is 3min) made a significant improvement when using lower contrast filters i.e. #1 overall.
It is a very versatile developer but like all things in photography you must use it for awhile to learn all of its capabilities.

[juan]

Back in 1968, I bought my first darkroom kit and it included a can of GAF Universal Developer. It was used at one dilution for film and another dilution for paper. I've always though this stuff was Ansco 130, but now I'm not sure. My 1963 Photo Lab Index lists Ansco 125 as a paper and film developer. It's a M-H developer. Does anyone have a Photo Lab Index from the late 60s or early 70s who can look up GAF Universal Developer? I've always been curious about this stuff.
juan

[MikeK]

I have the 1979 Edition and page 452 it lists GAF 130 (Univrsal Paper Developer)

Water 750ml
Metol 2.2 grams
Sulfite 50. grams
Hydroquinone 11.0 grams
Sodium Carbonate 78 grams
Potassium Bromide 5.5 grams
Glycin 11.0 grams

Dilute 1:1 for normal use or 1:2 for softer working.

- Mike

[jnanian]

that makes sense that gaf would have called ansco 130 gaf 130 ... gaf got a bunch if not all agfa-ansco's american holdings after ww2 when the company was broken up.

... mike - does it give any film dilutions for "gaf" ( ansco ) 125 developer?

- if it says 1:5 for film ... it might be the same thing that juan and i used.

- john