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Agfa 120 brownton print developer; which time to follow?



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 14th 06, 08:50 AM posted to rec.photo.darkroom
Shakti V. via PhotoKB.com
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Posts: 12
Default Agfa 120 brownton print developer; which time to follow?

Here is the formula I used:

STOCK SOLUTION

Water (125°F/52°C) 750 ml
Sodium sulfite 60 g
Hydroquinone 24 g
Potassium carbonate 80 g
Water to make 1000 ml

Here is the exposure and dilution details

Tone Desired Exposure Time Dilution Time at 68°F/20°C
Warm-black Normal 1:5 4-5
minutes
Brown-black 1½ x normal 1:4 3 minutes


~

If I use this developer, I wouldn't know the 'normal' exposure, as of course,
I would base the exposure on the developer in use at hand, which is Agfa 120
developer.

My problem is the development time. My darkroom, though airconditioned,
can't keep the developer at 20 deg C. It always rises to 25 deg C. Have you
used Agfa 120 developer at 25 deg C, or above 25 deg C? What is your
developing time?

What puzzles me is whether I should follow the developing time indicated by
the developer, or the developing time indicated by the paper. I use Forte FB,
and it is resistant to fogging. In fact, I can develop it in 30 degC.
without any problems. Here is the Forte recommended time:

20 deg C 90-120 seconds
25 deg C 60-90 seconds
30 deg C 45-60 seconds

So, which developing time should I follow?

I will experiment, but I hope to hear suggestions here also.

--
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  #2  
Old October 18th 06, 10:49 AM posted to rec.photo.darkroom
Shakti V. via PhotoKB.com
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Posts: 12
Default Agfa 120 brownton print developer; which time to follow?

Sorry, I don't like making typo errors. I can read them, but I am o.c. not
to make them. So, anyway, the title of this thread should be:

Agfa 120 browntone print developer; which time to follow?

BrowntonE with an E. Sorry.

~

Since no one has replied to the thread, may be people here don't use that
developer. Just as added information, here is an update of my chemical
mixing project: Agfa 120- -

I dilute this solution, Agfa 120, at 1:3 as a working solution. I like the
tones, sort of warmer than 1:5, and with good patience working with split
filters, I get delicious highlights, midtones, and shadows; yes, 'delicious'.
I dilute at 1:3 for the warmth and shorter developing time. At 25degC,
developing time is 120secs./2minutes; then I decrease by 5 seconds for every
degree higher(example, at 27 degC, 110secs.)

The working solution stays in the tray between 12-15 hours. I prefer looong
printing sessions than short ones. I suppose you can still push it for 18
hours, with some allowance for a bit of weakening. Before it gets brown black
exhausted, I used it, and it gave me a CONTRASTY , very very contrasty print,
which should not have been the result. Then an hour after that, it went brown
black- -exhausted.

--
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  #3  
Old October 18th 06, 04:25 PM posted to rec.photo.darkroom
Mono-tech_Ag
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Posts: 2
Default Agfa 120 brownton print developer; which time to follow?


"Shakti V. via PhotoKB.com" u15922@uwe wrote in message
news:67f14eedd5d7e@uwe...
Since no one has replied to the thread, may be people here don't use that
developer.


It doesn`t seem that Paterson Aculux 2 fine-Grain developer is particularly
popular here, either. (Sigh!).


  #4  
Old October 18th 06, 10:15 PM posted to rec.photo.darkroom
Lofty
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Posts: 12
Default Agfa 120 brownton print developer; which time to follow?


"Mono-tech_Ag" wrote in message
...

"Shakti V. via PhotoKB.com" u15922@uwe wrote in message
news:67f14eedd5d7e@uwe...
Since no one has replied to the thread, may be people here don't use

that
developer.


It doesn`t seem that Paterson Aculux 2 fine-Grain developer is

particularly
popular here, either. (Sigh!).


I've never heard of Agfa 120 brownprint dev, is that similar to Agfa WA
warmtone dev?
I use that with my warmtone papers such as Ilford and Forte
Where does one buy Agfa 120 brownprint from?
Nice to know there are lots more darkroom workers out there

Lofty




  #5  
Old October 19th 06, 01:04 PM posted to rec.photo.darkroom
Lloyd Erlick
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Posts: 214
Default Agfa 120 brownton print developer; which time to follow?

On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 22:15:42 +0100, "lofty"
wrote:

Where does one buy Agfa 120 brownprint from?
Nice to know there are lots more darkroom workers out there




October 19, 2006, from Lloyd Erlick,

Over the eons many manufacturers in
photography have come and gone. Some of them
published the formulas for various products.

Agfa published many developer formulas, for
which they thoughtfully provided numbers.
Agfa 120 is a print developer containing a
single developing agent, hydroquinone. Agfa
120 is reputed to yield warm image tone.

As the years passed and corporate changes
came and went, the formula numbers became a
little scrambled and hard to follow. Agfa
became involved with Ansco, which also
published a lot of numbered formulas. So some
confusion exists — e.g., Ansco 120 and Agfa
120. There were times when they were two
separate companies and times when they were
one outfit. (Sometimes the nomenclature will
be 'Ansco-Agfa' or 'Agfa-Ansco', just to
confuse it more.)

In any case, the published formulas are no
source of profit to any of the manufacturers
any more, so no support exists. Agfa and
Ansco don't exist, either. Even Kodak is
brushing off anything to do with black and
white print making.

But as long as plain bulk chemicals still
exist, many interesting developers can be
made easily and cheaply by the individual
darkroom worker. I'm glad there are plenty of
us left, too!

Richard Knoppow neatly solved the
nomenclature problem by adding the word 'old'
to certain formula names. Here is the formula
he posted in this newsgroup for Agfa 120, a
Hydroquinone-only warm tone print developer:


Old Agfa 120 Brown Black Developer

Water 1.0 liter
Hydroquinone 24.0 grams
Sodium sulfite, anhydrous 60.0 grams
Potassium Carbonate 80.0 grams
Potassium bromide 2.0 grams

Directions are to dilute from 1 to 2 to 1 to
8 for different papers.



Personally, I prefer to mix a print developer
straight to a working solution. I don't like
to store bottles of liquid concentrate. I
find the much more dilute working solution
quick and easy to prepare in most cases. I
don't want to worry about how the developer
changes in storage. For the above formula,
which may be diluted over such a wide range,
I'd find out which one suits me best and
simply weigh out the chemicals needed for
that working solution when I wanted to use
it.


I've actually used the above formula to make
prints. I never really got used to it,
though. I did not use it often enough.

Recently I ran out of Metol, which somehow
prompted me to try other developing agents.
For some reason I seem to gravitate to print
developers that contain only a single
developing agent, and I've just finished off
250 grams of Glycin. I have a ten year old
container of Hydroquinone I think I might get
into. I like warm tone prints, and supposedly
Hydroquinone is good for that.

Incidentally, in photography there is a bit
of confusion over nomenclature for dilution.
The Agfa 120 formula above specifies a rather
broad range of dilution for the concentrate,
so dilution nomenclature is important.

Normal chemists' practice is to use the colon
to denote a ratio, for example 1:3. In
chemistry, the second number represents the
*total* amount or volume of the *solution*,
so the first number would represent one-third
of the total. It would mean one part diluted
until the total (perhaps 'final' would be a
better word) volume came to three parts.

In darkroom circles, thanks to the kind folks
at Kodak many moons ago, the second number
has come to mean the amount or volume of
water added to dilute the first. Thus, 1:3
would mean a total of four parts, of which
the first number represents one-quarter.

Ilford at least clarified, if not solved, the
problem by replacing the colon with a
plus-sign, e.g., 1+3. This denotes one part
concentrate plus three parts water for four
parts of solution in total. Darkroom work
always follows this Idiot's Guide
nomenclature, unless, perhaps, a chemist is
working in the darkroom...

regards,
--le
________________________________
Lloyd Erlick Portraits, Toronto.
website: www.heylloyd.com
telephone: 416-686-0326
email:
________________________________
--

  #6  
Old October 20th 06, 07:23 AM posted to rec.photo.darkroom
Shakti V. via PhotoKB.com
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Posts: 12
Default Agfa 120 brownton print developer; which time to follow?

Hydroquinone-only warm tone print developer:

Old Agfa 120 Brown Black Developer

Water 1.0 liter
Hydroquinone 24.0 grams
Sodium sulfite, anhydrous 60.0 grams
Potassium Carbonate 80.0 grams
Potassium bromide 2.0 grams

Directions are to dilute from 1 to 2 to 1 to
8 for different papers.


Hey, Lloyd. You always give long informative answers. That's good. About
the 1:3 dispute, yeah, I figured out that darkroom photography means 1+3 when
it's instructed 1:3. About the formula above, I've read that the addition of
potassium bromide into the solution will just make it warmer, but the
downside to that is there will be a bit of more time for developing as
potassium bromide is also an anti-fogging agent, and hence is a restrainer.
I've read in another forum a different version of the Agfa 120 formula, and
this guy who posted it claimed that he has a book of Agfa's published
formulae. The formula he posted didn't even have hyrdroquinone in it, just
metol, but the name was Agfa 120. And there are those that say the addition
of potassium bromide into the formula I originally posted will make the
solution Agfa 123. So much confusion! But at least we have these formulae,
so even if manufacturers discontinue making these developers, we can still
concoct them in our darkroom kitchen as long as raw chemicals are sold.

~

I've posted above that the formula I use, Agfa 120, can stay in tray for 12-
15 hours, and supposed that you can PROBABLY push it to 18 hours. Well, I
tried pushing it to 18 hours, but by the 15th hour, there is considerable
weakening already, before it reaches the 18th hour, it's way too exhausted
already.

~

I don't store working solution developer because it shortens the keeping time.
I keep it concentrated in storage for longer chemical life.

--
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  #7  
Old October 20th 06, 07:30 AM posted to rec.photo.darkroom
QueenAdelle via PhotoKB.com
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Posts: 7
Default Agfa 120 brownton print developer; which time to follow?

lofty wrote:

I've never heard of Agfa 120 brownprint dev, is that similar to Agfa WA
warmtone dev?
I use that with my warmtone papers such as Ilford and Forte
Where does one buy Agfa 120 brownprint from?
Nice to know there are lots more darkroom workers out there

Lofty



I've never used Agfa WA. It's a desert here when it comes to black and white
photography supplies, so I mix most of my chemicals now from scratch. I
don't mind as I'm a 'geek' that way. :O I like learning to mix my chemicals,
and have a hands-on involvement with the elements that I use, as much as
possible. It's more loving to create photographs that way.

--
+Shakti V.

Message posted via PhotoKB.com
http://www.photokb.com/Uwe/Forums.as...kroom/200610/1

  #8  
Old October 20th 06, 07:30 AM posted to rec.photo.darkroom
Shakti V. via PhotoKB.com
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 12
Default Agfa 120 brownton print developer; which time to follow?

lofty wrote:

I've never heard of Agfa 120 brownprint dev, is that similar to Agfa WA
warmtone dev?
I use that with my warmtone papers such as Ilford and Forte
Where does one buy Agfa 120 brownprint from?
Nice to know there are lots more darkroom workers out there

Lofty



I've never used Agfa WA. It's a desert here when it comes to black and white
photography supplies, so I mix most of my chemicals now from scratch. I
don't mind as I'm a 'geek' that way. :O I like learning to mix my chemicals,
and have a hands-on involvement with the elements that I use, as much as
possible. It's more loving to create photographs that way.

--
+Shakti V.

Message posted via http://www.photokb.com

  #9  
Old October 20th 06, 12:08 PM posted to rec.photo.darkroom
John
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Posts: 212
Default Agfa 120 brownton print developer; which time to follow?

On Fri, 20 Oct 2006 06:23:30 GMT, "Shakti V. via PhotoKB.com"
u15922@uwe wrote:

bout the formula above, I've read that the addition of
potassium bromide into the solution will just make it warmer, but the
downside to that is there will be a bit of more time for developing as
potassium bromide is also an anti-fogging agent, and hence is a restrainer.
I've read in another forum a different version of the Agfa 120 formula, and
this guy who posted it claimed that he has a book of Agfa's published
formulae.


Then he needs a new book.

Agfa 120
Water @ 125F 750ml
Hydroquinone 24g
Sod. Sulfite (annhy.) 60g
Pot. Carbonate 80g
Water to make 1.0L


==
John S. Douglas
Photographer & Webmaster
Legacy-photo.com - Xs750.net
  #10  
Old October 20th 06, 04:46 PM posted to rec.photo.darkroom
Lloyd Erlick
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Posts: 214
Default Agfa 120 brownton print developer; which time to follow?

On Fri, 20 Oct 2006 06:08:07 -0500, John
wrote:

Then he needs a new book.




October 20, 2006, from Lloyd Erlick,

If it contains Metol as the only developing
agent, someone along the information chain
might have meant Ansco 120. I think of this
developer as 'D-23 for prints'.

But it could easily be called Agfa-Ansco 120,
or Ansco-Agfa 120, so the mistaken name Agfa
120 might appear. It just compounds the
sadness of the situation that an actual Agfa
120 exists ...

I wish we could rename it. Agfa 123 sounds
great, easy to remember, and it's virtually
certain any actual user would put some amount
of Potassium Bromide in it.

regards,
--le
________________________________
Lloyd Erlick Portraits, Toronto.
website: www.heylloyd.com
telephone: 416-686-0326
email:
________________________________
--

 




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