Formulary 130?

[Stephanie Brim]

Considering I'll be buying my fixer from Photographer's Formulary from now on, I've decided to look at their range of paper developers and find something that would fit my needs as a beginner. Long stock solution life, high capacity, and relatively cheap are big pluses. I came across Formulary 130 and it seems to be the perfect combination of all three of these things. I'll be doing 5x7 for a while to start since I'll be wasting a lot of paper, and the developer says it can do 50 8x10 sheets per litre...which would round out to about 80 5x7 sheets. Even if I got the 2 litre package I'd be fine for paper developer for quite some time.

Has anyone here used it? If you have, can you comment on what I can expect from it once I get the hang of printing? I'm wanting to find something I'll want to use for a while to come, even after I've gotten passing fair at printing.

 

[plexi]

It`s the same as Ansco 130. If you do a search on APUG, you`ll find it very well liked and is often compared to developing in Amidol.
You can take the 50 8x10 with a pinch of salt, it just works and works, and keeps extremely well.

 

[Stephanie Brim]

I think that starting with a really good developer will speed my learning...so I think I'll go with it. 🙂

 

[plexi]

The positive aspect of using the good stuff, is that you can`t blame your materials for lousy results 🙂 I have enough Amidol to last for years, if I hadn`t, I`d use the 130.


Amund

 

[Stephanie Brim]

Yeah, Amund, I wasn't expecting to print this soon nor do I really want to work with Amidol at this point, so I figured that 130, either mixed by me or the Formulary, would be a good start. Of course I have no way to source Azo paper, anyway...I know that people are working on a replacement, but I think I'll wait until I'm really getting the hang of printing before I start getting the incredibly expensive stuff. I also have to have a photo worthy of Azo! 😉

 

[Buze]

Funny I also looked at Ansco 130 after reading a few raving comments about it on APUG or largeformat. I have a bottle of "Ilford Multigrade" to finish, but after that I'll find some Glycin and make some of that formula..
Also note that there is a variant made by Ansel Adams without the hydroquinone, and that variant also has a good reputation..