Ansco 130

Ansco 130 is the canonical warm-tone paper developer of 20th-century B&W photography — formulated by Ansco in the 1930s, refined through the GAF era, and continuously published in darkroom manuals from Adams' The Print (1983) through Anchell's Darkroom Cookbook (current editions).^[1] It is the developer Edward Weston specified for his contact prints, the developer Brett Weston used through his entire career, and the developer that defined the "warm-tone fine print" aesthetic for the West Coast tradition.

What sets Ansco 130 apart from neutral-tone paper developers like Dektol (D-72) is the inclusion of glycin as a third developing agent alongside Metol and Hydroquinone. Glycin shifts paper image color from neutral-black toward warm-brown to warm-black, with the precise tone depending on paper choice (chlorobromide papers warmest), exposure (more exposure = warmer), and dilution (1:1 working dilution warmer than stock). The same formula on Ilford Multigrade Warmtone produces a notably different print than on Ilford Multigrade Cooltone — the developer reveals the paper's emulsion character rather than overriding it.

Ansco 130 is supplied as a stock concentrate mixed from powder ingredients to one liter, then diluted 1:1 with water as a working solution in the tray. The stock has exceptionally long shelf life (6+ months in tightly-sealed full bottles), and the working solution stays active for an unusually long tray session — 8+ hours of continuous use is routine, vs Dektol's typical 2-3 hour tray life before exhaustion.

When to choose Ansco 130 over Dektol

Ansco 130 is most often weighed against Dektol (D-72), Selectol-Soft (Ansco 120), and Ethol LPD. The trade-offs:

• vs Dektol (D-72): Dektol delivers neutral-to-cool image tone, faster development (60-90 sec to full), and higher contrast at the same paper grade. Choose Ansco 130 when the print's warmth matters as much as its tonality (contact prints, fine-art portfolio work, traditional "darkroom-look" prints); choose Dektol when speed of throughput matters (commercial darkroom, school proof prints, when neutral tone is the goal).
• vs Selectol-Soft (Ansco 120): Selectol-Soft is a pure glycin developer (no Hydroquinone) — produces the warmest tones available but with significantly lower contrast than Ansco 130. Many printers use Selectol-Soft + Dektol two-tray developing for tonal control; Ansco 130 is the single-developer alternative that splits the difference (warm tone with normal contrast).
• vs Ethol LPD: Ethol LPD is a modern long-life paper developer designed for the same multi-hour tray-life property as Ansco 130, but with neutral-to-slightly-warm tone. Choose LPD when the "warm" aspect isn't a priority but the "long tray life" is; choose Ansco 130 when both warmth and longevity matter.
• vs Edwal Platinum II (discontinued): Edwal's discontinued warm-tone developer was Ansco 130's closest commercial competitor through the 1980s-90s; if mixing your own developer rather than buying pre-mixed, Ansco 130 is the unambiguous choice today.

The glycin warm-tone chemistry

Ansco 130's warm-tone character comes from glycin (technically N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)glycine, not the amino acid), an unusual developing agent that activates silver halide grains differently from Metol or Hydroquinone.^[2] In simple terms:

• Metol (the primary fast developer) initiates development at the lower density grains
• Hydroquinone (the second-stage agent) extends development into higher-density regions and provides image-shoulder contrast
• Glycin (the warm-tone modifier) competes with Hydroquinone for development sites at the silver-halide surface, and where glycin "wins" it produces silver grains of slightly different size and shape that scatter light toward warm wavelengths

The combination produces a print whose color is neither the cool blue-black of a pure MQ developer nor the pure brown of a glycin-only developer — it sits in the warm-black to brown-black range that traditional darkroom printers call "rich blacks." On chlorobromide papers (Forte Polywarmtone, Oriental Seagull G, Ilford Multigrade Warmtone), Ansco 130 produces noticeably warmer tones than on bromide papers (Ilford Multigrade Classic, Kodak Polycontrast III RC) — the developer's tone-shift direction is consistent, but the magnitude depends on the paper's emulsion biases.

The high concentration of sodium carbonate (78 g/L) compared to MQ developers like Dektol (~33 g/L) is necessary to keep glycin in active solution — glycin requires a strongly alkaline environment to develop efficiently. The 5.5 g/L potassium bromide (compared to Dektol's 2 g/L) is the restrainer that prevents fog despite the long working-solution life.

Working-solution and tray workflow

Ansco 130's signature operational property is its multi-hour tray life — most printers using it routinely run a session of 8-10 hours on a single tray of working solution, replenishing only when the developer slows visibly (typically after ~30-40 8x10 prints per liter of working solution).

The standard tray workflow:

1. Pour one part stock + one part water (typical dilution: 500 ml stock + 500 ml water = 1L working).
2. Pre-warm the tray to 20-22 °C (68-72 °F). Ansco 130 develops more uniformly at slightly warmer temperatures than the Dektol standard 20°C.
3. Develop for 2:00 to 3:00 at 1:1 dilution (longer than Dektol's 60-90 sec — this is the warm-tone trade-off; full image tone takes time to develop).
4. Two-tray printers using Selectol-Soft + Ansco 130 typically run Selectol for 1:00 then transfer to Ansco 130 for 1:30-2:00 to finish.
5. Replenishment is optional — many printers simply pour off the active working solution at the end of the session and start fresh the next day, accepting the cost of fresh working solution per session in exchange for predictable tone consistency.

For dramatic warm-tone effects, increasing dilution to 1:2 or 1:3 (one part stock to two or three parts water) and extending development to 3-4 minutes pushes the tone further into the brown-black range — at the cost of contrast (the print becomes softer overall).

Practical notes

• Mix from powder, not liquid concentrate. Ansco 130 is not commercially sold as a pre-mixed liquid; mix from individual chemicals using the Anchell-published formula (2.2 g metol, 50 g sodium sulfite, 11 g hydroquinone, 78 g sodium carbonate anhydrous, 5.5 g potassium bromide, 11 g glycin per liter of stock).
• Add chemicals in published order: metol first into 750 ml water at 50°C, then sulfite (immediately — sulfite preserves metol from oxidation), then hydroquinone, then carbonate (raises pH to keep glycin active), then potassium bromide, finally glycin (last, after solution is fully alkaline).
• Stock keeps 6+ months in tightly-sealed full bottles; partial bottles oxidize within ~3 months. Working solution discards at end of session typically — too dilute for reliable storage.
• Tray temperature 20-22°C (68-72°F). Below 18°C glycin's activity drops sharply; above 24°C development becomes uneven and the warm-tone effect weakens (warmer development paradoxically produces cooler prints because the Hydroquinone contribution accelerates).
• Paper choice matters more than with Dektol. Try Ilford Multigrade Warmtone (FB or RC) as the safe baseline; Forte Polywarmtone (when available) is the historical reference paper for Ansco 130; Oriental Seagull G is another classic pairing.
• PPE: Standard developer-handling — nitrile gloves and eye protection. Glycin and metol are both known sensitizers; cumulative skin exposure during powder mixing can produce contact dermatitis.

Related recipes

• [[recipe-dektol-d-72|Dektol (D-72)]] — Kodak's neutral-tone paper-developer workhorse; the comparison standard
• [[recipe-selectol|Selectol]] — Ansco 120, the pure-glycin warmer-tone counterpart; often paired with Ansco 130 for two-tray developing
• [[recipe-selectol-soft|Selectol-Soft]] — softer variant of Selectol; Edward Weston's documented two-tray pairing with Ansco 130
• [[recipe-ethol-lpd|Ethol LPD]] — modern long-tray-life alternative; neutral-to-slightly-warm tone
• [[recipe-amidol-paper-dev|Amidol Paper Developer]] — Edward Weston's other documented developer; neutral-tone alternative to Ansco 130