Filmwasters
Which Board? => Main Forum => : seekingfocus November 30, 2007, 12:07:29 AM
-
Anyone know where to find Aculux 2 or 3 in the US? B&H used to sell it, I got a bottle from them about a year ago, but they don't carry it anymore. I've done a search, but couldn't come up with any leads.
I'd sure like to get my hands on some more if I can find it... anyone have any suggestions for alternatives I might consider? I'm not opposed to home brews...
Thanks.
-Jason
-
Peterson stopped production of Aculux 2 back in '06. I ended up stocking up on the stuff which I finally finished back in September. Since then, Peterson announced Aculux 3 but it apparently hasn't made it over the Pond yet. I, for one, am eagerly awaiting it. In the meantime, I'm using Ilford Perceptol. I've never been a big fan of powders but I love the incredibly fine grain I get with it, especially using Ilford Pan F and FP4. And I can shoot Pan F at ISO 25 which, for me, is a really advantage since I tend to shoot wide open to get as shallow a depth of field as possible.
-
Thanks for the rely.
I knew they had stopped producing the Aculux 2 some time ago, but then was doing a search and came across the Aculux 3 being sold in the UK. The w places I found that currently carry it did not ship to the US though...
-Jas0n
-
After I read Leon's review on Aculux 3 in B&WP, I phoned the US distributor for Patterson months back. No one is carrying it in the states as of yet. But they said B&H might at some point.
-
You could try Freestyle. They carry a lot of traditional materials you can't find anywhere else:
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/
-
No, freestyle doesn't have it... I've checked all the big names as well as some of the 'alternative' companies... I guess it's just a waiting game, unless someone across the pond want to start a black market distribution ring... Anyone? There's money to be made. :-\
-
No, freestyle doesn't have it... I've checked all the big names as well as some of the 'alternative' companies... I guess it's just a waiting game, unless someone across the pond want to start a black market distribution ring... Anyone? There's money to be made. :-\
I dont think you'd appreciate the exchange rates, but you could always order it through one of the uk sellers - I just found www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk (http://www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk) ship to the US - but at a blanket cost of ?65 ($134), then you;ve got to add the cost of the product - ?5.49 for 1l bottle ($11.30). So one bottle is going to cost you $145! Even if you found a group who'd want it, you'd need to order a huge amount just to bring the costs down.
If you want to try a home brew with similar charctersitics, I'd go for D-23. It is stupidlty cheap, only uses two chems so very easy to mix up, nice fine grain, I only lost about 1/3 stop film speed (but I like nice open shadows) and very similar results to Aculux in my experience. The formula is well published, but I'll pop it here anyway: -
Water, 125F/52C 750 ml
Metol 7.5 g
Sodium Sulfite (anhydrous) 100 g
Water to make 1L
then use at anything from stock to 1:5 dilution.
-
Thanks, Leon!
Exactly what I was looking for.
-Jason