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  #1  
Old 2nd November 2020, 11:49 AM
RickEmmanuel RickEmmanuel is offline
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Default Chemical suppliers, Silverprint or First Call

Looking at First Call chemicals against Silverprint chems. First Call advertise a lot cheaper than Silverprint chems. Are they the same unadulterated materials? Price eg. Metol 100g £42 sp to fc £22. Sod. sulphite 1kg £44 sp to fc's £10. Does anyone know why there's such a wide difference? Quality, strength, or same stuff but different pricing? Am I missing something?
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Old 2nd November 2020, 12:56 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Rick I don't know but I doubt if the price difference is explained by anything more than a price difference - pure and simple

I have now given up looking for rational explanations on pricing. Down that road lies madness

Mike
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Old 2nd November 2020, 01:22 PM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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Simple answer yes, they get the Bellini raw chemicals, which are as good as any on the market, I have used them and no complaints, I gte all my chemistry both raw and concentrate from them, and pretty much always have, ever since they started stocking them, so buy raw chemicals from Firstcall with confidence
Richard
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Old 2nd November 2020, 01:35 PM
Lostlabours Lostlabours is offline
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Try ebay, there's plenty of lab grade Sodium Sulphite listed.

Metol, how many Kilos do you want I can spare some, it's something I rarely use as I prefer PQ print developers and only use Metol in ID-1/D165 (Selectol Soft).

Ian
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Old 3rd November 2020, 01:26 PM
Terry S Terry S is offline
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When starting out in making various formulas, I too bought all of my raw chemicals from well known shops, usually with a good bit of p/p added on. That was until I discovered that I could buy photo quality chemicals from sellers on ebay uk. You have to do a bit of homework and check the comments and feedback, but all that I have bought has been a lot lower in price than my first purchases, and you can buy single chemicals with small, if any p/p, instead of the usual overpriced p/p.

I've bought from British and EU sellers, with no problems.

I've just checked for metol, and surprisingly there are only a few sellers of it. The cheapest for 50 grammes is £14.95, which includes p/p and is from a UK seller - NTphotoworks:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BelliniFo...AAAOSwQqZcFQpE

They also have a shop in Folkestone, Kent. I've tried comparing their ebay price with their shop price, but they are another site that insists on you giving lots of details just to get the p/p price!

As for sodium sulphite and sodium thiosulphite, and many other chemicals that have dual uses (quite often being swimming pool related) there are a lot of sellers selling various quantities at good prices. It's well worth looking at a few before purchasing. If possible, also look for ones that promise 'photo quality' or words to that effect.

Terry S
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Old 3rd November 2020, 06:53 PM
Lostlabours Lostlabours is offline
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Thanks Terry at those prices I've a few thousand ponds of Metol on my shelve

Photo quality is the same or slightly lower than Technical grade for most chemicals, only developing agents tend to be higher. I do have the spec for Photo grade chemicals in a book somewhere.

Ian
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Old 4th November 2020, 10:02 PM
RickEmmanuel RickEmmanuel is offline
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Thank you gentlemen for your observations of the market place. Thank you Ian for your offer. I have indeed obtained a kilo of S sulphite from eBay at £14. And I’m glad to hear that Bellini chems meet the standard.
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Old 5th November 2020, 01:14 PM
Terry S Terry S is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RickEmmanuel View Post
Thank you gentlemen for your observations of the market place. Thank you Ian for your offer. I have indeed obtained a kilo of S sulphite from eBay at £14. And I’m glad to hear that Bellini chems meet the standard.
It was not mentioned, I believe, but you can also look up sodium sulfite (=f instead of a ph) and you would have got a kilo for just £10.95 incl p/p. Just a few quid difference, but nearly enough for a deposit on a roll of film.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sodium-Su...oAAOSwnkBe520z

Terry S
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Old 19th November 2020, 08:11 PM
relistan relistan is offline
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It might help you or somebody else if I post these. They don't sell developing agents, but for other photographic chemicals I have had good success with:

APC Pure - https://apcpure.com/

(e.g. https://apcpure.com/product/l-ascorb...0-5-bp-usp-fcc or https://apcpure.com/product/potassiu...100_5_ph_eur_v)

And these folks (who only ship to commercial addresses):

https://mistralni.co.uk/

Mistral's prices include shipping, and they ship *fast*, which given I am in Ireland, can save some time.
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