What is the best type of Silver Nitrate to buy

I'm just starting on on this.
Wet plate isn't the only thing I want to do, I also want to coat my own enlarger paper, for the fun of it more than anything, it's not as if it costs all that much after all.
But there are so many types of silver nitrate. I don't want to buy a kit, I want to buy the ingredients, it seems that way will cost more initially but end up cheaper in the long term.
I'm looking at this one at the moment Silver Nitrate (Cryst./Molecular Biology Grade), Fisher BioReagents
Being new to this I don't know if this is huge overkill, I could do better, or just the wrong type.

Some advice would be greatly appreciated.

It's probably overkill and overpriced.

I would try ebay and alibaba. But as the price will track the price of silver there aren't many bargains to be had. And alibaba often has high minimums - $0.60 a gram but you have to buy a kilogram for $600 - which is, admittedly, less than half the price of the stuff on ebay. If you can find 10 people to go in for a bulk purchase, though, it may be an attractive option.

For small quantities prices can be all over the place.

If you feel better buying from a 'photographic' supplier then Artcraft Chemicals in the US sells silver nitrate at $108/100gms, quite reasonable against bulk pricing. I don't know what is available from UK suppliers.

As always, pays your money, takes your choice.

Hi Carey.

It appears the price of AgNO3 at that shop in the UK is similar to what we are paying here in the US: approximately $132 for 100 grams, converted to USD. The lowest price I see here is from Artcraft Chemicals in NY, at $108 USD for 100 grams. There are specialty suppliers for wet plate that charge $20-$35 more than that. I have no idea if ArtCraft ships overseas, and if they do, the shipping cost may negate any savings in the materials cost.

That said, the price quoted by Fisher BioReagents is reasonable enough. You do not need reagent grade AgNO3 for wet plate or other Photographics use cases.

There is also Mamut Photo in the Czech Republic: https://www.mamut-photo.com/eshop/en/content/4-contact but their price for 100g of AgNO3 is almost exactly the same. There may be other suppliers, but as the UK isn't my region, I am unaware of who else there might be.

My strategy has been to keep about 100 grams on hand as that will make a big more than a liter. I don't like to stock pile it because it's a lot of cash tied up and price might go down. I take shipping cost into account for total price.


Kent in SD

UVP sells 1L premixed at 9% for $126 (would translate into $140 for 100 g). It’s already iodized and I don’t need to buy a bottle, it comes in one already. Ready to go — no need to adjust pH or specific gravity. That’s almost as cheap as buying the crystals themselves, at $132. I find it convenient.

Of course shipping may turn this into a non starter for overseas.

https://uvphotographics.com/silver-bath/

This is so much useful information!
I've since found out the firm I linked to needs me to have a business account, and another I found wouldn't deliver to a residential address. I could have it delivered to my university. but they might not appreciate a parcel with a hazardous chemicals label turning up at the faculty reception.
I honestly hadn't thought about Ebay. The largest quantity I've found there in the UK is 100g, for £86, but only crystals, where I had been leaning towards a premixed option.

It does sound like 100g is a better option than the larger amount I had been considering. I'm definitely not buying 10 or 20g, that would be wasting money.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by carey

This is so much useful information!
I've since found out the firm I linked to needs me to have a business account, and another I found wouldn't deliver to a residential address. I could have it delivered to my university. but they might not appreciate a parcel with a hazardous chemicals label turning up at the faculty reception.
I honestly hadn't thought about Ebay. The largest quantity I've found there in the UK is 100g, for £86, but only crystals, where I had been leaning towards a premixed option.

It does sound like 100g is a better option than the larger amount I had been considering. I'm definitely not buying 10 or 20g, that would be wasting money.

---

Hi Carey.
I suggest you skip buying AgNO3 solutions premixed, as its an arbitrary convenience at best. There's no practical reason to avoid using dry Silver nitrate crystals, and if you plan to explore other uses besides Wet Plate, then you want access to dry crystals so you can make solutions appropriate for each unique application.

I buy 225g (half a pound) at a time when buying AgNO3, for economy's sake. (ArtCraft sells half pound quantities and its far less expensive per gram that way) I'm sure you don't need half a pound if you're just starting out, but buying 10 or 20 grams at a time is an expensive prospect. After all, you're going to need some dry AgNO3 crystals to replenish your silver bath as you make wet plate photographs: the silver content diminishes gradually and you will need to add silver to maintain the bath. (You've got a good manual, or taken a workshop, yes?)

Don't hesitate to ask for assistance if you need it. There are several skilled wet plate photographers here on the forum.

I wasn't overly keen on the premixed solution, that seemed at first to be my only option. But I do want to try other things, including my own paper coating emulsion. I just had a UV exposure box built, I'm not buying kits for that (other than the Cyanotype someone gave me last year), so those will all be made using my magnetic heating mixer and other equipment I've accumulated.
I have books. There are no workshops where I live currently, but we're about to move to a village which will put me within an hours travel of a major city. The guy who made my wet plate holder and LF Camera has his company there, so I'm pretty sure there will be some kind of workshop I can attend.

I went on Ebay after reading this and finding out there wasn't any company in the UK that sold a decent amount of Silver Nitrate Crystals unless they could deliver to non residential addresses, and found some on Ebay for a good price. I have 200g on the way, which will do for some time.
There was a UK wet plate supplies website, but it always seemed a bit dodgy to me, every single product picture was identical, regardless of the product type, so I bought everything from elsewhere while accumulating my equipment. Now it's gone out of business just this month, which is no great surprise. Alas it was the only place where I could have (possibly) bought Silver Nitrate in non trivial quantities on a regular basis.

One bit of equipment I've not bought yet is the dipping tank. An odd oversight perhaps, but I've kept looking for a nice old one on Ebay. So much of my existing equipment is old I'd like that to be old as well. Or I might just make one out of some nice old wood. I have a friend who would 3d print me a liner for it though. I may like things to look old, but I'm not an idiot, I don't want my expensive silver leaking out.....

I will no doubt need plenty of advice. I've accumulated decades of experience taking pictures with my 35mm SLR, which it turns out isn't much help. I only relatively recently found the time, after health issues forced early semi retirement on me, to move into home development, darkroom work and larger formats, such as my Hasselblad 500CM, for which I also have sheet film backs, and 4x5, I'm having so much fun with this stuff now. My fascination and pleasure exceeds my knowledge, but just as in the area where I am knowledgeable, Computer Science, the best way to learn can only be by doing and asking questions.