Can I replace sodium sulfite by sodium carbonate in an developer?

[Color Photographer]

Can I replace the expensive sodium sulfite by the cheap sodium carbonate in film developers? What are the differences?

 

[Athiril]

They are different pH levels, and Sulfite acts as a preservative for the developer, without any preservative, most developers simply will not last stored.

Sulfite isnt expensive, where are you getting it from that makes it expensive?

 

[Color Photographer]

Thanks. Mostly I use the developer as one shot.

In Europe sodium sulfite cost about $45 for 1kg from chemistry suppliers!!!
Sodium carbonate only $3 at local stores.

I read that sodium sulfite acts as an silver solvent too.

But I am not sure if sodium carbonate too, or it is only an buffer.

 

[Photo Engineer]

You cannot remove Sulfite from any developer and have it work properly just as you cannot add too much and get it to work properly. For example, in color developers, too much sulfite can completely stop dye formation and too little will cause the developer to go bad quickly and the contrast will be too high.

PE

 

[Color Photographer]

I understand. Whats the price in the US?

Why some developers use sodium carbonate too?
How it acts?

 

[Photo Engineer]

Carbonate is a buffer and Sulfite is a preservative / buffer (in some cases) and a color balancing agent.

http://stores.photoformulary.com/-strse-809/Sodium-Sulfite,-Swan-Valley/Detail.bok

PE

 

[Dan Williams]

I understand. Whats the price in the US?

I bought 13 pounds of sodium sulfite for $18.98 in early Spring of this year.

Dan

 

[Color Photographer]

Why such differences in price?

 

[Photo Engineer]

Maybe because Potassium Sulfite is more common in Europe and it may be less expensive. IDK. I do know that you should restrict Potassium salt carryover into the fix as it will harm the fixation. Potassium salts should never be used in fixers.

PE

 

[Gerald C Koch]

The price of chemicals also depends on which grade you buy. Technical grade should be the cheapest while reagent grade would be close to the most expensive. There was once a photo grade which guaranteed that there were no photographically active impurities in the chemical. There is also a food grade for some chemicals like sodium sulfite which would be satisfactory for photo use.

 

[K-G]

45$ for 1 kg of sodium sulfite sounds very expensive even in a European country. If you buy from Wolfgang Moersch in Germany, you can get it at about 11$ for 1 kg , shipment not included. If you buy more chemicals than just a 1 kg package , I am quite sure you can get the shipment covered. Don't forget that Europe is not one single country ( yet ! ) and that the price difference can be considerable. I send you the link for Wolfgang's webpage. You will find sodium sulfite under Rohkemi .

Karl-Gustaf

http://www.moersch-photochemie.de/content/shop/sonstiges

 

[Ian Grant]

Sodium sulphite is not that expensive in Europe £18 (20 euros) for 5 Kilo's from a reputable photographic supplier in London. I was paying much less than 45 euro's per 25 kg bag not that long ago and the price hasn't risen significantly.

You need to look for a decent supplier.

Ian

 

[Роберт]

In Europe Sodium Carbonate you can indeed buy as Deca-Hydrate even in most super markets for Eur. 0,70 / kg.

To re-calculate:
1 mol Na2CO3 = 106g
1 mol 10.H2O.Na2CO3 = 286g

Using decahydrate Soda you need: 286/106 * x g.


Sodium Sulfite you can buy from the swimming pool suppliers. It's a bit more expensive say Eur. 5,00 / kg.

The prices will rise dramatically if you're buying in chemical pro analyse grade. Technical grade is already sufficient for most photographical use.

 

[Athiril]

Why such differences in price?

You're buying from a chemical supplier is probably why.

 

[Color Photographer]

Thanks

Does anybody know what is the best price for 1kg Sodium Bromide
and 1kg Metol ?

The best I found was $20 for 1kg Sodium Bromide and $80 for Metol.

Are these o.k.?

 

[Photo Engineer]

I gave you a reference here before. A search on your own is easy and will serve you better because prices and shipping vary so much and we don't know where you are!

http://stores.photoformulary.com/-strse-632/SODIUM-BROMIDE,Swan-Valley/Detail.bok

http://stores.photoformulary.com/-strse-511/METOL,-ELON/Detail.bok

Based on your fundamental question, I suggest that you stop all work until you can read a good textbook such as Haist..

PE

 

[Color Photographer]

Today the first Book "The Film Developing Cookbook" by Anchell & Troop arrived and I am waiting for "Photographic Chemistry" by Eaton, "The Darkroom Cookbook" by Anchell, "The Negative" by Ansel Adams, "The Chemistry of Photgraphy" by Rogers, and the "Photographic Processing Chemistry" by Mason

I am looking for some more books too. Is the reprint of Haist still available?

Here in Europe the prices for chemistry differ very much and not all chemistry suppliers want to sell certain chemicals only to companies or are very expensive.

It is very difficult to get,to example, potassium bromide. They dont accept my order. They say it is dangerous stuff to sell it to anybody, but agreed to sell Metol and maybe some Sodium Bromide.:confused:

There are different quality grades (98%-99,5%) around too. The prices I mentioned are the best offers I found yet and seems not to be bad, except the price for the Sodium Sulfite.