Cloudy D76

[SL66 Shooter]

Hi,

I mixed up a fresh batch of D76 yesterday (3L at 50C, mixing till dissolved then .8L at tap temp to complete). However, the liquid is still pretty cloudy, and despite some pretty vigorous agitation it is not clearing a day later...

Can I use this to develop films as normal?

Jeremy

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

Test it. An exposed piece (1" or so) of 35mm B&W film should quickly blacken when you immerse it in the developer.

The cloudiness could be indicating that you have very hard tap water (calcium, magnesium salts, etc). Your tap water may also be full of air. Neither of these conditions is fatal, though hard tap water can leave scum on your film.

 

[Mick Fagan]

I use D76 a lot and nearly always mix 1 litre at a time.

Recently I also had a cloudy like solution which didn't go away by the next day. I was interested but not perplexed about the cloudiness, which was mild.

Anyway I used the solution and it was alright. I did think about the reasoning of the cloudiness and wasn't too sure whether it was the slightly hotter hot water I used, about 55ºC as opposed to about the 45ºC I normally use.

I use hot water straight out of my small electric HWS in the darkroom. I do believe that day the water may have been slightly aerated. Other than that I cannot think of any reason for the cloudiness.

We have quite soft water here as well.

I would test your developer on an unimportant piece of film like Tom suggested.

Mick.

 

[bdial]

Doing a test would certainly be a good idea, but it's probably not a problem. Back in my days as a military photographer, about every other 5 gal batch we mixed came out cloudy, I suppose due to the water. It never caused any problems with the film though. Mix at the recommended temperature, and don't use an aerator on the faucet, it should be fine.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I seem to remember that ID-11 is limited to 40C mixing temperature. Is D76 different?

 

[Curt]

Try using distilled water and don't shake it to death, instead use a bucket and a paddle to mix it. You could do a snip test, taking a piece of film cut off the end of the roll and developing it or a test roll or sheet. If it turns out ok then fine, if it's not right then mix fresh chemicals with distilled water.

 

[Curt]

Of course there is always Rodinal.

Best luck,

Curt

 

[nworth]

I've had this happen a number of times. There are two possibilities. Hard water has already been mentioned. You can take care of that with distilled (or deionized) water or maybe with a gram of sodium hexametaphosphate. The other possibility is that one of the chemicals did not get fully dissolved. D-76 is actually quite fussy this way, and I have had it happen to me several times. As a result, I have become stir crazy. The directions say to mix D-76 at 125F (52C). That helps to get the chemicals dissolved fully without much pain. But many of us mix it at a lower temperature so we can use it immediately. If you are one of this group beware. In any case, dissolve each ingredient completely before you add the next. Look into the solution and see if there is any deposit on the bottom of flakes floating in the liquid. If there are, stir again for at least another minute. In fact, stir for at least a half a minute after you think the ingredient is fully dissolved.