D-76 1:1 question

I've recently started using D-76 1:1 in a Jobo tank on a uniroller base. It holds 5 35mm or 3 120 rolls and has a max capacity of 2100ml. The D-76 tech sheet says you need 473ml developer per roll of film. That means I need to fit 2365ml into 2100ml.

However, the same paragraph also says "If you process one 135-36 rollin a 237ml tank or 2 135-36 rolls in a 473ml tank, increase development time by 10%." I take that to mean I can get away with 1200ml for 5 rolls. Being a cheapskate, that sounds pretty good. I assume the price will be more grain. But in this case, I'm developing Tmax 100, which might look good with a little more grain. Am I missing something? Has anybody tried this?

Thanks in advance!

You will find a big difference of opinion here.

The people who read instructions and calculate and intellectualize things will tell you that there needs to be a minimum quantity of developing chemicals per film surface unit, and Kodak is specifying that, and that if you use less, it will be a certain and complete disaster.

Against that are those of us who have been doing it for 50 years, and never once in all that time saw any reason not to put four 35mm x 36exp rolls in a one quart tank and develop that way because why would god have given us four roll, one quart tanks if it wasn't going to work? And it does, so there.

So you can choose: listen to the pointy headed think-not-do group, or to the ones who actually have half a century of experience. It's really your choice.

The correct answer, I think, is to what you want, then mess with times and temperature and exposure until you get the results you want to have. That is ultimately the process that all of us have had to go through until we arrived at something that worked for what we like to see in our results. It's not the same for everyone, and burning a little film to work it out to your satisfaction is part of the process.

Instructions are just a starting point, not a destination.

Pardon me while I put my 2 pointy cents in this .

The fact that Kodak tells you that you need to adjust your times to take into account the slightly smaller amount of developer you can squeeze into the tank, is a sign that the capacity recommendations don't contain much wiggle room.

The real question isn't whether or not 1200 ml of D76 1:1 will work for 5 rolls. It is whether or not you can and will obtain results that are of the same character and quality as 2400 ml will, irrespective of what sorts of scenes you are photographing.

It is important to remember that as you get closer and closer to the capacity limits, whether or not the scene photographed is mostly light or mostly dark may make a difference.

I would recommend filling the tank to the level of developer that makes you comfortable and adjusting the time. 10% longer seems reasonable. I don't think you will pay any penalty in terms of grain.

I often develop with less than the recommended D-76 stock solution per unit area of film because my 32 ounce tank holds 4 rolls of film.

I also often find my developing time for TMAX 100 35mm to meet ASA contrast is around 13 minutes and a half in D-76 1:1.

But I don't find my time is cut in half when I develop short strips of film.

If I remember correctly, D76 has a capacity of ten rolls per litre (stock solution, unreplenished). On that basis, only 100ml of stock is required per roll.

Using the above as a base, five rolls of 35mm at a dilution of 1:1 will need one litre (1,000ml) in total and three rolls of 120 would need 600ml.

mdarnton said:

You will find a big difference of opinion here.

The people who read instructions and calculate and intellectualize things will tell you that there needs to be a minimum quantity of developing chemicals per film surface unit, and Kodak is specifying that, and that if you use less, it will be a certain and complete disaster.

Click to expand...

I am a bit disappointed. I was really just trolling, hoping to lead to a couple invokes of Godwin's law, with some long-term member completely melting down and committing a grand exit and asking Sean to delete all his images and posts. Oh, well. Maybe next time.

Matt, Bill, and Paul - Thanks for your help. I think I'll go ahead and do it, but after reading John Sexton's 1987 article about TMax, I wonder what it's going to look like. For example:

NOTE: If you use D-76 developer be sure to use FRESH D-76 (not some that has been sitting around in a half-full bottle for a month!)

and:

T-MAX is much more sensitive to any variables in your process, planned or unplanned, than most other films. DO NOT USE T-MAX IF YOU ARE NOT CONSISTENT IN YOUR PROCESSING PROCEDURES. You MUST have repeatable work habits and procedures.

This ought to be interesting.

Use stock... it's faster and you don't have to worry about stuff like this. And you can re-use it.