D 76 mix at home

Abhi · Sep 3, 2018

Hello, so i made a 3 liter mix of chemicals last month or a bit before that.
the chemicals were,
Metol-4.5g
S Sulphite- 250 g
Hydroq-12.5g
Borax-5g
water -2.5L
Because the chemis were a bit old so made it only 3 Ltrs instead of 3.8 as suggested.
And i had only 10 g of hydroquinone so i added 2.5 g of metol more..suggested by someone i knw.
So the question is what kind of negatives do we usually get if more metol is in the mixture.
My negatives dont look contrasty and sharp...

Any suggestions? experience?

Ian Grant · Sep 3, 2018

I'm confused where the 3.8 litre and 3 litres comes in. I think the 3.8 litres might refer to a US packaged version.

Your maths is right for 2.5 litres, Kodak D76h uses slightly more Metol but the normal amount of Hydroquinoe, as long as you adjust development times if needed you'll be fine.

Ian

Anon Ymous · Sep 3, 2018

4,5g of Metol are good for 2,25l of developer, not even 2,5l.

Raghu Kuvempunagar · Sep 3, 2018

Anon Ymous said:
4,5g of Metol are good for 2,25l of developer, not even 2,5l.

I think he used 7g of Metol and 10g of Hydroquinone for 3l of developer solution.

@Abhi: if u had only 10g of Hydroquinone, best thing to do was to prepare 2l of developer solution using 10g HQ, 4g each of Metol & Borax and 200g of Sulphite.

If you dont have HQ with you, maybe you can try get your current developer solution close to DK-50 and use it. Experts can confirm.

Rudeofus · Sep 3, 2018

I have no idea where you got your incorrect D-76 formula from, D-76 is one of the most common and most frequently published formulas out there. The basic recipe for D-76 is 2g Metol, 5g HQ, 100g Sodium Sulfite and 2g Borax for 1 liter. For 2.5 liters D-76 you'd need 5g Metol, 12.5g HQ, 250g Sodium Sulfite and 5g Borax.

Your mix would be almost correct for 2.5l except for the Metol, but for some reason you also made 3 liters developer instead of 2.5, i.e. your developer is more dilute than actual D-76. Little wonder - your negs lack contrast. There is nothing wrong with diluted D-76, some people go all the way to 1:3 with good results, but you have to extend development times to compensate for dilution.

There are basically two ways to ensure good results with high reliability: either go the beaten path and replicate existing formulas/procedures to the letter, or mix up your own stuff at will. In the latter case you have to do the testing yourself in order to ensure good performance and correct negative contrast.

Abhi · Sep 3, 2018

Ian Grant said:
I'm confused where the 3.8 litre and 3 litres comes in. I think the 3.8 litres might refer to a US packaged version.

Your maths is right for 2.5 litres, Kodak D76h uses slightly more Metol but the normal amount of Hydroquinoe, as long as you adjust development times if needed you'll be fine.

Ian

Thanks Ian, yes US packaged version
Will try different timings now and ratios too

Abhi · Sep 3, 2018

Rudeofus said:
I have no idea where you got your incorrect D-76 formula from, D-76 is one of the most common and most frequently published formulas out there. The basic recipe for D-76 is 2g Metol, 5g HQ, 100g Sodium Sulfite and 2g Borax for 1 liter. For 2.5 liters D-76 you'd need 5g Metol, 12.5g HQ, 250g Sodium Sulfite and 5g Borax.

Your mix would be almost correct for 2.5l except for the Metol, but for some reason you also made 3 liters developer instead of 2.5, i.e. your developer is more dilute than actual D-76. Little wonder - your negs lack contrast. There is nothing wrong with diluted D-76, some people go all the way to 1:3 with good results, but you have to extend development times to compensate for dilution.

There are basically two ways to ensure good results with high reliability: either go the beaten path and replicate existing formulas/procedures to the letter, or mix up your own stuff at will. In the latter case you have to do the testing yourself in order to ensure good performance and correct negative contrast.

Thank you Rudeofus
Will test more in coming days

Abhi · Sep 3, 2018

Raghu Kuvempunagar said:
I think he used 7g of Metol and 10g of Hydroquinone for 3l of developer solution.

@Abhi: if u had only 10g of Hydroquinone, best thing to do was to prepare 2l of developer solution using 10g HQ, 4g each of Metol & Borax and 200g of Sulphite.

If you dont have HQ with you, maybe you can try get your current developer solution close to DK-50 and use it. Experts can confirm.

Thank you Raghu
Would like to know more on DK50

John Wiegerink · Sep 3, 2018

Abhi said:
Thank you Raghu
Would like to know more on DK50

You can do a search here on Kodak DK50 and you'll find that it was discussed several times. I have used it myself and it's very versatile. JohnW

Ian Grant · Sep 4, 2018

It's worth looking at the variations of D76/ID-11 here.

Ian

Abhi · Sep 4, 2018

John Wiegerink said:
You can do a search here on Kodak DK50 and you'll find that it was discussed several times. I have used it myself and it's very versatile. JohnW

Thank you John

Abhi · Sep 4, 2018

Ian Grant said:
It's worth looking at the variations of D76/ID-11 here.

Ian

Will certainly have a look
Thank you Ian

Abhi · Sep 5, 2018

Negs are very thin so to say, what can be the reason? Temp/water/chems/time

Raghu Kuvempunagar · Sep 5, 2018

Abhi said:
Negs are very thin so to say, what can be the reason? Temp/water/chems/time

There's some confusion about the amount of chemicals you used to prepare the developer solution. Can u tell again how many grams of Metol and HQ you actually used?

Abhi · Sep 5, 2018

Raghu Kuvempunagar said:
There's some confusion about the amount of chemicals you used to prepare the developer solution. Can u tell again how many grams of Metol and HQ you actually used?

Yes, Metol-7g & Hq-10 for 3.5lts of mix
Last week we were developing a roll of film and the friend who i was with suggested maybe the temperature is not right.
we developed a roll then and after that i developed another roll of fresh Kentemere 400. grayish sort of negs..looks like no contrast at all

Raghu Kuvempunagar · Sep 5, 2018

Abhi said:
Yes, Metol-7g & Hq-10 for 3.5lts of mix

I'm not sure it's worth trying to experiment with your current formula.

Your best bet is to procure HQ and add the right amount of it to your current developer solution to bring it as close as possible to D76.

Abhi · Sep 6, 2018

Raghu Kuvempunagar said:
I'm not sure it's worth trying to experiment with your current formula.

Your best bet is to procure HQ and add the right amount of it to your current developer solution to bring it as close as possible to D76.

yes, you right. i am going to dump the stock that i have mixed. Will be making a new mix as per need 35/120...
Thank you Raghu
Regards from Kathmandu, Nepal

Rudeofus · Sep 6, 2018

Abhi said:
yes, you right. i am going to dump the stock that i have mixed. Will be making a new mix as per need 35/120...

There are two options for you:

If developer ingredients are cheap and easy to get, then get the remaining chems. You know how much you added and how you'd had to add to make a real three liter batch of D-76. Add the difference and be done with it.
If developer is hard to get and/or expensive, invest a roll of film to determine correct development time with the soup you have. Take a series of correctly exposed shots on moderately fresh film, then cut take clips of three or four pics at a time and do a few test developments. Start with double the original dev time and optimize from there.

Whichever method works better for you, it will give you decent results and waste the minimum amount of time, effort and resources.

JPD · Sep 7, 2018

I poured out a year old Agfa 44 developer (similar to D-76) today from a half-filled bottle and was surprised that it still was clear as water. It could have been usable.

Ian Grant · Sep 7, 2018

JPD said:
I poured out a year old Agfa 44 developer (similar to D-76) today from a half-filled bottle and was surprised that it still was clear as water. It could have been usable.

For US members Agfa 44 is the German Recepte (formula) is also known as Agfa Ansco (GAF) 17.

Current D76 has been reformulated reducing the Sulphite which means increased activity, it appears that it's also slightly weaker to compensate. This reformulation appears not to have been fully appreciated. It's not a new re-formulation but I only spotted it when a fellow member from Australia PM'ed me a couple of days ago and Kodak may have altered the buffering again. but not the reduced Sulphite.

Ian

D 76 mix at home

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