Gainers Original MC-sodium carbonate developer concentrated in glycerine

[Alan Townsend]

I never tried it.
You will get a better answer from Chat GPT if you ask it :
"Metol ascorbate film developers- what is the shelf life of the working solution."
Looks like 24-48 hrs depending on storage.

Alan, sorry to tell you of the foibles on Chat GPT. Way off. The sodium carbonate makes this developer extremely active at both processing film and self degenerating. Please use as soon as mixed for best results. I will be testing some print strength solutions using milder accelerators to improve tray life but will revert to e72 until I can do that.

 

[Alan Johnson]

OK, but one of Ryuji Suzuki's print developers with added salicylic acid and TEA was reported to last much longer. You may not care for these bolt on goodies though.

silvergrain chemicals

is anyone out there using the sivergrain products available on digital truth website.i am very interested in them due to the eco-friendly claim. a couple of questions.are they excellent products.and what are your experiences.i dont have a favorite paper yet so i am open to what papers work best...

www.photrio.com

 

[Alan Townsend]

OK, but one of Ryuji Suzuki's print developers with added salicylic acid and TEA was reported to last much longer. You may not care for these bolt on goodies though.

E72 has a tray life of 24 hours, good enough for me, but it has terrible shelf life. I can put the powders for a batch in little pill bottles, then mix with water as needed. The poor working life of MC-glycerol is about what I expected. Suzuki's print developers are way too complicated for me. From Gainers original 1993 chart, the "improved A" with 2.8g sodium bicarbonate + 1.55g sodium hydroxide per quart, or the "improved borax" with 1.7g sodium hydroxide + 6.1g borax per quart would give progressively more shelf life at the cost of lower activity. Double those amounts for print developer. For films these variation will take longer development times than the original sodium carbonate versions and also likely finer grain a the cost of acutance.

 

[Raghu Kuvempunagar]

I was just testiing this last night. For a 100:1 mix, the working life is very short. It's longer with the stronger mixes, and I'm using the full strength dose of sodium carbonate monohydrate. I see a density loss of about 0.12, 30 minutes after mixing. Density drops from 2.92 to 2.80 30 minutes after mixing. I suggest using the developer immediately after mixing. Last week, I was playing using a double strength mix for processing ortho litho, and the tray life was only about two hours. So here are my estimates.

1. 100:1 with 6 grams per liter sodium carbonate monohydrate 30 minutes
2. 100:1 with 3 grams per liter of same (effectively a 1:1 dilution) unknown, but likely a little longer
3. 50:1 with 6 grams per liter sodium carbonate monohydrate (stock) 1 hour
4. 25:1 with 12 grams per liter of same (this is a 2x for paper dev.) 2 hours

#1 was measured objectively and found at about my limit for density shift. #4 was subjectively measured through ortho litho density changes, but not directly a density change. #3 is just an estimate based on 1 and 3. The short working life is not a problem for roll film processing or sheet film on hangers, For tray processing, this would be a problem. As an ortho litho developer, #4 is good, but for prints a little on the weak side. The poor working life may be a problem for me, so I may revert to using e72 for a while. I will also experiment with other accelerators which will likely improve this.

Useful data. Thanks for sharing Alan.