Great, only bought d-76

I got all my chems that I ordered today and learned the valuable lesson of thinking before ordering.

1. I ordered stop bath solution. I remembered in high school that we just used water, but I figured what the heck. Then I found out (today) that it is just basically acetic acid. I have distilled vinegar in the cupboard...... D'oh

2. I ordered D-76, and was looking at the package and it has no mention of paper development times. I could have sworn that I used d-76 in high school on paper too.....Apparently this isn't the case.

So.....After some somewhat fruitless uses of the search function here I couldn't find a thread about the possibility of using D-76 on paper too.

I did find some info on the web that it would work but the contrast would be low.

Of course, I forgot to order tongs and an easel, but I figured that I would get a used easel after looking at prices of new ones.

Anyway, I guess the point of this post is to ask if I can get any reasonable results using D-76 to develop paper? Is it even worth it to use it to test my safe light and make contact prints from negatives?

TIA

MolBasser

I would just get Dektol or Ilford Multigrade for your paper, and one other thing I want to say is that you did not waste any real money on the stop bath. My $7 bottle of stop bath has lasted me over three years so far, and it is not even half gone. At a buck a year (not even a dime per month), I don't have a problem with getting the "fancy" genuine Kodak Indicator Stop Bath.

search harder

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Thanks, for some reason the search function didn't pull up that post when I used the search terms "paper develop d-76"

Hmm...

MolBasser

I wouldn't bother wasting any D76 for print development. It will be impractical for that purpose, except for some special cases, and it will have much lower capacity. As 2F/2F said, get some Dektol, or Ilford Multigrade, which are pretty common and you'll be fine. Indicator stop bath is not a bad idea either; there's nothing wrong with using one and the indicator is there to tell you when it's exhausted. And I don't believe that you can save money by using white vinegar. Acetic acid stop baths are about 1,5 to 2% solutions. Do the math to find out if it's cheaper or not.

Good Results With Prints Using D-76

It rates as a low contrast developer for prints but will
deliver good blacks. It will need to be carbonated other
wise development times are very long. Dan

dancqu said:

It rates as a low contrast developer for prints but will
deliver good blacks. It will need to be carbonated other
wise development times are very long. Dan

Click to expand...

But D76 has no bromide, so adding a bit too much of carbonate could be problematic, no?

Yes you use D-76 for prints but the times are painfully s=l-o-w-w-w compared to Dektol which is fairly fast with most RC paper finishing around 90sec. and FB around 3min. Of course these times vary by paper brand, and dilution.

Rick

Definitely don't use D-76 for paper development. To do so as a beginner would be tantamount to using kumquats to make orange juice.

In short, as others have said, you can use D76 for paper development, but it's not very practical except for special purposes. Ordinary paper developers are also much cheaper than D76.
You'd be much better off if you wait for delivery of some e.g. Dektol so that you get your printing times and evetything else "normal". (Using a film developer for papers affects both paper exposure time and paper development time apart from the above mentioned paper contrast. So you will have to redo all your calibration anyhow. This also goes for testing safelights etc. as the exposed time is much longer with a slow and soft working developer.)

//Björn

Yeah, I ordered Dektol today, well, actually I will after I get a new card at the bank. Some rat !@#%@ in London stole my card number and tried to buy a $3,000 dollar bike with it.

Finally the victim of identity theft...... Oh, the joy.

At least I can develop my negatives today, after I get some distilled water to rinse the film with (my friend reminded me to beware of hard water spots on drying film).

MolBasser

MolBasser said:

Yeah, I ordered Dektol today, well, actually I will after I get a new card at the bank. Some rat !@#%@ in London stole my card number and tried to buy a $3,000 dollar bike with it.

Finally the victim of identity theft...... Oh, the joy.

At least I can develop my negatives today, after I get some distilled water to rinse the film with (my friend reminded me to beware of hard water spots on drying film).

MolBasser

Click to expand...

Did you get any Photo-Flo for your film?

Maybe you remember using D-72. D72 is a paper developer.

I Was a Little Quick

Anon Ymous said:

But D76 has no bromide, so adding a bit too much of
carbonate could be problematic, no?

Click to expand...

I'd think that the case. Print developers of at least
the metol-hydroquinone type do include bromide. D-76
is a metol-hydroquinone film developer. The hydroquinone
is not active due to the low ph. It does serve to regenerate
the metol. Metol is a very energetic developing agent.
I believe it to be responsible for the production of
the chemically caused fog in prints.

If D-76 is made more active, energetic, with the addition
of a carbonate the hydroquinone does then take part in
the development of the image. Contrast goes up. So,
D-76 is without carbonate a very slow low contrast
developer but with carbonate a near Dektol speed
and contrast developer.

I've tested a few papers and found that some need
bromide and some can do without. Prints come up
more quickly and need less exposure in the
absence of bromide. For those that Home-
brew testing for required bromide might
save a lot of time in exposing and
processing.

I'm NOT promoting D-76 as a print developer. It
is loaded way beyond it's need as a print developer
with sodium sulfite and the borax as a ph stabilizer
serves no purpose. That later with a ? mark. If
film why not paper? Perhaps the very high
sulfite content? Dan

Two years ago I switched from Kodak paper developers to Ethos LPD, and the results were so much improved. I highly recommend it (available from Freestyle of course).

As for using a film developer for paper, just spring for proper developer, and make your life much easier.

try it

dancqu said:

I'm NOT promoting D-76 as a print developer.

Click to expand...

try it, you'll like it

I had great results using used d-76 to print some prints that would otherwise be challenging to turn out nice

1. clear ice with bubbles and a hole through it sitting on the laundry sink edge

2. small twig on white snow after sunset