Have you compared D76H and Split D76?

[waynecrider]

Has anyone compared D76 H (or any other version) to split D76 (maybe Vestal's version) with any film, especially in 400iso. I like the convenience of split developers, but I would also like to stand or semi-stand the development. I'm looking to print out to 6x9 on the small end up to 18" wide. Film size is 2x3 and I want to shoot 400iso if possible, but I'm not sure about grain and resolution at the larger sizes in these forms of developer. Other developers such as Pyro or Xtol are not being considered. Thx.

 

[Ian Grant]

D76h is not very different to D76, it has a touch more Metol 2.5g to counteract the pH change from the 15g Boric acid. However being lower pH it may not work quite as well split.

Ian

 

[Gerald C Koch]

D-76h is intended as a one shot as it lacks any hydroquine to regenerate the metol as it is used. Its keeping properties are therefore less than for D-76. I see little advantage in its use as a divided developer and would suggest divided D-23 as a better choice.

 

[Ian Grant]

Jerry, D76h contains Hydroquinone:

Kodak D76h
Metol 2.5 g
Sodium Sulphite (anh) 100 g
Hydroquinone 5 g
Borax 2 g
Boric acid 15g
Water to 1 litre

It's one of the many Kodak variations of D76 published in the 1930's.

Ian

 

[Lee L]

Ian isn't stating it clearly, but he's drawing a distinction between an old Kodak formula D76h (lower case h), and what most others call D76H (upper case H), after Grant Haist. Ian prefers to call the Haist formula H76, which I've seen no one else do. The Haist formula is obviously what Jerry is referring to, with the capital H on the end, and as Jerry stated, has no hydroquinone. Vestal's divided D76H is a variation on the Haist formula.

-----------------------------
D76H (Haist)

750 ml water @ 125F
Metol 2.5 grams
Sodium sulfite 100 grams
Borax 2 grams
water to make 1 liter

-----------------------------
Divided D76H (Vestal)

Part A:
750 ml water @ 110F
Metol 3 grams
Sodium sulfite 50 grams
water to make 1 liter

Part B:
750 ml water @ 110F
Borax 5 grams
Sodium sulfite 50 grams
Water to make 1 liter

3 minutes in Part A
3-5 minutes in Part B


Lee

 

[Ian Grant]

Quite correct Lee, it's rather difficult when Kodak themselves published D76h, Haist's H76 is probably based more correctly on Kodak's un-numbered (there was a url link here which no longer exists) which was published by their Research team.

As Haist's formula was not published by Kodak it's better to call it H76 to distinguish if from Kodak D76h.

Ian

 

[Gerald C Koch]

To paraphrase a line from the film Amadeus "there are too many letters."

 

[Ian Grant]

To paraphrase a line from the film Amadeus "there are too many letters."

Too many variations of D76

Kodak seem to have spent about 15 years trying to improve the formula.

Ian

 

[waynecrider]

I read where the FDC rules out stand development with high speed films, so I expect my preferred ISO to be too high. I'm just looking to mix up a developer as needed and have it do double duty with the addition of chemicals for the divided version. I'm now wondering if D76H can even be used as a stand developer without the addition of glycin.
I can't find the decahydrate form of Borax for the D76H. Does it matter?

 

[Lee L]

20 Mule Team Borax from the laundry section at the grocery store is the decahydrate. I've heard people recommend against it as possibly impure, but have not heard of anyone reporting problems with it in developers. I have used it myself in both the clothes washing machine and in film developers.

I'm not sure that the dichroic fog mentioned in the FDC with some fast films and stand development is a common problem these days. You could always test. You could also use longer development times with reduced agitation, only once every 3-5 minutes, or at half, thirds, or quarters of development time.

Divided developers are self-limiting by design. You only get to use what developing agent is carried over from bath A to bath B.

BTW, Vestal's divided D76 was an attempt to recall a formula published by Paul Farber. Vestal didn't recall if the sodium sulfite went in bath A or bath B and couldn't locate the magazine article, so he just split the required 100 grams evenly between baths. Vestal also recommends 'about 10 minutes' in bath B in his book The Craft of Photography. The 3-5 minute recommendation is from Anchell's Darkroom Cookbook. Because of the self-limiting character of divided developers, there may not be a lot of difference in results from lengthened time in the second bath.

Lee

 

[waynecrider]

Thanks Lee. I'm going to gather the items needed and do some testing.

 

[Saganich]

Yes, my experience is towards the longer times in B. I found the tonal separation between mids and highlights to be unsatisfactory for the shorter times using TriX.

 

[waynecrider]

Yes, my experience is towards the longer times in B. I found the tonal separation between mids and highlights to be unsatisfactory for the shorter times using TriX.

That's good to know.

 

[Relayer]

my version of split d76 (there was a url link here which no longer exists)