Kodak D-96A

Gerald, it would appear that this developer goes back to at least the early 1990's when Kodak published a document on Environmental process development, they din't name it as D96a rather just as an Ascorbic acid version of D96, this is the same in the MSDS sheets and hazard labelling which call it D96 Ascorbic acid. The formula is identical (both using Potassium Bromide) except for the substitution of 2 g L-ascorbic acid for the 1.5g of Hydroquinone.

Tests of the two versions showed that the graininess was identical, the ascorbic acid version gave a slightly lower D-max and that increasing the Ascobic acid level did not have the expected results (of increased activity). In addition the acsorbic version oxidised faster so didn't keep as well.

Kodak did publish some cine film developers with the option to use Potassium or Sodium Bromide giving the alternative weights needed.

Ian

Hi Ian,

The formula that I have appeared on the Kodak website and it appears in my notes as D-96a. That name seems to be the one used on the website. The date on the backup file is 10/11/2004 but the original file is probably about 2 years older.

Since this formula contains no chelating agent to protect the ascorbic acid its use is probably not recommended.

Jerry

The references I have to Kodak's D96 Ascorbic Acid developer indicate quite clearly that it pre-dates Xtol which is interesting, and was published in an article in 1993 . (It may be older than that of course).

It was an ec-friendly alternative to D96 but it wasn't a replacement and test showed it wasn't quite as good.

Ian