Kodak D78 developer

Lachlan Young · Mar 1, 2006

Does anyone have any ideas as to dilutions/ development times for the Kodak D78 formula?
AFAIK the formula goes as follows for 1 litre stock solution:
Sodium Sulphite - 3g
Glycin - 3g
Sodium Carbonate - 6g

I imagine this formula would have similar properties to the Agfa 8 developer but with some differences - most notably in terms of coarser grain due to reduced sulphite and I think the Sodium Carbonate would also affect the 'look' of the negatives.

All help much appreciated,

Lachlan

dancqu · Mar 2, 2006

It might go 1:1. If testing allow 1/2 liter per roll.
A little more sulfite would help. I've processed with
as little as 0.9 grams sulfite in 1/2 liter. The developer
was yellow coming out of the tank. Film OK. Dan

df cardwell · Mar 2, 2006

You need to adjust the carbonate rather than dilution.

It is close to right, depending on where you want your highlights to go.

I'd describe the grain as 'fine' rather than 'coarse', implying the classic understanding of fine grain being regular rather than mushy and clumpy.

It's an old formula, and the film you are using might prefer a different balance.

A very nice look. At one time, it was a motion picture developer.

Kodak's time and temp ( c 1940 ) was 65?, 15 - 25 minutes.

Crawley made the best glycin developer EVER in the '60s: FX2.

It manages highlights for our current films better than the old formulae,
makes perfectly useful curves, and the wee bit of metol gives 2 to 3 times the shadow speed of glycin developers. Since metol and glycin are not super additive, the glycin signature ( long, perfect highlights ) are NOT hurt in FX-2.

For T-grain films, don't use the Pinakryptol.

d

Gerald Koch · Mar 2, 2006

It is meant to be used full strength.

Lachlan Young · Mar 2, 2006

df cardwell said:
You need to adjust the carbonate rather than dilution.

It is close to right, depending on where you want your highlights to go.

I'd describe the grain as 'fine' rather than 'coarse', implying the classic understanding of fine grain being regular rather than mushy and clumpy.

It's an old formula, and the film you are using might prefer a different balance.

A very nice look. At one time, it was a motion picture developer.

Kodak's time and temp ( c 1940 ) was 65?, 15 - 25 minutes.

Crawley made the best glycin developer EVER in the '60s: FX2.

It manages highlights for our current films better than the old formulae,
makes perfectly useful curves, and the wee bit of metol gives 2 to 3 times the shadow speed of glycin developers. Since metol and glycin are not super additive, the glycin signature ( long, perfect highlights ) are NOT hurt in FX-2.

For T-grain films, don't use the Pinakryptol.

d

I was just wondering what, in your opinion, are other Glycin developers worth trying - I know you have mentioned Edwal 10 in the past. The reason for the flurry of questions about Glycin based developers is that I was going to order 100 grammes of Glycin from the Photographer's Formulary and was trying to work out which developers I should try before the stuff goes off!

As usual all help much appreciated!

Lachlan

Tom Hoskinson · Mar 2, 2006

Lachlan Young said:
I was just wondering what, in your opinion, are other Glycin developers worth trying - I know you have mentioned Edwal 10 in the past. The reason for the flurry of questions about Glycin based developers is that I was going to order 100 grammes of Glycin from the Photographer's Formulary and was trying to work out which developers I should try before the stuff goes off!

As usual all help much appreciated!

Lachlan

I would mix up some of Crawley's FX2 - I'd Follow Ole's advice and mix a concentrated FX2 stock solution.

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

dancqu · Mar 2, 2006

Lachlan Young said:
I was just wondering what, in your opinion,
are other Glycin developers worth trying - Lachlan

Had it come to mind I'm sure others would have
mentioned Ansco 130 and A. Adams' version of
same. His version allows varying contrast with
Graded papers. I'd expect it to work the
same with VC papers.

Edwal's 102 is a single agent glycin only paper
developer. I've no experience with it and wonder
if any have. Dan

nworth · Mar 2, 2006

I've actually tried this one. The original recommended using it undiluted and developing 15 to 25 minutes at 65F (18C). It gave decent results with some old thick emulsion films. I tried it with Eastman Background-X back in the 50s with very acceptable results. I tried it again more recently with a couple of rolls of FP-4, and the results were pretty terrible. I wasn't encouraged enough to experiment more to really find the best dilution and development times. My guess is that modern films may work better with 1+1 or 2+3 dilution.

Tom Hoskinson · Mar 3, 2006

Ansco 130 is an excellent choice for mixing IMHO. Ansco 130 is a great print developer with a long shelf life and working life. Diluted, Ansco 130 makes an excellent film developer as well.

With Kodak TMAX 100, I dilute Ansco 130 stock 1:20 with water and develop semi-stand for 26 minutes at 22C.

With Efke 25, I dilute Ansco 130 stock 1:20 with water and develop semi-stand for 18 minutes at 22C.

Kodak D78 developer

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency