mixing problem Kodak D-76.

Hello,

A few hours ago I mixed 2 packages of Kodak D-76 powder.
The first one I took 800 ml of 50*C water them mixed the powder and added to arrive at 1liter. The second one I took directly 950ml of 55*C water and mixed the powder.

I mixed both stocks in the same empty bottle of mineral water (cut open). The first mixture is almost transparent and the second is translucent! where could it come form? could it be that I contaminated the second mixture with a little bit of glue coming from the sticker of the bottle (i had removed it)? could it come from the way of mixing? or from the bottle?

And the most important question could it affect the developer?
Would it be safe to use this second mixture?

Thanks for your help.

Johan.

It could be just from the temp difference in the water, and entrained air being released, showing cloudy. Were the packages different in age? An older foil pack could have been damaged slightly allowing air to contaminate the powder.

How did you mix it? It happens to me sometimes when particles of powder doesn't dissolve completely, it shows milky translucent texture. It will eventually dissolve and become transparent. At least it should.

It is important to wait a little bit so that gases in water come off before adding any developer ingredients, because there is quite a bit of dissolved gas in tap water because of the pressure, and oxygen may compromise developer shelf life. You can see how the gases bubble out when you leave it for a while. At 50 deg C, this happens in just a few minutes.

This may not be your problem here, but just a reminder! When I erroneously mixed C-41 final rinse concentrate instantly in warm tap water that still was bubbling a lot, it produced a non-clear, gunky solution I had to discard. Haven't seen the same with developer but maybe it's possible.

Let it cool, and it should clear, if it does not, you may have a problem.

Mixed D-76 is clear white to slightly yellowish. If it's goes to brown, it's going bad, if it's cloudy, it's not completely mixed.

I've had similar things happen many times. The cure is usually about 5 more minutes of vigorous stirring. The problem is usually that the sodium sulfite does not dissolve a quickly as you would like. The great bulk of it goes into solution easily, but the last traces seem to take forever to dissolve.