Very specific question about D76 self life.

I'm not sure what your results actually tell you, other than that your D-76 wasn't totally dead.

In comparison to Kodak's recommendation for normally exposed Tri-X and freshly diluted (to 1:1) D-76 you:
a) added one stop of extra exposure; and
b) added 3/4 minute of extra development.

As the Massive Development chart includes data from a variety of sources, some of which may be suspect, I usually treat it with skepticism.

Your problem is that you don't know whether or not the age of the diluted developer resulted in a different result than if you had used freshly diluted D-76.

It would be just a bit inconvenient if you found it necessary to, each time, age your diluted D-76 for 5 days before it will give you your desired results.

In any event, I wish you the best of luck and lots of fun with this in the future.

One caution though - as scanning subjects are strictly off topic for APUG, you may get better results here if you leave those details out.

m1ckDELTA said:

Not a different question at all since that is the exact question I asked. Arrrgghh. Whatever.

---

Anyway, for those who read my OP and care Dead Link Removed with the following specs:
​

• 
  [*=2]RAW color scan from PIE XA and Vuescan using "Slide film" setting with no exposure lock or film base color lock.
  [*=2]Inverted from negative to positive in LR5. No other editing. No cropping.
  [*=2]Camera used is the Yashica Electro 35 GSN.
  [*=2]Film is Tri-X 400 exposed at 200 ASA and developed in 5 day old 1:1 D76 at 20° C for 10.5 minutes. Full processing chart is here.

I did some extreme bracketing; a sticky shutter released made me suspect a problem with the main switch assembly stop pad and one way to test it is with extreme bracketing. The resulting negatives indicate no mechanical or electronic exposure issues (user initiated ones were another matter).

In the future I'll use the exposure lock and film base color lock since it helps with consistency throughout the roll due to color cast caused by the film base. For the purposes of testing the D76 I wanted minimal post.

Perhaps someone will find some of this useful in some small way. Perhaps not.

Again, I really appreciate the well considered and topical insight.​

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In more ways than one, just about everybody here is trying to tell you, storing already diluted developer is not recommended. That is not a good idea. It is risky. Kodak tells you not to do it. No one here does it that way. Further, none of us have any data on diluted developer that is half full. You are, of course, welcome to do it anyway you wish. The result may be good, bad, or different each time.

If you are looking for "n day" type answer, and that is the only answer you'd accept, I don't think you are going to get it.

MattKing said:

One caution though - as scanning subjects are strictly off topic for APUG, you may get better results here if you leave those details out.

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Duly noted and thanks for the heads up. Begs the question, how do you folks here post your photographs if they're not scanned?

m1ckDELTA said:

Duly noted and thanks for the heads up. Begs the question, how do you folks here post your photographs if they're not scanned?

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Scanning for the limited purpose of sharing here is fine. And no-one (well, almost no-one here) is going to think less of you if you do use scanning for your own purposes.

It is discussion of scanning (plus all other non-traditional processes) that we intentionally avoid.

APUG is intended to be a vibrant resource for all those non-digital photographic pursuits ("analog") that in other parts of the internet tend to be submerged under talk about what is current and new.

Somehow, a forum that was intended to be narrowly focused has resulted in more than 1.5 million posts and, any day now, 70,000 registered members.

There is a much quieter but still valuable sister site - dpug.org - that is aimed at people who mix analog and digital interests. There are links to it at the top of the page.

Welcome to APUG

m1ckDELTA said:

Not a different question at all since that is the exact question I asked. Arrrgghh. Whatever.

---

Anyway, for those who read my OP and care​

Click to expand...

tkamiya said:

In more ways than one, just about everybody here is trying to tell you, storing already diluted developer is not recommended. That is not a good idea. It is risky. Kodak tells you not to do it. No one here does it that way. Further, none of us have any data on diluted developer that is half full. You are, of course, welcome to do it anyway you wish. The result may be good, bad, or different each time.

If you are looking for "n day" type answer, and that is the only answer you'd accept, I don't think you are going to get it.

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+1, exactly so,

The following paper may be of interest to those involved in the discussion on D-76 shelf life:

Storage life of photographic developers: Phenidone-ascorbic acid, and metol-hydroquinone types

What are the practical time limits for the individual darkroom?


http://www.udmercy.edu/crna/agm/phenvitc.htm

I learned about the idiosyncrasies of D76 a long time ago. Basically, if you want predictability, you need to either standardize on it just mixed,
or you need to divide up the solution into tightly sealed glass bottles and let them all "plateau" first. This means waiting a week to use any
of it, and using up the remaining fully sealed bottles within a few months. If you want 1:1, dilute with distilled water just before use, each
time.

Allen Friday said:

The following paper may be of interest to those involved in the discussion on D-76 shelf life:

Storage life of photographic developers: Phenidone-ascorbic acid, and metol-hydroquinone types

What are the practical time limits for the individual darkroom?


http://www.udmercy.edu/crna/agm/phenvitc.htm

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Very nice. I have a feeling the datum I'm looking for can be at least extrapolated from such a detailed analysis. I've been considering rolling my own developer as well so this will be a useful when the time come. Thanks.

el wacho said:

it does beg the question why Beutler's Part A at 50gr/Litre of sodium sulfite keeps well and D76 1:1 wouldn't...

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There's no Borax.

Ian