Yay - my first home made D-72 works!

[tkamiya]

Mixed D-72 from scratch for the first time. All I have to say is, YAY IT WORKS!

That's all. I'm really happy about it.

 

[Griz]

I had the same feeling the first time that mine worked, congrats!

Griz

Mixed D-72 from scratch for the first time. All I have to say is, YAY IT WORKS!

That's all. I'm really happy about it.

 

[Paul Howell]

Good work. Do you find any savings in home brew? I have mixed my own chemistry in the distant past, but when I added up the cost including shipping it did not seem to much of savings. Might be that in the old days a lot of chem supplies shops carried photographic supplies but now need to order from out state.

 

[tkamiya]

Do you find any savings in home brew?

I'm not sure. I mixed my own this time because pre-mixed bags are really expensive in 1 liter bags and 1 gallon bags last too long. This way, I can mix as much or as little as I need. Plus, I get to mix warm tone, or ones for different uses. I bought my raw chemistry from various places when I had to order something else. Surprisingly, B&H and Adorama carries them (they all come from Photographers Formulary) and shippings are much cheaper.

 

[Griz]

Hi PDH, I don't imagine there is a lot of savings in home brewing D72, it's more for the satisfaction of getting good results from scratch mixed chemicals. First time I did it was out of necessity. Had picked up a complete darkroom from a former APUG'er for $85, and the raw chemicals came with the lot. There was also an unmixed packet of Dektol, so I mixed it up, and it came out dark brown. Scrapped the Dektol, and moved on with D72 from there.

Griz

Good work. Do you find any savings in home brew? I have mixed my own chemistry in the distant past, but when I added up the cost including shipping it did not seem to much of savings. Might be that in the old days a lot of chem supplies shops carried photographic supplies but now need to order from out state.

 

[tkamiya]

OK, I figured it out.

My per 1 liter of D-72 costs me $2.06 in raw ingredients, excluding shipping. If I were to make a gallon of it, it will cost me $7.83 which will be higher than Kodak's bagged version at $5.79. My high cost is probably because I'm buying chemicals via the most expensive route, retail photography stores. I'm sure if you buy by the barrels, the cost will be substantially less.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

www.techcheminc.com for developing agents, benzotriazole, potassium bromide, etc.

Try www.chemistrystore.com for such things as sodium carbonate, sodium sulfite, borax, sodium thiosulfate, etc. No developing agents here but prices are very good. Do not be put off that they also sell soap making supplies.

 

[wblynch]

The day may not be far off when commercialy packaged developers are no longer available. It's good to be self sufficient.