It's my turn...Harvey's 777

[Jay DeFehr]

What PF sells as Harvey's Defender 777 is the Germaine's Fine Grain Developer formula:

Germain Fine Grain Formula

Distilled water (125° F) 700ml

Metol 7g

Sodium sulfite 70g

Paraphenylene Diamine (base) 7g

Glycin 7g

Cold distilled water to make 1 liter

Use without dilution. Replenish with same formula.


Why they chose to call it Harvey's instead of Germaine's is anyone's guess.

[jnantz]

i spoke with someone at bluegrass this morning ...
they do still make and distribute "777"
they are waiting for supplies at the moment ...

[Mark Sampson]

It can't be the magic bullet if you can actually purchase it...

[patrickjames]

I gave the Bluegrass 777 a go a few years ago. It gives really nice tones, but isn't great on the sharpness. Even though they say it doesn't have glycin in it doesn't mean it doesn't have glycin under another name. Remember the formula is from around WWII when glycin was called other things. In the end, I didn't think it was worth the hassle or expense, plus I am a stickler for acutance which is lacking a bit. Like I said though, it gave great tonality as most solvent developers do. The story behind the developer is awfully romantic though. To think about all of those now famous photographers sitting around in NY talking about and using Defender 777!

From what I understand about chemistry these days, it seems that Defender 777 could be similar to D-23 with PPD added to increase the activity of the Metol at the low pH and some buffering agent(s) could be added as well. It definitely has PPD in it. I was fascinated by PPD a few years ago and did all kinds of whacky experiments with it. I did end up liking Edwal 12 and plan on using it again the next time I place an order with PF and can get some more PPD. I normally use Rodinal and Pyrocat-P. Of all of the other developers I have tried over the years, Edwal 12 was the most interesting.

[sun of sand]

I read 777 took 7 years to get right and be put out on the market

awful lot of 7s in the story

[Lynn Jones]

Hi Wayne,

My long time friend Ed Buffaloe, Unblinking Eye, uncovered the formula for Harvey's Panthermic 777 some time ago. However, I'm old enough that I used the stuff in the 1950's. It is a good general purpose developer. The interesting thing about this is that for practical purposes all developers are "Panthermic". 777 is a perfectly good developer, but in my experience certainly no better than several others.

Several developers that I like and that hold their speed, have reasonable grain, and maintain sharpness include, MCM 100, D76, UFG, Acufine, Microphen, Diafine/other split developers for medium speed films. For high speed films (mostly 400ASA/ISO) I like UFG, D76, Acufine, Microphen, Diafine/split.

Lynn

[Mark Sampson]

I first heard of 777 when I was 20 years old and took a workshop with the photojournalist Charles Harbutt (who went on to become president of Magnum). Of course everyone wanted to know his technical secrets. Even then the developer was hard to come by, there was one mail-order source in Kentucky...sound familiar? As it turned out I never tried it. But you can see how 777 works with 35mm Tri-X if you look up his book 'Travelog'. Harbutt talks at length about 777 in the book 'Darkroom 2', published by Lustrum Press around 1980 and available used. In fact that's a fascinating book for any darkroom worker.