PDA

View Full Version : D76 Minimal amount of developer



monkeymon
3-Feb-2010, 15:14
Hello

I just looked tech sheet of D76, i was amazed about the amount kodak recommend to be used, it says (about 1+1):

"You can develop one 135-3 roll (80 square inches)
in 473 mL (16 ounces) or two rolls together in 946 mL
(one quart) of diluted developer."

What do you think of this?

I develop 2 x 135/120 rolls in 250ml of 1+1 diluted, and 4 sheets of 4x5 in the same amount, in my jobo. Am i nuts or kodak? Does this affect the quality of my negatives?

ki6mf
3-Feb-2010, 16:16
I develop with D 76 and shoot 4X5 film. My dilution is 1/3 developer and 2/3 water. After doing film speed ISO tests I determined for my gear, your will most likely be different, a 14 minute development time is normal and I shoot at 300 ISO.

The advantage of a diluted developer is that if you shoot the zone system and want to alter development time to change contrast having 2 minutes per zone/stop/N- or N+ time period lets the weaker solution work without cutting your highlights. Also if you have a very over exposed negative and want to cut development time by n-3 or compensating developer and you do not use a diluted developer you can cut into the time needed to get detail in your shadows areas.

In terms of how much developer is needed for the area of film size you can determine the equivalent amount of surface area from the recommendations for 35 MM film on the data sheet. My tanks are 34 OZ/1000Ml and 350 ml/11.5 oz with the rest water will do 6 sheets of HP 5 with no problem