Some random ideas regarding 777. I have a copy of the instruction sheet for 777 when it was being made by Harvey Photochemicals, Inc. in Newton, NJ. If I had a scanner, I'd put it on this site, but as it is, if anyone would care to have a photocopy, I'd be happy to send one out...postage would be nice, but not necessary.(posted 8214 days ago)My memory of Harold Harvey is that he was a Baltimore commercial photographer/Chemist. Supposedly 777 was the seven hundredth and seventy seventh formula tested, but I think Ed B's idea above makes a lot of sense.
For anyone planning to try the Germain formula, here are a couple of starting points for 777, all at 70 degrees. Adox KB-14 or R-14 rated at ASA (ISO) 24, 4 mins. EK Vericrhrome Pan, rated at 120, 15 3/4 mins. EK Tri X rated at 600, 12 mins.
I always used 777 in small tanks (8 to 32 ozs) and had very good results with it...perhaps I would have had even better results with large tanks, but I've never owned a tank larger tha 32 oz. I was always careful to be consistent about agitation...One inversion (Nikors which can be inverted) per second for the first thirty seconds, then five more inversions (each, one second long) every 30 seconds after that. I continued to use 777 until it became almost impossible to get at which point I switched to FG 7 (on W. Eugene Smith's recommendation?).
Harold Harvey's long article on Negative Development in the serialized "The Complete Photographer" in the late l930s is the best thing I ever read on negatives and developing. It taught me what little I know about the subject. My memory is that when the Complete Photographer was converted into the Encyclopaedia of Photography the Harvey article disappeared.