Kodak D76 replenishment

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Hello, I have a batch of Kodak D-76 which has been shelved for maybe 4-6 months in a capped plastic jug. It was only used once for 6 4x5 negs. Can this developer be replenished or is it too old to bother with? thanks, Matt S.

-- Matthew Slaske (mslaske@usol.com), January 13, 2002

Answers

If the solution is still clear then it should be OK. If its brown then throw it away.

Having said that I wouldn't use D-76 and replenisher for LF (or any) film processing. I want the developer solution to be a constant not a variable and using a one shot developer insures that. So I use D- 76 in a 1:1 ratio and then throw it away. That way I don't have any doubts at all about the strength of the developer. And if it's been 4-6 months since you've used the D-76, the increased cost of one shot developing isn't going to break you! ;-)

-- David Grandy (dgrandy@accesscable.net), January 13, 2002.


I've totally ruined a couple batches of film trying to be economical and squeeze in the use of that BROWN developer. I hope I'm not so stupid in the future!

-- Andre Noble (andrenoble@yahoo.com), January 13, 2002.

Throw it out & start over again....but D76 _can_ be replenished successfully with D76R (a separate product). If you only develop a couple of sheets though, it won't be worth it to you...we used to run D76 in our deeptank and averaged about 200 sheets a month. We dumped it monthly though. If you want to use it straight and not replenish, you can average in extended times...I forget what they are, check the Kodak dataguide--about 15% or so for each additional 8x10 sheet equivalent. but there's a certain limit to this as well, and only for developer that you reuse in the same session more or less. Repl. only makes sense when you run a regular amount....you gotta keep it active....if you do it right, you won't have to worry about consistency.

-- DK Thompson (kthompson@moh.dcr.state.nc.us), January 14, 2002.

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