Camera Talk

From the abandoned darkroom of my late father, I salvaged some chemicals in those old dark chemists flasks, that must be at least 50-60 years old. There was some brownish Metol, good-looking Hydroquinone, and some borax, along with lots of sulfite and hyposulfite.

I decided to try the old D-76 we used to make at home from these same chemicals 50 years ago. The formula is well-known. The developer came out slighty brownish. I tested it with a Delta 400 roll, a gift from a friend two years ago, for sure already expired when received. Just wanted to see it the chemicals would work at all. The camera for the test was the Spotmatic, with 50mmTessar and Takumars 28mm and 200mm.

Small boat in harbor



Abandoned fishing vessels, in Bella Vista area.





A foot race was on in the Rambla. Very warm afternoon, so the watering post was very busy. The street was littered with plastic bottles, but I was surprised to see a team coming just after the race and picking all the plastic refuse. This city is losing its character. I got a shot of the water guys and gals with the 200 mm.







Industrial landscape, La Teja oil refinery from Capurro area, quite overexposed negative.



The home-made D-76 seems workable, at least in stock solution. These chemicals have a long life!

I have no references to compare results and evaluate, because this is the first time I use Delta 400. I overexposed some shots on purpose; they came out really dense; my V600 scanner had a hard time penetrating the darkness. The soup seems powerful enough.

Next step, a test with Pan F+ which is a better known film. Stay tuned.

Good work with the film and developer, Julio. It's always amazing to see what old film and chemicals will do.

PF

Those are really good results! And the test has some positive implications for film users.

Bill Delehanty

Nice work, Julio. Your father would be proud of you, I am sure.

Seems to have worked pretty well. IIRC, Delta 400 isn't the most forgiving of films either.

I've still got several bottles of PC-TEA that I made up a few years ago, and at the rate I'm shooting film, it'll probably last me a life time Good job it seems to have a long shelf life.

The Pan-F+ test came out sharp indeed. D-76 gives a lot less grain than Beutler, but then the compensating action is gone. It works, but I'd rather do it in Beutler with this contrasty film.



I have some HP5+ in 120 that must be used (maybe in vacations). I am still undecided about the developer to use. It could be either this D-76 with old chemicals, or a can of D-23 which is about the same age.

I just sent some Acufine to a friend to figure out all the chemistry maybe we can make that again too. We got it down to but one secret buffer in it.
Diafine is next as we already have Panthermic 77 almost ready.