Re: Too much testing going on?

Dennis O'Connor wrote:
> 
> OK Pat... Well, some interesting things have shown up in the testing...
> Your article in Unblinking Eye stated that your original formula was about
> as active as undiluted D-76... I'm finding that it takes a minimum of ten
> minutes with either the metol or the phenidone in the original formula to
> approach straight D76 at 6.5 - 7.0 minutes... (and the phenidone is a bit
> denser than the metol in this formulation for the same time)
> And I'm finding that the original formula is a stop faster than Borax B...
> Does that match your later experience?
> 
> I'm beginning to wonder if the sodium ascorbate I bought locally is up to
> snuff (C&L Health - California)...  The NOW brand ascorbic acid is the same
> as you used so I assume we are seeing about the same activity in our
> solutions...  I'm thinking of doing another clip test today with Borax B and
> doubling the sodium ascorbate to see if it is a bit lacking in the levo
> isomer, though this may bump the pH...  Thoughts?
> 
> Denny
> oh yeah, I'm having a ball...  even if the identical test rolls aren't real
> scenes :)
> 
> "Patrick Gainer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message but such
> > things as compensation and some other fictions will show. The practical
> > exposure, grain, acutance and so on will come from trial and error on
> > real scenes.

Denny,
As I recall, I got my H&D curves from the carbonate version. At that
time, I believe Kodak was recommending 7 1/2 minutes and I used 8 on
Tri=X. I did not actually test the D-76. Remember, the reason I started
playing with Vitamin C was because I had run out of sulfite and happened
to have ascorbic acid crystals on hand.

If a label says the bottle contains pure ascorbic acid or sodium
ascorbate for use as Vitamin C, it has to be what it claims to be.

Sodium ascorbate is nearly neutral in solution by itself, but that
doesn't mean I know how the pH will be affected by adding more to other
ingredients. I'm pretty sure the development rate will be increased by
adding more if less than the optimum was present to start. The
development rate of ascorbate and phenidone or metol reaches a maximum
at a certain ratio and then does not increase perceptibly as you add
more, although the capacity of the developer will probably increase.