For me, its not a question of cost but one of: convenience and consistancy.
D76, is an excellent *classic* developer that has withstood the test of
time. But, if you want to use D76 then you have to start from powder. For
health reasons, I've been avoiding mixing up chemicals from powder *if* a
liquid alternative is available. Even if you are careful it's hard to
avoid some dust escaping that will react with your negatives and lungs. Why
take the chance if it is unecessary? A very good friend of mine can't even
visit the darkroom anymore since she has developed contact dermatitis from
sloshing around too much in Dektol (I've suggested that she take up
Platinum printing since there is no HQ or Metol). I find working with the
liquid concentrates to be faster as well. This leaves me a little more of
my precious time for the creative aspects of image making.
The other problem with D76 is consistancy. Unless you are developing a
*lot* of negatives and are using your concentrate up right away, you will
find after a month or so that your D76 will gradually become more active!
This was studied by some chemists at Kodak a number of years back. Maybe
someone will recall a reference to it (maybe Camera and Darkroom 5 years ago).
I buy the large container of T-Max developer concentrate and process all my
B&W film (TMax and FP4 plus) with this developer in my Jobo. I go through
a large container of concentrate yearly and I find that it is "good to the
last drop". I am using the ordinary T-max developer (not the RS version
--never had the dichroic fog problem) in my Jobo processor with totally
predictable results. I still make bad negatives but the problems are not
from processing anymore.
All things considered, I'm finding that I'm spending a lot more money on
film and archival negative sheets than on my chemicals.
Robert Hudyma, Semi-Tech Corporation, 131 McNabb Street,
Markham Ontario, Canada L3R 5V7. Fax: (905) 475-3652
Email: rhudyma@netcom.ca (or rhudyma@aol.com when travelling).
If you're not living on the edge, then you're taking up too much space.