Bellini Ascorbic Acid, 50 grams

Ascorbic Acid is often refrred to as the Vitimin C film developer. Some modern developers often replace the toxic Hydroquinone or Metol with ascorbic acid, or vitamin C. It does, however, suffer from poor stability. Ascorbate developers may have the advantage of being compensating and sharpness-enhancing, as oxidation by-products formed during development are acidic, meaning they retard development in and adjacent to areas of high activity.

Ascorbate developers have poor keeping properties though as oxidised ascorbate is both ineffective as a developing agent and lowers the pH of the solution, making the remaining developing agents less active.

It has a formula of C6H8O6 or HC6H7O6;

Try this formula, often known as Ds-1. It works well with HP5 and produces sharp images with good shadow detail and surprisingly fine grain. The formula is as follows to make 1 litre of solution. Use distilled water at 20 degrees C and add the chemicals in the order shown:

Sodium sulphite (pinch)

Metol 2.0g

Ascorbic acid 5.0g

Borax 12.0g

Sodium sulphite 100g

Use it at 1+1 and reference D76 times as your starting point. The ascorbic acid component brings shelf life into question so use fresh stock only.