LegacyPro Ascorbic Acid B&W film developer is similar to Eastman Kodak Xtol developer - both use Sodium Erythorbate instead of Hydroquinone as one of the developing agents. Replacing the Hydroquinone with Sodium Erythorbate makes it possible to mix the developer with room temperature water instead of hot water. Because Erythorbic Acid is a stereoisomer of Ascorbic Acid, you see LegacyPro or Xtol described as being based on Vitamin C. That is not exactly the case because Erythorbic Acid and Ascorbic Acid don't have the same biological activity. However, both work for developing film. Vitamin C powder from the health food store is an ingredient in the home-made Caffenol developers that use instant coffee as a developing agent.
One drawback to LegacyPro (and Xtol) is that the smallest available package is enough to make 5 liters of stock developer. Five liters can develop twenty rolls of film and has a shelf life of about 6 months in unopened full bottles and 2 months in partially full bottles. Unless you are developing film at a pretty steady pace, the developer could go bad before you use it up. Unfortunately, LegacyPro doesn't give any warning that it is getting too old by changing color like most other developers. One day it works and the next day it doesn't. One method to keep the developer as fresh as possible it to divide the mix into several bottles and open only one at a time. You can avoid losing a roll of film due to old developer by doing a chip test. Put a small piece of film in some developer and stir it for a few minutes. The film should turn completely black if the developer is OK to use. One good thing about LegacyPro is that you don't need hot water to mix it. It is also much less expensive than getting your film developed at a lab.
LegacyPro is supposed to produce negatives with fine grain and good sharpness (acutance). The Massive Dev Chart (look up Eco Pro) gives recommended times for developing just about any black and white film.
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