15 month old XTOL

[ajuk]

I mixed up 5L of Xtol in november 2009, I have two bottles left one that has been left half full since last november seems to have died, the other one did eventually turn a peice of film black, I did the paper test and it did work and become warm tones when fixed, bit I'm not sure if it's what I'd call dark, does this look right?

 

[Ian Grant]

It's had it, it's not worth wasting films.

Ian

 

[pentaxuser]

15 months is a long time for Xtol. I think the best I've seen so far is a claim for about 9 months. It would be nice to know what its limit is if it is stored in full containers.

Can you risk a couple of frames in a clip test? It looks like it won't be successful but it might be nice to see what the outcome is

pentaxuser

 

[ajuk]

Oh right, I thought it wouldn't work at all if it wasn't working dev.

 

[brianmquinn]

First the paper test is only valid if you have a fresh stock of Xtol that you tested with the same paper for comparison. (see details on the link you sent)

Second I have stored Xtol the way it says to in the link you provided (glass bottles etc). I have had it last over 2 years that way. I used it up before it went bad so it may have lasted longer.

Third, It looks like your Xtol is bad to me as the paper is not as strong black as I would think it should be.

Make up a fresh batch and test them side by side.

Xtol is really cheap. You can buy 5L of it for the price of 2 rolls of film.

 

[pentaxuser]

2 years sounds pretty good. I wonder where all this 8-9 months max talk comes from? If used 1+1 in a 35mm tank which uses 250mls then 5L can do 40 films. The only drawback for me would be whether I will use 40 films in say 8 months as that's 5 a month but 40 films over a 2 year period is quite different.

pentaxuser

 

[Ronald Moravec]

Shelf life is on package. If you mixed it, 6 months is the limit. after that it is chancy

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Since you are unable to finish a 5 liter package of Xtol in the recommended time behaps it is not the best developer of choice for you.

 

[jarit]

Just on the last weekend I used the final bottle of xtol, that was also mixed at November 2009. As well, it was stored according instruction (dark place, no air in bottle and a bit colder place = my garage).
Development procedure was normal small tank, 1:1 ratio of xtol for tmax400, as I'm doing it usually.
1st roll went otherwise fine, but when scanning the tmax400, there was found minor white spots on film. I thought them to be micro-crystals or some precipitated developer ???
Anyways, for second batch I mixed 1:1 xtol early enough, (5-6h) just to get all solving before starting procedure. As a result, not so many spots found at film.
So I'd say that 15months old xtol will work, but there might be some junk at bottle which needs to be liquidfy until using so old developer. Crystals are almost invisible, but they are still in there.
Honestly, Xtol is so cheap that its no sense to use old developer.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I have gotten two years with XTOL replenished with a few rolls every few months. Then it sat for six more months before I was ready to use it, so I dumped it and started fresh.

Steve

 

[heespharm]

yeah it's cheap... start new.. or mix as you go by mixing your own... do a search for "instant mytol" not too hard to mix and works just like xtol

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

I have gotten two years with XTOL replenished with a few rolls every few months. Then it sat for six more months before I was ready to use it, so I dumped it and started fresh.

Steve

That's pretty much how old my replenished Xtol batch is, and still going as strong as ever. But I use it regularly, and of course since it's replenished, my two liter working solution is completely turned over in about 25 rolls of film.