Best keeping paper developer??

Rafal Lukawiecki

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Feb 23, 2006
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mrred said:
All this talk on how to make it last.... 4l cost $6 here.....what is the point? I keep 4-5 bags handy and my bank hasn't broken yet.
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The point, at least for me, is what to do with any unused chemicals when they go bad. Where I live, in Ireland, with a septic tank system, I cannot just flush anything. There are no recycling centers that take photo chemicals. There is a 6 times a year collection in a mobile collection facility, a longish drive, or I just have to pay $50 upwards to have 5 gallons of anything removed by a licensed contractor.

Having chemicals with an indefinite lifetime would be ideal. Being able to recycle fixer forever would be sweet. Personally, I like PF 130 for its tonality, very much, but its long-lasting properties are the main reason I go to the trouble of sourcing it from abroad.
 

mrred

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Rodinal can still be used as a paper developer. It can out live us all....
 
OP
OP

sly

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mrred said:
All this talk on how to make it last.... 4l cost $6 here.....what is the point? I keep 4-5 bags handy and my bank hasn't broken yet.
Click to expand...

It's not the cost, it's the pain of ordering everything by mail. I thought I had a couple of full stoppered bottles, and would need more soon, but not immediately. Given shipping costs I always make big orders; film, paper, chemicals all at once. Means having significant funds in the bank to pay for a big order too.

I'll have to do an inventory of the darkroom and the freezer, and check the bank account before I stock up again.


What's the mixing ratio to use Rodinal for a paper developer?
 

Roger Cole

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I'm glad to live where I can mail order with ease. I find ordering online FAR easier than it would be to buy locally even if that were an option. No trip out, no parking hassles, no sales pressure, research on every product as close as the next browser tab, a few clicks and it shows up at my door a few days later. YMMV of course, and it's not so good if you need it NOW, so it is important to look ahead. You also have a point about small orders. It doesn't make sense to pay the shipping on a single packet of developer or the like. Things like that, it would be very nice to be able to pop out and pick up.
 

markbarendt

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I tend to save up for orders too, 'tis the way our analog world any more. I actually like mailorder though.

The point about the cost not being an issue, at least for me, is that the difference in cost per trip/shoot/month/shot between the various options I have is truly negligible.

What is much more important is that the materials I use do what I expect every time.
 

nworth

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Liqudol keeps very well, both in the bottle and in the tray. Another trick is to separate the developer components from the alkali, especially if you can keep the developer components portion slightly acid. A well known example is a divided Ansco 130 variation, shown below, which significantly improves the already good bottle life of Ansco 130.

Split stock solution for very long life (Muir)
Solution A
Sodium sulfite (anh) 40 g
Sodium bisulfate 10 g
Hydroquinone 11 g
Phenidone 250 mg
Glycin 11 g
WTM 1 l
Solution B
Sodium carbonate (mono) 80 g
WTM 1 l
Dilute 1:1:1 for use. Add potassium bromide or benzotriazole as needed.
(Ref: Photo Techniques, Sep/Oct 1996, pg 55)
 
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