Current reliability of Xtol

[Adrian Bacon]

Thanks Adrian - that is slightly different than the most recent package I've seen.
I note with curiosity and some amusement that at least the front of the package seems to have a label on it that has been pasted over top another label

Yeah, I don’t know about the label thing. I literally just got this batch in a couple days ago, and it’s basically been the same for several batches now.

edit: looking at the other photos, it looks like there’s two labels there too, so it’s not unique to just me.

 

[Alan9940]

Thanks, again, for everybody's input. Sure seems that if I order from B&H, I should be OK.

 

[MattKing]

Yeah, I don’t know about the label thing. I literally just got this batch in a couple days ago, and it’s basically been the same for several batches now.

edit: looking at the other photos, it looks like there’s two labels there too, so it’s not unique to just me.

When you have used the next package, it would be fun to try to peal the outer label off and see what is underneath.
It would not surprise me if it was the same label, except with Kodak Alaris' details on it instead of Sino Promise.
I expect that as a result of the sale to Sino Promise, Kodak Alaris sent over their inventory of not yet used bags .

 

[Adrian Bacon]

Thanks, again, for everybody's input. Sure seems that if I order from B&H, I should be OK.

BH or Freestyle. They're both good.

 

[Adrian Bacon]

When you have used the next package, it would be fun to try to peal the outer label off and see what is underneath.
It would not surprise me if it was the same label, except with Kodak Alaris' details on it instead of Sino Promise.
I expect that as a result of the sale to Sino Promise, Kodak Alaris sent over their inventory of not yet used bags .

Most likely. At this point, it's all good and with the exception of a handful of outliers, it looks like the old stuff has mostly been flushed through the pipeline and it's all the newer good stuff. Once I finish burning through my DD supply, I'll circle back around and look at re-introducing XTOL into the processing pipeline. The only real downside to doing replenished DD is getting films that have no dev time. I've found myself forced to either work up a dev time for DD, or use another developer as the DD replenisher isn't the same as DD-X to my knowledge, though I actually haven't tested that out. At least with XTOL, it's common enough that even though I'm doing replenishment, it's easy to just do straight or 1+1 for the occasional film that doesn't have a dev time for replenished xtol.

 

[nostalgix]

Adrian, is that a smaller bag with two seperate bags for parts A and B in it? I had different Xtol releases still here and just tried last week to mix one like this that came in a white bag with a sticker. Part A made the water pretty red (more than I remembered from last time I mixed Xtol) and I wasn't able to dissolve it completely. For almost two days. I then put part B in hoping for the best but even though the color changed to grey it looked never clear. So I finally got rid of the batch and tried the other package of Xtol I had lying around and that was in two larger bags glued together. Part A dissolved in an eyes blink, the color looked more known and part B made it a crystal clear solution.

 

[4r36]

Hi guys,

it's not a a lucky time for me. Yesterday I developed a roll of film, as I made a few test shots with my camera (Olympus OM3) to check the reliability of the meter readings, which I suspect to be inaccurate. About a month ago I bought a package of xtol with the idea of using it replenished. I tried to do everything properly: well mixed using distilled water and then stored in a wine pouch, so as to keep oxygen out. I stored the replenished solution is a soda bottle, making sure to squeeze out the air every time.

The first rolls turned out well, but yesterday I got a completely clear film. The frame numbers were not there, so I rule out a problem with the film advance or the camera shutter. I thought I had mistakenly confused developer and fixer, but I checked and in the bottle of fixer there is...fixer.

 

[John Wiegerink]

I got onto the Xtol bandwagon shortly after Kodak had problems with it dying, and haven't had any problems since then. That's just me of course since others here certainly have. I've heard of Xtol dying quickly, but one day sure seems pretty fast to me. Are you absolutely sure you developed that following roll in correct order? Developer, stop bath and fix?
You can always do an exposed leader test to see if the developer is still good.

 

[4r36]

I got onto the Xtol bandwagon shortly after Kodak had problems with it dying, and haven't had any problems since then. That's just me of course since others here certainly have. I've heard of Xtol dying quickly, but one day sure seems pretty fast to me. Are you absolutely sure you developed that following roll in correct order? Developer, stop bath and fix?
You can always do an exposed leader test to see if the developer is still good.

I hope I did something wrong indeed. Although I'm pretty sure I didn't mix developer and fixer, I thought I might've made a mistake last week, replenishing the working solution with 70ml of fixer rather than 70ml of developer. As soon as I can I try to do an exposed leader test...

 

[John Wiegerink]

I hope I did something wrong indeed. Although I'm pretty sure I didn't mix developer and fixer, I thought I might've made a mistake last week, replenishing the working solution with 70ml of fixer rather than 70ml of developer. As soon as I can I try to do an exposed leader test...

I'd check both your stock and your replenisher just to make sure. Only takes a small amount of each to test and very little time. Mistakes do happen!

 

[Helge]

All good here too. Exact same quality as XTOL used to be.

 

[aparat]

Mistakes happen. I know I have made silly mistakes I never thought I would.

By the way, replenished XTOL must be one of the most popular topics here at Photrio. I'm not complaining. It's an interesting topic, and it can help photographers make better negatives.

 

[John Wiegerink]

Mistakes happen. I know I have made silly mistakes I never thought I would.

By the way, replenished XTOL must be one of the most popular topics here at Photrio. I'm not complaining. It's an interesting topic, and it can help photographers make better negatives.

Exactly! I think the reason for most of us on this forum is to improve what work we are doing, at least for me anyway. For others, it's to help folks like me. If it wasn't for this site, I probably would never have tried Xtol or Xtol replenished. Or even Pyrocat developers for that matter. This is a great place to start when looking for help with any kind of processing problem.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Hi guys,

it's not a a lucky time for me. Yesterday I developed a roll of film, as I made a few test shots with my camera (Olympus OM3) to check the reliability of the meter readings, which I suspect to be inaccurate. About a month ago I bought a package of xtol with the idea of using it replenished. I tried to do everything properly: well mixed using distilled water and then stored in a wine pouch, so as to keep oxygen out. I stored the replenished solution is a soda bottle, making sure to squeeze out the air every time.

The first rolls turned out well, but yesterday I got a completely clear film. The frame numbers were not there, so I rule out a problem with the film advance or the camera shutter. I thought I had mistakenly confused developer and fixer, but I checked and in the bottle of fixer there is...fixer.

I line the bottles up in the order used before I start developing, then I do the strip test.

 

[4r36]

Mistakes happen. I know I have made silly mistakes I never thought I would.

By the way, replenished XTOL must be one of the most popular topics here at Photrio. I'm not complaining. It's an interesting topic, and it can help photographers make better negatives.

Exactly! I think the reason for most of us on this forum is to improve what work we are doing, at least for me anyway. For others, it's to help folks like me. If it wasn't for this site, I probably would never have tried Xtol or Xtol replenished. Or even Pyrocat developers for that matter. This is a great place to start when looking for help with any kind of processing problem.

I line the bottles up in the order used before I start developing, then I do the strip test.

Thanks for the help and advice guys. Photrio is a great community, with plenty of people more than willing to help whenever one has some troubles or needs some guidance. I really appreciate this.

As regards the bottles order, this is also my procedure. I'll definitely add the strip test from now on!

 

[John Wiegerink]

Thanks for the help and advice guys. Photrio is a great community, with plenty of people more than willing to help whenever one has some troubles or needs some guidance. I really appreciate this.

As regards the bottles order, this is also my procedure. I'll definitely add the strip test from now on!

Please let us know the results of your test. Just curious?

 

[Alan9940]

Exactly! I think the reason for most of us on this forum is to improve what work we are doing, at least for me anyway. For others, it's to help folks like me. If it wasn't for this site, I probably would never have tried Xtol or Xtol replenished. Or even Pyrocat developers for that matter. This is a great place to start when looking for help with any kind of processing problem.

Well said! The reason I asked about the reliability of the current stock of Xtol is directly due to reading all the posts about replenished Xtol and the good results obtained. I used Xtol many years ago, but pretty quickly gave up on it and moved to other formulas because I wasn't satisfied with the results I was getting. I, also, experienced the "sudden death" scenario a couple of times. I don't doubt that most of the issues I had stemmed from my lack of experience, at the time, so I thought I'd give it another try. I sure like the idea of having something ready to go whenever needed.

 

[braxus]

Even though I had 2 packages of the bad Xtol from 2 years ago, I did use both sets and had zero issues with the films I used it with. So I can't say what was really bad about it, but I got good negatives from it. I just purchased 3 more sets of the new Xtol from B&H, and it looks to be the Sino Promise stuff. This should last me a while.

 

[Adrian Bacon]

Adrian, is that a smaller bag with two seperate bags for parts A and B in it? I had different Xtol releases still here and just tried last week to mix one like this that came in a white bag with a sticker. Part A made the water pretty red (more than I remembered from last time I mixed Xtol) and I wasn't able to dissolve it completely. For almost two days. I then put part B in hoping for the best but even though the color changed to grey it looked never clear. So I finally got rid of the batch and tried the other package of Xtol I had lying around and that was in two larger bags glued together. Part A dissolved in an eyes blink, the color looked more known and part B made it a crystal clear solution.

It's two separate bags hot glued back to back to each other.