Experiences of XTOL developer for TMAX 400

[Sirius Glass]

What I don't want happening is a sudden failure of the developer so I lose some shots. You reckon I am ok to just keep using it?

Sudden XTOL death was taken care of years ago by Kodak. The myth still lives on as one of the great urban legends that no longer has a factual basis. Dip a piece of film in the developer in light. If the film turns black in a short time, the developer is still good.

Steve

 

[Rafal Lukawiecki]

Last month I diluted 1:1 stock solution of XTOL which was 18 months old. Stock was kept in a partly squeezed regular 5l PET bottle. There was some air in it. All worked perfectly, though perhaps I got lucky.

 

[tkamiya]

Personal experience:

I mixed 5 liters of XTOL and poured it into 2 liter, 1 liter, 1 liter, 500cc, and 500cc bottles. Started using it from smaller bottles. As smaller bottles emptied, larger ones were poured into smaller. This is to keep as little air in the bottles as possible. These are regular plastic brown bottles you can buy at most photographic stores - nothing special. It lasted 8 months and possibly longer but I ran out of it at this point.

I was afraid of this sudden failure scenario, so I tested it with clips of film after 6 months. If there were slight loss in activity, I wouldn't be able to tell, but the results were all good.

It looks like, with reasonable care, it will last as long as Kodak claims with ease.

 

[fotch]

Last month I diluted 1:1 stock solution of XTOL which was 18 months old. Stock was kept in a partly squeezed regular 5l PET bottle. There was some air in it. All worked perfectly, though perhaps I got lucky.

Well, in case your just lucky, time to buy lotto tickets!

 

[Sirius Glass]

Well, in case your just lucky, time to buy lotto tickets!

No, not lucky. If replenished and kept in tightly capped bottles, I have not problem getting two years out of XTOL. Buy your lotto tickets of D-76. [Just kidding]

Steve

 

[Brandon D.]

Well, in case your just lucky, time to buy lotto tickets!

Hahaha, good one. He can buy me a lotto ticket, too!

 

[2F/2F]

The yellow color of HC-110 does not indicate that it has started to oxidize.

Nor did I say that it does; in fact, what I was implying was very much the opposite. Thank you for adding detail.

 

[whojammyflip]

But I am right in my understanding that LC29 going yellow is a sign its being oxidised? How far can I take this stuff. I mean, can I keep using it and the negatives will just look like I have not given them enough development, or will it just fail? Thanks.

 

[canuhead]

Well thought I'd jump in. Mixed up Xtol maybe 6 months or so ago. Kept some in brown bottle and the rest in a bladder container with NO air. Processed some film shortly after it was mixed and all was well with the world. Souped some film today (TX 320) and both rolls came out clear as daylight. No edge markings at all. Bupkiss. Clip tested the stuff in the bladder container and it too was dead. Stock was piss yellow coloured fwiw and package was bought maybe a year ago .Will stick to Rodinal and PMK. Nothing majorly important but still sucks to lose photos.

 

[fschifano]

Maybe the bladder wasn't as air tight as you though. Maybe something else went wrong. I don't know. What I do know is that I use XTOL quite a bit, and it hasn't failed me yet. I store it in 1L PET bottles, and if full, it will last at least 6 months, or at least it did the last time I had some that old which doesn't happen very often. I can't say anything about using replenished XTOL since that method of working doesn't offer any significant financial advantage for me and I"m perfectly happy with the way a 1+1 dilution of the stuff works for me.

Does it work significantly better than D-76 with TMY? Well, that's a hard one to quantify. I'd like to say that I thought it did with the old TMY. I can't say that it's head and shoulders better with TMY-2. Grain seems a little smoother (not that there's a whole lot of it to notice anyway) and there is a very slight increase in real film speed. Highlights seem to have a bit better separation too; but these differences are really quite subtle. They're not likely to be noticed unless you made a comparison between prints made from negatives that are identical in every way except for the developer used to process them.

 

[clayne]

Well thought I'd jump in. Mixed up Xtol maybe 6 months or so ago. Kept some in brown bottle and the rest in a bladder container with NO air. Processed some film shortly after it was mixed and all was well with the world. Souped some film today (TX 320) and both rolls came out clear as daylight. No edge markings at all. Bupkiss. Clip tested the stuff in the bladder container and it too was dead. Stock was piss yellow coloured fwiw and package was bought maybe a year ago .Will stick to Rodinal and PMK. Nothing majorly important but still sucks to lose photos.

How is any of this XTOLs fault? The same thing happens to D-76 all the time.

Clip test if you're in doubt (and not using it for 5 months means implicit doubt - for any developer).

 

[Tim Gray]

Stock was piss yellow coloured fwiw and package was bought maybe a year ago .

That would have been a big warning sign to me. Mine is always perfectly clear.

 

[canuhead]

Yeah, shoulda wondered as well but I was giving Xtol a go since a few friends swear by it and also use tap water. I still have a bag from Freestyle so will mix that up and try to use it up while it's fresh. I've never had any other film developer go on me like this. D76, ID11 etc all had long shelf lives. Not to dump on Big Yellow but it's really too bad they dropped the smaller packets of Xtol in favour of the 5l size. Rodinal will still be my go to developer though.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I use XTOL and the bottles from FreeStyle. After returning and exchanging bottles that had leaky tops, I can get two years from replenished XTOL. However, I always test a strip of film first to make sure that it has not gone bad.

Steve

 

[Ian Grant]

Have to agree with others, you can't blame poor storage in inappropriate containers on aa manufacturer.

In 20+ years of using Xtol replenished I never had it fail on me once. Ironically I bought quite large stocks from Henry's while visiting Toronto

Ian