Grainy chocolate brown Dektol

[Perry Way]

I'm going to assume that grainy chocolate brown dektol (mixed up) is not how it should look :rolleyes: I just got started in my darkroom tonight having acquired what I needed equipmentment wise. I got this package of Dektol with an expiration date in 2005 but the local salesman at the photography store said as long as it wasn't chunky rocks inside it should be okay. Well, it turned chocolate brown and wasn't fully disolving. I have enough intuition to know that it was bad. So I have to wait until tomorrow to go get some new developer. So.. what is the correct color supposed to be for paper developer? I've been using Ilfolsol S for my film the last few weeks, and its a sort of medium bright yellow. Will the same color apply to properly mixed and non-expired Dektol?

 

[jmal]

It should appear relatively clear.

 

[Perry Way]

It should appear relatively clear.

thanks, that was my faint memory 25+/- years ago. only the stop bath is yellow, developer and fixer both relatively clear.

 

[fschifano]

Dektol comes in with a slight straw color. Not dark brown.

 

[msdemanche]

If it looks like coffee through it out. If it look like weak tea you can use it but you will have very flat grey prints.

 

[fschifano]

If it looks like coffee through it out. If it look like weak tea you can use it but you will have very flat grey prints.

No, if it looks like weak tea it will take a bit longer for the print to develop fully. In fact, I've had it look darker, very much darker, than that and it works. Just takes longer is all. If you expose the print correctly, it is very difficult to over develop it. Development for prints should be done to completion. Trying to snatch a print from the developer before it is completely developed usually results in a flat, grey looking print that is lacking good contrast.

 

[CBG]

Sounds like poo. It's probably trash.

C

 

[Clay2]

Dektol turns dark brown when completely oxidized and useless.
Package must have had pin-holes in it to let in air.
/Clay

 

[Photo Engineer]

Take the bottle back to the salesman and ask for your money back!

PE

 

[jovo]

I posted a thread about this same situation a month ago or so. The thing was that the foil package I used had an expiration date of 2009! There hadn't been any apparent pinholes that I noticed when I used it, but obviously there must have been some. I tossed the stuff.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

This is why I like Ansco 130 - stuff lasts forever, and like Rodinal, even if it looks like tar, it's still active so long as you haven't run 30+ 11x14s through it. Actually, even that might not be enough to kill a 4 L batch of Ansco 130. Dektol, on the other hand, oxidizes quickly, and it gives an ugly green tone to a lot of papers.