Ilfochrome Chemistry Expiration

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Renato Tonelli

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I cannot find an expiration date on the Ilfochrome chemistry kits; do they have one printed somewhere?

I have a few old kits (P30). I have had them for 2 years but I have no way of knowing how long they sat on the store shelf. I mixed from an unopened kit and the paper came out black/magenta, no image at all.
I am stumped because I've done quite a bit of Ilfochrome printing in the past, but I must be doing something wrong.
1 - The emulsion was facing up for the exposure
2 - I exposed tests at 20, 30, 40, 60 seconds at f/8
3- I inserted the paper (fresh box) emulsion down in the Durst Printo
4 - The chemistry in the tanks is in the order of: Developer, Bleach, Fixer

I suspect I am doing something wrong with the processor (first time using the Printo instead of the CAP40) but I went through and checked all the steps.

I'm stumped. I have a new chemistry kit which I will try tomorrow; I sure hate to waste the older kits...
 

Erik L

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May 9, 2007
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Hi Renato,
If you have a print drum that you can test the old chemicals with that might save you some hassles. Contact print a known 4x5 neg and stick it in a test drum and see if the old chems are any good. This would lead to minimal waste if the old chems are any good still. Good luck
erik
 

Photo Engineer

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Renato;

Take a tiny scrap of paper and in the light, run it through a small scale (cup scale) process. With total fog, the paper scrap should come out white. If not, then it is the chemistry.

PE
 

Lopaka

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It's the developer that dies early. The bleach and fixer last a long time. To be more precise, it's part B of the developer that dies. If it's turning brown, it's dead. I find that substituting the same amount of Ilford Warmtone B&W developer for part B seems to work well, with a minimum of filtration changes.

Bob
 

sage

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Don't mean to rehash an old thread, but Ive been trying to use some expired ilfochrome paper/chemistry. So far its either very blue where the blacks should be. Just wondering if thats the paper or the chemistry so I can see which to try getting a hold of.
 

sage

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I tested a few things, but I'm still stumped. When i tried running a piece in the light, the developer does turn it fully black, and the bleach is whats turning it the blueish white tints. That's on a fully 'exposed'/fogged piece I ran in a tray. Another piece from a different box did something similar, but was a more darker shade of a blue-green.
 
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Sirs,

unfortunately Ilfochrome is not like black & white: when it is expired it is EXPIRED, full stop. Both paper and chemicals. There's no juggling with times / filtration / diluition that can help getting a decent picture out of it. It's only a waste of time. Dispose of the old stock in a safe way and buy a fresh stock.
 

sage

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Even if they are freshly mixed? The hard part is that I can't find anywhere that will actually ship the chemicals, just the paper.
 
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