Hey Donald, sorry to hear you're not getting any satisfaction from Big K. I'm equally disappointed to discover a third Xtol recall in a very short timespan, and in response, I have decided I'm just going to mix my own developers. Two of my old standby options are D-76 and Divided D-23 (which I have recently rediscovered, and now I remember why I liked it so much) both of which are ridiculously easy to assemble. Most seasoned darkroom folks will tell you that the differences between Xtol and D-76 (in the hands of a knowledgeable technician) are minimal. So for me, switching back to home made D-76 & D-23 is an easy choice. Artcraft Chemicals has everything you need, and the ultimate cost-per-serving will be half (or less) what you pay Kodak for the packaged version.
That's certainly an option. Replenished D-76 does give pretty similar results (very slightly less sharpness and speed, and very slightly more grain -- unnoticeable unless you're specifically looking for it, in general), and although you can't buy the replenisher any more, it's easy enough to mix, as is the developer itself (and it should be easy, also, to convert the metol to a tenth as much phenidone and get back the speed and some of the sharpness and grain difference). That's probably where I'll wind up if I decide I can't depend on Xtol. Unlike some folks, however, I don't use Xtol rapidly enough to need to buy it every few weeks, so if I can get good batches a couple times a year, I'll be fine. I just need to be sure to keep the bags for a while -- and I need Kodak (whoever that really is this week) to stand behind their product.
Oh, yes, home-mixed D-76 and D-76R will cut the cost from seventeen cents or so per roll with replenished Xtol (as low as fourteen, as I recall, once you start your second five gallons, because you don't have to mix fresh tank solution) to under a dime (maybe as little as a nickel). Both of those costs, however, are low enough to give me that warm feeling of "this is almost free" every time I measure replenisher. The down side of D-76 replenished is it's not immortal like Xtol replenished is. You need to mix fresh tank solution every time you've replenished as much as the original tank solution volume -- so in my case, a two liter tank solution and two liters of replenisher. Admittedly, that's a year or more at my rate of consumption, and it's a figure that might change with a switch to phenidone-based developer, but it puts a lower limit on the cost and an upper limit on the convenience compared to just replenishing 70 ml per roll, forever.
Hence my search thread, recently, for alternative self-replenishing developers (ideally ones I can mix myself). Mytol is a bad choice, because the iron sequestrant Kodak uses in Xtol isn't easy to get, and it's expensive in amateur quantities. The Champion product apparently isn't available in the USA -- but the existence of that product (which, as far as I've been able to determine, doesn't depend on ascorbate) suggests there may be a mix-my-own self-replenishing (hence immortal) developer formula out there, if I can find it.
