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Mixing Chemicals & Developing First Roll of B&W

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Well it seems it went well enough. I'll post a pic when the films finish washing in a few minutes. My hands smell like chemicals, even though I wore gloves. I noticed the Xtol left a white residue on anything it touched when dried. I'll will have to make sure I clean everything well. Give me a few minutes so I can post a picture of the negs. 12 minutes for Forte 400 seemed accurate from the initial look. I fixed for 6 minutes which I believe was correct. I forgot to pre-rinse which I had planned to do. No matter. Didn't seem to need it.
 

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Congrats!
I mixed up 1L of fixer, set aside 600ml, and put the remaining 400ml in a Datasafe container. I'll put the rest in there when I finish doing my rolls. I cooled down the developer with cold water around the container. Its now around 72 degrees.
There's no need the measure the 600ml of fixer. Just pour from the 1L bottle into the tank, when you see the level in the funnel, there's a bit more than the 600ml in the tank, which does no harm.
 
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Well the films are hanging to dry. I think I did pretty good for a first try in 24 years. The negs look a little denser then maybe they should be, but not by much. The unexposed portion looks darker then normal, but that could be film film age as one roll was 20 years old and the other 10. Here some pics of the negs. The one roll of Classic Pan I shot at 400, and the other of Forte 400 I bracketed exposures from 400, down to 100 in 3 shots. So this could be why some are more dense then others.
 

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My film drying cabinet has the same shampoo bottles!
 
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So I developed the Efke 25 roll I intended to do once I got chemicals and for a video, so I did that next. 6 minutes in Xtol straight. I should have double check the temp on the Xtol, as my negs came out very dense. Overdeveloped Im guessing. Still very usable once scanned, though I should have maybe cooled off the developer a bit. I got sloppy on the second round. Its hanging to dry now as well. The negs in the clear areas are clean and clear, so no aged negs here (even though the film is 6 years expired, but always kept frozen). This is fun. I still have more rolls to do, but Im not sure I'll do them today. My stop needs to be used a few times before I dump it. I only have a couple days on it -correct? I didn't buy a bottle to store the mixed stop in, so I'll have to dump it fairly soon.
 

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I did a total of 5 rolls of film today. Still have a couple more to do, but Im going to stop for today. 2 rolls of Tri-X, in 35mm and 120. Those turned out fine no issues. My rolls of Forte/ J&C Classic 400 seem to have a lot of fog or darkness in the clear areas. So it seems they have aged. They aren't clear like my other 3 rolls. My bag of Xtol seems half gone already. That was fast.

I really hate trying to load 120 on those Paterson reels. It literally took forever to get the film hooked and turned in. Too much curl on the film to get it started. My 120 roll is curling quite a bit in the center of the section hanging. I'll need to flatten it out when I put it in sleeves.
 
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My bag of Xtol seems half gone already. That was fast.

You can reuse/replenish it and it lasts a lot longer. I keep 2 containers, new and used Xtol. Run the first film in full strength Xtol, then when the time is up, dump it into your "used" container. For you next film, use 75ml of new Xtol per 35mm film, then fill up the rest of the volume for your tank from the used container. Develop as usual, then dump that into the used container and repeat. You can do this virtually indefinitely.
 

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If you aren't going to replenish, either dilute it 1 + 1, or re-use it in the way that Kodak suggests (with extended times).
Doing 5 rolls in one day is perfect for re-use, but even more perfect for replenishment.
Otherwise, things look great - well done.
With respect to dried X-Tol spots (or any other spots, for that matter) if I don't have a large sink to work in, I use print trays. Any other sort of flat bin or tray works fine.
Empty milk/distilled water/sparkling water/club soda bottles work great for storing stop bath. Don't use the milk/distilled water bottles for developer.
 
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I'm not concerned about conserving the Xtol. I had 7 rolls of film saved up for processing. Once they are done, I won't be doing a lot of films in a short period afterwards. I still have another package of Xtol I can mix up when needed. I have a couple more things I need to get from Beau Photo, so maybe I'll order some extra Xtol while I'm at it. I need to get a 3 reel Paterson tank and a spare reel so I can do 4x5 and 2 120 reels. Tomorrow I'm going to finish developing my last 2 rolls.
 
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If I keep mixed up Stop in a Datasafe 1L container, how long will it keep for in the container before going bad? And again how many uses do I get out of the mixed Stop?

And next time I'll mix up 1L of stop. How many ml of solution do I mix in with water to make 1L?
 

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How many ml of solution do I mix in with water to make 1L?

There are 1000 ml in a liter, and at 1+19 dilution for your stop bath concentrate, you'll need 1/20 of that as concentrate, plus 19/20 water. Divide 1000 by 20 to get 50 ml of concentrate, and fill with water.
 

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IMO, it's better to learn how to calculate dilutions (5th grade math, or was when I was in 5th grade around 1969), than to know where to find a table.
 

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I need to get a 3 reel Paterson tank and a spare reel so I can do 4x5 and 2 120 reels.
Don't you already have three 120 reels?
 

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If I keep mixed up Stop in a Datasafe 1L container, how long will it keep for in the container before going bad?
It is hard to say, because the problem is with mold, not exhaustion.

And again how many uses do I get out of the mixed Stop?

Lots and lots - probably more than you will be able to take advantage of (due to the mold issue) unless you have another big batch of film to develop.
It is probably most affected by how much developer carry-over you have.

And next time I'll mix up 1L of stop. How many ml of solution do I mix in with water to make 1L?
If you are only using it for a couple of rolls at a time, and won't be re-using it within a few days, mix it up at half strength and discard it after using it for those very few sheets and rolls.
Full strength: 1 + 19 = 20;
To make 1 litre, divide 1000 ml/20 = 50 ml concentrate + water to 1000 ml (950 ml).
To make 600 ml, divide 600 ml/20 = 30 ml concentrate + water to 600 ml (570 ml).
Half strength: 1 + 39 = 40;
To make 1 litre, divide 1000 ml/40 = 25 ml concentrate + water to 1000 ml (975 ml).
To make 600 ml, divide 600 ml/40 = 15 ml concentrate + water to 600 ml (585 ml).
For stop bath and fixer (and lots of other things) it is enough to measure accurately the concentrate, put that into the graduate, and then fill the graduate with water to the target total. Be sure to fully rinse the contents of the concentrate measuring graduate into the larger graduate, before you fill to the total mark.
 
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Don't you already have three 120 reels?
Matt. The two tanks I got off you have been separated in terms of 35mm and 120. I have one tank with 1 reel set aside for 120, and the other tank with 2 reels set aside for 35mm. I know they can be switched over, but Im keeping it simple by leaving the reels set to a size. So for a 3 reel tank, I'd like to have 2 120 reels. I dont think I'll ever be doing 3 reels of 35mm, as I dont often use the same film over and over.
 

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I always open the reels and separate the halves in order to take the film out (for the Photo-flo step) and to ensure that the reels are well cleaned after use. They then air-dry while separated. I don't worry about whether or not the halves are matched the same way afterwards.
They are designed to be taken apart and put back together over and over. I've never seen one wear out.
 

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If you find loading the 120 films challenging, I can heartily recommend the AP/Samigon/Freestyle Arista Premium reels with the wide flanges. If you intend to get more reels, I would suggest those.
 
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After doing 7 rolls of film now, is it possible to over fix a film and cause damage to the film? I noticed I may need to fix the films longer then the initial 6 minutes since the chemical was fresh. I know this is normal. I just not sure if over fixing is an issue or not. Also my stop after sitting in the open air after a couple of days has gone from orange to green. I assume its gone bad at this point?
 

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After doing 7 rolls of film now, is it possible to over fix a film and cause damage to the film? I noticed I may need to fix the films longer then the initial 6 minutes since the chemical was fresh. I know this is normal. I just not sure if over fixing is an issue or not. Also my stop after sitting in the open air after a couple of days has gone from orange to green. I assume its gone bad at this point?
Green is probably actually blue - which would certainly indicate that it is spent. It could also be due to mold. I wouldn't leave it exose to the open air.
While over-fixing to an extent that it cases damage is possible, it takes a lot.
A bigger problem is that extended fixing times mean you need to extend washing times in order to wash the fixer out.
How are you determining the six minute time? If you are doing a clip test, and then doubling the time, that is normal.
Anything around ten minutes or less isn't really a problem
 
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I think Ilford recommended 6 minutes to start with fresh fixer. I have one more roll to do before i dump the stop. I'll try and use it one last time tomorrow morning. It didn't seem to harm the 2 rolls I did tonight, which are drying as we speak.
 

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I don't know if this has been addressed in this long thread. Someone suggested that you could save money by using Xtol diluted. I don't understand this. In the "Darkroom Cookbook" (highly recommended) Steven Anchell says that Kodak did research about the volume of developer needed found that a minimum of 150 ml of developer in it's most concentrated form is needed to develop a roll of film or 80 sq. inches of film. So that notion of 150 ml. got spread far and wide. But 150 ml figure was arrived at for the benefit penny pinching commercial processes that wanted to use the bare minimum to achieve semi-acceptable results. But what was forgotten, according to Anchell,was that the Kodak research showed that much better results would had by using 250 ml of developer per roll. But whether one uses the higher or lower figure, in both cases one needs to scale the volume of solution to the level of dilution. If we are diluting it is NOT just about having enough developer to cover the reels. For example, if somone were to use 250 mlof Xtol stock solution per roll, if they then wanted to go to 1+1 then they would need 500 ml of working solution. So there isn't an economy with diluting. Xtol is pretty economical as it is and short changing your film on developer is not a good way to pinch pennies. There is an Xtol clone, Fomadon Excel, that comes in packets to mix only 1 L of stock sol. which simplifies storage issues. There are also several home-brew versions.
 
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I dont intend on diluting or reusing any of my developer. Im happy using it straight, and its giving good results so far, so I will keep doing it that way. I don't shoot tons of rolls all the time, so my reasoning works for me. Spending $15 a pack of developer is a lot cheaper then send it to a lab like I have done for 27 years. Only pain in the ass is having to scan all those negs myself, which I can do here.
 
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