My Bottle of HC-110 Finally Died

RattyMouse · Feb 25, 2015

After god knows how many rolls of film developed, I finally drained my bottle of HC-110. I shoot a lot of film and it took me maybe 1.5 years to use up a whole 1 liter bottle (I used dilution E 99% of the time). When purchased the syrup had a light yellow or amber color to it. The sample I pulled from the bottle yesterday was a very very dark, almost electric red color. The amount of oxidation that had taken place was quite severe. The viscosity of the fluid was noticeably higher than fresh fluid. It almost seemed a semi-gel at times. Regardless, the negatives that I made yesterday looked spectacular. I dont think you can find a more bullet proof developer than HC-110. I stored the stuff in the original bottle, making no effort at all to control oxygen content at all.

Next up, I'm going to try the Ilford equivalent to HC-110. I'm told that the results that this developer produces are the same.

Dennis S · Feb 25, 2015

I had just purchased a 1 liter bottle myself and asked a few dedicated film users if I should decant to save the life of it. They both told me it was not worth the time and trouble to do that but I had a 475 ml empty bottle and did it anyways to keep it from contamination. I usually use the H or F dilutions as well. Bullet proof ?

frank · Feb 25, 2015

Sorry for your lose. My condolences.

Richard S. (rich815) · Feb 25, 2015

I usually go thru a bottle every 6-8 months. My current one is almost done and the liquid is plopping out in a deep orange-red, semi-gelatinous goop. Works perfectly. Still have 5-6 sealed bottles of the old stuff I got from B&H when the new bottles were first introduced.

SchwinnParamount · Feb 25, 2015

Mr. Ratty Mouse,

Can you not get a fresh bottle there where you are? If you long for another and cannot source one in the far east, I will put in the first $10 toward another for you. I'm sure APUGgers in the USA would supply the balance of the cost of bottle + shipping... if lack of suppliers there prevent you from enjoying what is surely your favorite developer.

Schwinn

RattyMouse · Feb 25, 2015

Richard Sintchak (rich815) said:
I usually go thru a bottle every 6-8 months. My current one is almost done and the liquid is plopping out in a deep orange-red, semi-gelatinous goop. Works perfectly. Still have 5-6 sealed bottles of the old stuff I got from B&H when the new bottles were first introduced.

Dang that's a lot of film you process! Do you use Dilution B? I had absolutely no issues with Dilution E which uses much less concentrate per roll of film. That helped extend my bottle for a good half year I bet.

Of course, if you have 6 bottles in reserve, saving concentrate isnt a high priority probably!

RattyMouse · Feb 25, 2015

SchwinnParamount said:
Mr. Ratty Mouse,

Can you not get a fresh bottle there where you are? If you long for another and cannot source one in the far east, I will put in the first $10 toward another for you. I'm sure APUGgers in the USA would supply the balance of the cost of bottle + shipping... if lack of suppliers there prevent you from enjoying what is surely your favorite developer.

Schwinn

I can buy another bottle of HC-110 if I wanted to. Kodak does not sell to the Chinese market but their products still get here by unofficial channels. We get gray market Kodak products. My bottle of HC-110 was clearly labeled "For Sale in the USA Only". I bought this at Shanghai's #1 pro photography store. No official Kodak chemicals!!!

I am changing over to Ilford chemicals so that is why I am not replacing my HC-110.

heespharm · Feb 25, 2015

But iford film work so well with hc110... Either way there's a reason I keep two bottles of rodinal and hc110... Lasts forever... And they are my favorite next to pyrocat

RattyMouse · Feb 25, 2015

heespharm said:
But iford film work so well with hc110... Either way there's a reason I keep two bottles of rodinal and hc110... Lasts forever... And they are my favorite next to pyrocat

I am certain that Ilford chemicals work just as well on Ilford Films as HC-110 does.

SchwinnParamount · Feb 25, 2015

RattyMouse said:
I am certain that Ilford chemicals work just as well on Ilford Films as HC-110 does.

Oh, don't be so sure of that, Mr. Mouse. The Great Yellow Father knows (or knew) all.

RattyMouse · Feb 25, 2015

SchwinnParamount said:
Oh, don't be so sure of that, Mr. Mouse. The Great Yellow Father knows (or knew) all.

Well, I'll know soon enough when I get my bottle of Ilfotec HC. It will go right next to my bottle of Ilfotec DD-X.

peter k. · Feb 25, 2015

very very dark, almost electric red color. The amount of oxidation that had taken place was quite severe.

yep.. I beat that problem by storing into two smaller bottles, and each time after using some, put in a couple of marbles, to keep the air out. Works great..

Richard S. (rich815) · Feb 25, 2015

peter k. said:
yep.. I beat that problem by storing into two smaller bottles, and each time after using some, put in a couple of marbles, to keep the air out. Works great..

But it's not a problem so why bother?

Richard S. (rich815) · Feb 25, 2015

RattyMouse said:
Dang that's a lot of film you process! Do you use Dilution B? I had absolutely no issues with Dilution E which uses much less concentrate per roll of film. That helped extend my bottle for a good half year I bet.

Of course, if you have 6 bottles in reserve, saving concentrate isnt a high priority probably!

I use Dilution H about 90% of the time, Dilution B otherwise.

peter k. · Feb 25, 2015

Richard Sintchak (rich815) said:
But it's not a problem so why bother?

Ha.. gotta do something with my marbles ...

Colin Corneau · Feb 25, 2015

Just don't lose them or you'll end up like me.

Offhand question: why use different dilutions with HC-110? Dilution B, E, etc etc.

Neil Souch · Feb 25, 2015

I have used HC 110 occasionally over the years and my present one litre (with approximately 33% left) must be at least 10 years old. The colour is still good and the results are good - I should be using it more! I last used HC 110 a week ago with some 35mm TRiX @ 1:49 and the negs were excellent. I have resolved to start using it more and will try to do just that using the 1:49 dilution which I prefer to use over the official established dilutions.

Neil.

heespharm · Feb 25, 2015

Colin Corneau said:
Just don't lose them or you'll end up like me.

Offhand question: why use different dilutions with HC-110? Dilution B, E, etc etc.

Look at covingtoninnovations website... Pretty much all the hc110 info is there

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Richard S. (rich815) · Feb 25, 2015

Neil Souch said:
I have used HC 110 occasionally over the years and my present one litre (with approximately 33% left) must be at least 10 years old. The colour is still good and the results are good - I should be using it more! I last used HC 110 a week ago with some 35mm TRiX @ 1:49 and the negs were excellent. I have resolved to start using it more and will try to do just that using the 1:49 dilution which I prefer to use over the official established dilutions.

Neil.

I use dil H more for its longer times and help foster more consistently.

RattyMouse · Feb 25, 2015

Colin Corneau said:
Just don't lose them or you'll end up like me.

Offhand question: why use different dilutions with HC-110? Dilution B, E, etc etc.

Why use more than you have to? All dilutions past B are lower in concentration. This gives you longer development times, if you like that, as well as less syrup usage, thus lowering your costs.

Nige · Feb 25, 2015

I have a bottle of HC-110 Replenisher that someone gave to me some time ago. I can't remember where it came from. I've used it a few times (on experiments) and it works fine. Would be interesting to know how old it is. I must examine the bottle for some date code or something that might give a clue!

Richard S. (rich815) · Feb 25, 2015

Nige said:
I have a bottle of HC-110 Replenisher that someone gave to me some time ago. I can't remember where it came from. I've used it a few times (on experiments) and it works fine. Would be interesting to know how old it is. I must examine the bottle for some date code or something that might give a clue!

Th HC-110 replenisher was discontinued in 2009 I believe so at least that old...

Nige · Feb 26, 2015

Richard Sintchak (rich815) said:
Th HC-110 replenisher was discontinued in 2009 I believe so at least that old...

Sounds reasonable, maybe it wasn't as old as I thought when I got it. It's a dark rusty brown colour. Batch (?) code on it looks like 147O4R which doesn't tell me much! I also have a bottle of Rodinal 'Special' that looks very old. Can't remember if I've ever tried any of that... I should try it for giggles

SLVR · Feb 26, 2015

I have a 1l bottle I picked up a couple months ago. After snooping around on apug I decided to decant it into smaller bottles, 1 500ml, 2 250ml then mix from concentrate. Haven't had any problems yet!

So far I'm having great luck with dil b.

never had any developer change color and oxidize too crazily. Maybe some ilfosol 3 I had turned a little brown before it died but I've mostly worked with Xtol prior and used it up before it spoiled most of the time.

pschauss · Feb 26, 2015

I have some HC-110 in one of the old style bottles. It is bright red and it is down to a level where the bottle looks empty. After my last trip, I developed six rolls of Tri-X 120 plus a couple of rolls of 35mm. Every time I go to develop a roll of film I look at the bottle and think that it's time to open the new one sitting behind it but I still manage to get another 10 ml out of it. For a person like me who might use it once a week at most, it's great stuff.

My Bottle of HC-110 Finally Died

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