Outdated HC110

Chuck_P · Oct 11, 2008

I picked up a bottle of HC110 in a photo store that has gone completely digital, so it has a manufacturing date from 2002. They must have been going through inventory and found it in the back stuck it on the shelf. What is the shelf life of unopened HC110 concentrate--I know its good but how good? Perhaps more importantly, I recently made the decision to test TMX for speed and development times, so----a good idea or a bad idea to use it for that purpose? What do the APUG chemists think?

Thanks
Chuck

Ian Grant · Oct 11, 2008

Well I have Tmax dev & Ilfotec HC that must be close to their first release date in age, so over 20 years old both seem fine. HC110 is quite similar in keeping extraordinarily well so test it

Ian

DWThomas · Oct 11, 2008

If it's still relatively light in color -- not a deep brown -- I'd expect it to be OK. Obviously a quick test is a good idea. I'm almost finished the last of a bottle dated 2005, using it in one-shot doses and I've seen nothing untoward with it (that wasn't a "liveware" error!) I did subdivide said bottle into smaller containers to eliminate air from all but the "working" bottle.

DaveT

JBrunner · Oct 11, 2008

Just test it. The odds are good that it is perfectly fine. Kodak dates it, but I have had opened bottles last that long.

jim appleyard · Oct 11, 2008

Ditto the above. If really in doubt, you can use it a s a paper dev

http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/

eddym · Oct 11, 2008

I understand they found a bottle when they excavated the Pyramids, and it was still good.

Toffle · Oct 11, 2008

CPorter said:
I picked up a bottle of HC110 in a photo store that has gone completely digital, so it has a manufacturing date from 2002. They must have been going through inventory and found it in the back stuck it on the shelf. What is the shelf life of unopened HC110 concentrate--I know its good but how good? Perhaps more importantly, I recently made the decision to test TMX for speed and development times, so----a good idea or a bad idea to use it for that purpose? What do the APUG chemists think?

Thanks
Chuck

I've got cheese in the fridge with an expiration date of 2002. I suspect that your HC-110 might taste a little better at this vintage. Seriously, a manufacture date of 2002 should not be a problem, but if yoru purpose is to test the film, I would pick up a newer bottle. It's pretty inexpensive, and if you want quantifyable results, you want to know that the age of your developer is not skewing your procedure.

Cheers,

gainer · Oct 11, 2008

As has been pointed out, the date of manufacture cannot be so long ago as to allow a sealed bottle to have expired. When you test it, do not use the concentrate. It will not develop film until water is added.

Chuck_P · Oct 11, 2008

You gotta be kidding me!

gainer said:
It will not develop film until water is added.

Does my post sound that naive? That's one hell of a laugh. :rolleyes:

Eric Rose · Oct 12, 2008

There is no such thing as out-dated HC110.

Chuck_P · Oct 12, 2008

Thanks all.

I've used HC110 for a long time but never a batch that was 6yrs old as I've simply never let it hang around that long, and Kodak's tech sheets simply state "long shelf life". Good to know how long by some measures. Perhaps it goes so fast because I'm not putting water in it? .

Sorry Gainer, I guess it was meant to be helpful, but that slays me.

CP

gainer · Oct 12, 2008

CPorter said:
Does my post sound that naive? That's one hell of a laugh. :rolleyes:

I didn't know how many of you would know that. After all, how many concentrated developers do you know of that will not blacken film if you put a drop of the concentrate on a snip of exposed film?

oscroft · Oct 13, 2008

I didn't know how many of you would know that. After all, how many concentrated developers do you know of that will not blacken film if you put a drop of the concentrate on a snip of exposed film?

I didn't know that - thanks

ricksplace · Oct 13, 2008

eddym said:
I understand they found a bottle when they excavated the Pyramids, and it was still good.

Nope, that was Rodinal. HC110 lasts almost as long.

eddym · Oct 13, 2008

ricksplace said:
Nope, that was Rodinal. HC110 lasts almost as long.

Thanks for the correction.
Must have been Stonehenge.....

Outdated HC110

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