Xtol Questions

[IanBarber]

Have I killed my Replenished Xtol?
From my 1000ml working replenished Xtol, I used 600ml to process 1 roll of film.
After the development, I must have had a mental block and rather than pour the developer back into the working solution bottle, I poured it down the sink.

Now my working solution is 600ml short. Can I simply replenish with a further 600ml and carry on or do I need to start all over again?

Xtol Development Times
My main film is Fomapan which according to the Big Dev Chart requires a development time for (stock) @ 20 degrees to be around 6 minutes.

Due to the reciprocity of this type of film and the fact that it builds up contrast quickly, I wanted to try and reduce the high values by reducing development time but at the suggested 6 minutes, I don't have much time to play with before I go under the 5 minute marker.

Any advice welcome.

Ian

 

[MattKing]

If you add 600 ml of "new" X-Tol to your remaining "seasoned" X-Tol the result will initially be slightly more active than 1000 ml of "seasoned" X-Tol. That will settle down to normal after 3-4 cycles (rolls) of development plus replenishment.
Replenished X-Tol will generally behave much like X-Tol 1+1 when it comes to development times. So it is usually better to use it with X-Tol 1+1 times as the starting time with new films.
The "5 minute" warning is a good one to heed but it isn't a hard and fast rule. You can use shorter times, as long as you are meticulous in your technique. The recommendation against the shorter times arises because of the relative difficulty of maintaining consistency from roll to roll.

 

[IanBarber]

Thanks Matt for the reply.

I will keep what I have then instead of mixing a new batch and let it settle down. Regarding the times, I will try the 1+1.

Thanks

 

[Sirius Glass]

Yes, what Matt said.

 

[Chris Livsey]

What would you have normally added back? It doesn't sound as bad if you take that off the 600ml
As above no problem, unless you are running tests replenishment is a good guess on added volume I would say after a couple of runs you won't tell the difference I would just deduct a bit of time as it will run slightly "hot" but I doubt I would add a minute, TBH I would pretend it hadn't happened, unless you run control strips and pH and densitometers there is probably more variability in your exposures, unless you are meticulously spot reading every frame.

 

[Ryuji]

If you wanted to go close to where you were, you could top up with fresh XTOL and an appropriate amount of bromide. I don't remember top off my head but seasoned XTOL was operating at 0.75g/l KBr or 1g/l or something of that order. You can find out that value and 0.4x that.

 

[Chris Livsey]

If you wanted to go close to where you were, you could top up with fresh XTOL and an appropriate amount of bromide. I don't remember top off my head but seasoned XTOL was operating at 0.75g/l KBr or 1g/l or something of that order. You can find out that value and 0.4x that.

Or just expose a couple of rolls to the light and process those, no need to waste fixer.

 

[John Wiegerink]

Or just expose a couple of rolls to the light and process those, no need to waste fixer.

Follow what Chris says above and you'll be very close to the original working solution for replenished Xtol. My batch has been going for a long time and still works like a champ.