XTOL shelf life report

Joel_L · Jul 13, 2014

Hi,

I had seen various threads on the shelf life of XTOL. Last January I switched from HC-110 ( lasts forever ) to XTOL. I have liked the combination of XTOL with FP4+ but was not sure how long it would last. I mixed my XTOL at twice the concentration listed so that my working strength is mixed 1+3. I have the XTOL stored in brown glass bottles and purge with Argon after each time the bottle is opened. The XTOL is now 6 months old an I just ran a roll of film with normal results. If the XTOL will go a full year, I will be happy with that shelf life.

FYI

Joel

PKM-25 · Jul 13, 2014

It takes you a year to go through a 5L batch of Xtol? Help support film companies: shoot more film...

Ektagraphic · Jul 13, 2014

I mixed some XTOL longer ago than I can seem to remember...It was probably December/January and I just used it last night with results that seem to be very satisfactory. It seems to have held its own very well. I was storing it in the Delta Data-Tainer bottles with no special way to keep air from getting in, although the bottles were close to full.

destroya · Jul 13, 2014

my last batch didnt get used as much as I switched to another developer. even after a year the negs came out great, stored in a brown glass bottle. my current batch is stored in a wine bag so no air gets to it. I suspect it could go longer than a year that way

bdial · Jul 13, 2014

Mine is a year plus, was fine for the rolls I processed, but some of it is growing things and it's getting retired.
I use the replenish method, so I don't use very much for each roll, and yes, I do need to shoot more.

PKM-25 · Jul 13, 2014

I use progressive brown glass bottles, I have one gallon, two half gallon and two half liter, seems to work fine but I go through a few batches a year when not using HC-110. It all depends on what film I am shooting...

RattyMouse · Jul 13, 2014

PKM-25 said:
It takes you a year to go through a 5L batch of Xtol? Help support film companies: shoot more film...

I've gone through a HALF bottle of HC-110 in less than 6 months. How's that for shooting enough film Dan??

BetterSense · Jul 13, 2014

My Xtol lasted over a year in a wine bladder, mixed with distilled water per kodak instructions.

Joel_L · Jul 13, 2014

Good to hear folks are getting long shelf life from XTOL. I like the developer.

Joel

Mainecoonmaniac · Jul 14, 2014

I do the same thing

BetterSense said:
My Xtol lasted over a year in a wine bladder, mixed with distilled water per kodak instructions.

I use it replenished at 70mls per roll. Wine bladders are great.

Nuff · Jul 14, 2014

Well... I have a 2L glass bottle of replenished Xtol I have not touched in a year. I filled it to the brim, so there was no air in it. I will test it in 2 or 3 weeks and see if it still works with my old times.
I have been using Ilfotec HC and DDX for the past year, so I forgot about it

Dr Croubie · Jul 14, 2014

I also kept my Xtol in a goony bag, but didn't get 6 months out of it.
Always depends on your quality of water (iron is the killer of Xtol afaik), I think I used some spring water and some tap water.
Our tap water here has a fair amount of taste to it, something you can really sink your teeth into.

BetterSense · Jul 14, 2014

If you Xtol died after 6 months, how did it die? I have been told that it does not turn brown. Do you test your Xtol before you use it every time, and if so, how?

Nuff · Jul 14, 2014

Well, I'm not sure if my xtol died, but this is how I'm going to test to see if there's point in trying to run a test roll through it, check under clip test:
http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/XTOL/index.html

Also mine unlike Dr Croubie's is mixed in distilled water.

Mainecoonmaniac · Jul 14, 2014

Yes it's the water

Dr Croubie said:
I also kept my Xtol in a goony bag, but didn't get 6 months out of it.
Always depends on your quality of water (iron is the killer of Xtol afaik), I think I used some spring water and some tap water.
Our tap water here has a fair amount of taste to it, something you can really sink your teeth into.

I use Sacramento tap water. It's Sierra Mountain snow melt. Again, my xtol last over a year. If I lived in hard water areas, I'd use distilled water.

Sirius Glass · Jul 14, 2014

Over a year of the bottle is sealed and the excess air is push out.

Dr Croubie · Jul 14, 2014

BetterSense said:
If you Xtol died after 6 months, how did it die? I have been told that it does not turn brown. Do you test your Xtol before you use it every time, and if so, how?

(there was a url link here which no longer exists) is how it died, unfortunately I didn't know about Xtol's on/off death before that. Haven't mixed up the next batch yet (not until I finish my packs of Microphen and Perceptol, then might do an xtol again), but I'll be testing it somehow, probably just clip the end and throw it in, if it goes black the dev is working, if it's clear it's dead...

Tom Duffy · Jul 14, 2014

BetterSense said:
My Xtol lasted over a year in a wine bladder, mixed with distilled water per kodak instructions.

Those XTOL and cheese parties must be fun...:munch:

Joel_L · May 18, 2015

Another update

It's been a slow year for getting out and taking photos. I went over the weekend just to see if my now almost 1.4ish year old XTOL was still good. Well, it processed just fine. I shot a roll of FP4+ and it all looked good. The XTOL is still in brown glass, this go around was mixed from a partially full bottle that was purged with Argon. The XTOL looked clear and free of floaters. I just got a new bulk roll of FP4+ and Delta 400. Hopefully I will get out more.

Joel

Gerald C Koch · May 18, 2015

BetterSense said:
If you Xtol died after 6 months, how did it die? I have been told that it does not turn brown. Do you test your Xtol before you use it every time, and if so, how?

Yes, Xtol and other ascorbate developers can lose activity without any color change. I would advise always doing a spot test on the film leader or a piece of photo paper before using it.

Ektagraphic · May 18, 2015

I actually just came across some XTOL that was probably mixed 6+ months ago that I did not use, and it turned a yellow color, and had an unpleasant odor to it. I did not even try to use it.

pentaxuser · May 18, 2015

My Xtol in winebags is now almost 22 months old and still good.

pentaxuser

Joel_L · Jan 1, 2017

My XTOL is now well over three years old. I just processed two rolls of Delta 400 in it. One was accidentally shot 1 stop under and not compensated for, one was shot properly exposed. Still seems to be going strong. Of course the fact I have 3++ year old XTOL means I' not getting out near enough.

I have dust problems drying and scanning. One of these days I'll get that sorted out. The under exposed roll was during a ski outing. I processed the film normally and it didn't look right. I shot another roll around the house making sure it was properly exposed to see if I could determine if my XTOL had finally gone bad. I'm not tossing my XTOL out yet.

The negatives were sanned on an Epson V700 with no adjustments enabled.

First two are properly exposed

These were underexposed by one stop but processed normal time for a proper exposure.

rpavich · Jan 1, 2017

Joel_L said:
My XTOL is now well over three years old. I just processed two rolls of Delta 400 in it. One was accidentally shot 1 stop under and not compensated for, one was shot properly exposed. Still seems to be going strong. Of course the fact I have 3++ year old XTOL means I' not getting out near enough.

Wow!

And yes, you need to shoot more

Cholentpot · Jan 1, 2017

So where do I find these wine bladders?

XTOL shelf life report

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