XTOL shelf life report

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Joel_L

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I work in my basement, no special made darkroom, lots of dust floating around. My first issue is just drying, especially if anyone is running around on the floor above. What I need to do is build a filtered drying cabinet. Second issue is the scanning phase. I can get the dust off everything and watch new dust pour in as I close the scanner. I have thought about trying a spray bottle and misting the area first, but the dust finds its way back before I can get things ready to scan. I miss my real darkroom.
 

pentaxuser

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A great testament to Xtol's longevity when kept airless with argon. If it is the same Xtol you mentioned in your previous post then that is almost four and a half years old now . Good as winebags are, I doubt if they'd keep it that long.

pentaxuser
 
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Joel_L

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It is the same batch, The last roll I shot was too dusty to post any scans from. They also looked a little flat to me, which I determined was a process not developer issue. So, yes, I'm very impressed with its longevity and results. It's now the only developer I use for B&W.

pentaxuser said:
A great testament to Xtol's longevity when kept airless with argon. If it is the same Xtol you mentioned in your previous post then that is almost four and a half years old now . Good as winebags are, I doubt if they'd keep it that long.

pentaxuser
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Sirius Glass

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If they look flat on a regular basis, add 10% or 15% more development time.
 
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Joel_L

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It was just the previous roll and, yes it was too short a development time. The fact the XTOL was 4 years old at the time made me wonder. Last roll ( car ) was properly processed and looks good to me.

Sirius Glass said:
If they look flat on a regular basis, add 10% or 15% more development time.
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Tim Stapp

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Just to add to this post, I'm using the non mylar recycled wine bags in a box. Looked at the date on the box, 9-19. Should be good, but I always do a clip test of developer and fix. Okay, both good.Yesterday I developed two rolls of 120, two rolls of 135 and two sheets of 4x5. Proceeded to develop in the JOBO. During the first run I looked at the date...9-1917. So, over a year in the non mylar wine bag. All the negs came out as good as my shooting allows.
 

MattKing

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pentaxuser

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MattKing said:
Wow, more than 100 years old!
I didn't know they had X-Tol during WW1.
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Yes a great pity They could have handed it free to the combatants for film developing which with some luck might have taken up all of their time. On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the end of that terrible, senseless, useless war we might not now be repeating that line that says "they do not grow old as we grow old" etc

pentaxuser
 
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Joel_L

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And it continues. For Thanksgiving I decided to fire up my live steam locomotive for my grandkids. I took a few pictures of it and developed them in my now ancient XTOL, seems to still be going strong ( I really really need to get out and shoot more, embarrassed that I can even have XTOL this old ).

Now, I thought I was hosed because I started to process the film and was working on something else at the same time. I took a look to see how the time in the developer was coming and saw the timer still at the start time ( hate when that happens ). Fortunately my internal chronograph works pretty well and the negatives came out OK.

Here is a sample from the now very old XTOL, film is FP4+.

 

Neal

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Nice. I thought my record (from the last century) of a year and a half in an accordion bottle was impressive.
 

Sirius Glass

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Neal said:
Nice. I thought my record (from the last century) of a year and a half in an accordion bottle was impressive.
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Very notable and I have done the same.
 

mshchem

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Somewhere on this site I have a thread. I think maybe the oldest XTOL stock. 11 years old in a PET soda bottle, looked like light beer. I developed a roll of HP5. I just about fainted it worked fine . Bottle got lost when we moved. I found it in a broom closet. I had to try it. No oxygen no problem. I fill the bottle to the very top. ANY air will kill it.
 

mshchem

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Joel_L said:
OK, you had an excuse, it got mis-placed. I really really hope I'm still not using this batch 5 years from now........
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No no no. I usually use up 5 liters within a year. If I find a bottle that I have left half full I toss it. I've been going through a lot lately helping friends with backlog of film. I love the stuff. It's definitely not everyone's choice. I used HC-110 replenished before XTOL . I use 1 shot because I use a Jobo now.
 

Kawaiithulhu

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Casual user stress test update: 6 months ago mixed up 5L of XTol, with hard tap water but I'm pretty sure we've got no iron contamination. Put it into 1L clear soda bottles topped off and sealed with a little saran wrap under the screw on lid.
I used one bottle over a month.
The rest just sat out in the open room, air + light + 80+ summer temps for 6 months.
Ran a clip test and then a roll of P3200 a couple weeks ago, stuff worked great.

My next test run will be after New Year's and the stuff has sat out in temps down to low 50's, and the half-bottle that I used in the previous test will get used.

So far after a year or two I have no reason to doubt XTol so this will be my last personal test and I'm satisfied.
 
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