Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/12/03

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Subject: [Leica] Has this ever happened to one of you?
From: jsmith342 at cox.net (Jeffery Smith)
Date: Sun Dec 3 18:45:37 2006

It's a developer that I would like to like. The local professional darkroom
uses it, and they have given me my absolute best TRI-X negatives. I have
been storing it in 500ml amber bottles (filled to the top). But some of the
negatives I've gotten from it after 6 months have been really bad. That's
why I would rather not keep it long. It is cheap enough that I could afford
to mix new each month or two, but I hate pouring unused developer down the
drain.

Jeffery Smith
New Orleans, LA
http://www.400tx.com
http://400tx.blogspot.com/



-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+jsmith342=cox.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+jsmith342=cox.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Leonard
Taupier
Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2006 7:47 PM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: Re: [Leica] Has this ever happened to one of you?


Hello, Jeffery,

I've never had XTOL go bad on me. Maybe I'm just lucky but what I do  
is mix up the full 5 liters and then fully fill 5, 1 quart Bell  
canning jars, right to the top (a little left over for a 6th  
bottle).  I then cover each jar with the blue plastic Hellmans (Best)  
30 oz mayonnaise jar tops (remove cardboard inner liner) . I use the  
partial 6th bottle first. It is a perfect,  tight fit to the Ball  
jars. As long as the XTOL is perfectly clear, it is good. Once it  
gets a slight yellowish tint I throw it out. I have never had a full  
bottle turn, only when it gets down to the last 3 or 4 ozs.  I use  
XTOL 1:1 and generally use the 5 liters within 2 months or so (about  
28 rolls of 135). There are no local shops that carry XTOL so I buy  
it from B&H.  I also find that XTOL works pretty well with just about  
any film.

I hope this info is helpful to anyone that wants to try XTOL.

Len




On Dec 3, 2006, at 8:12 PM, Jeffery Smith wrote:

> What I like about XTOL is that it is very easy to mix. What I hate
> about it
> is that it looks perfectly good when it has died in the bottle. The  
> cure for
> that problem would be to make smaller amounts every month, but Kodak
> discontinued the small size packaging. Which brings me to the  
> Neopan 400
> question...what is the best developer to use for Neopan 400? I  
> don't like to
> use the Ilford liquid developers as they don't seem very reliable  
> (like
> XTOL, I cannot determine if they have died in the bottle on the way  
> over the
> pond).
>
> Jeffery Smith
> New Orleans, LA
> http://www.400tx.com
> http://400tx.blogspot.com/
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lug-bounces+jsmith342=cox.net@leica-users.org
> [mailto:lug-bounces+jsmith342=cox.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
> Marc
> James Small
> Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2006 5:45 PM
> To: Leica Users Group
> Subject: RE: [Leica] Has this ever happened to one of you?
>
>
> At 06:17 PM 12/3/2006, Jeffery Smith wrote:
>> The offending liquid was a sample of Arista Premium Developer from
>> Freestyle. I had no D76 on hand and tried it on some Neopan 400. I  
>> guess
>> this is why nobody I know uses Arista Premium Developer. :-0
>
> Jeffery
>
> I always keep the raw chemicals for D-76 on
> hand.  This stuff lasts forever and is quite
> inexpensive so, whenever I am caught without any
> developer on hand, I can fall back on home-made
> D-76.  (Kodak blew a marketing opportunity this
> year, as 2006 marks the 80th anniversary of
> D-76.  But then AGFA failed to do much with
> Rodinal when it turned 100 15 years ago.  And
> almost no one has noted that 2006 is the 250th
> birthday of Voigtl?nder, albeit the company
> really ceased as an independent entity when it
> was merged with Zeiss Ikon in 1966 (the 210th
> birthyear!), then passed on to Rollei in 2003,
> gutted by them, with the brand names but nothing
> else later passing to the company which licenses these to Cosina.)
>
> I like XTOL but find it almost impossible to find
> locally.  There is a home-brew recipe for that
> but I've never tried it -- you start out with
> orange juice and then you ... <he
> grins>.  Someday, I'll try out the home-brew
> recipe to see what happens.  Rodinal also lasts a
> LONG time so long as it is in glass bottles and
> not in plastic:  I have some Rodinal which must
> be 40 years old or older but which keeps on working.
>
> Marc
>
>
> msmall@aya.yale.edu
> Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
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>
>
>
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Replies: Reply from len-1 at comcast.net (Leonard Taupier) ([Leica] Has this ever happened to one of you?)
In reply to: Message from len-1 at comcast.net (Leonard Taupier) ([Leica] Has this ever happened to one of you?)