Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/03/26

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Help! Perplexing development problem (D400/Xtol)
From: Henning Wulff <henningw@archiphoto.com>
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 09:52:02 -0800
References: <B6E419A3.89F8%john@pinkheadedbug.com> <p05010403b6e485a20c91@[209.53.33.7]> <f05010429b6e4ea5e6448@[195.64.98.44]>

At 2:59 PM +0200 3/26/01, Christer Almqvist wrote:
>Hello Henning
>
>please let me know how you do a developer snip test . Do you use the 
>film leader for this? (I use the leader for a hypo snip test.) How 
>long do you develop? Can development time be shortened as the film 
>has gotten so much exposure? Do you do the test in a cup/glass or in 
>the tank? Is there a standard to compare with, like when fixing time 
>has doubled it is time to throw away the hypo? (BTW I store my 5 
>liters of Xtol in dark brown glass one liter bottles. It has never 
>gone bad yet and the maximum storage time has been nine months. Now 
>we shall see if the it has been so cold that the bottles I left in 
>France have cracked.
>
>Regards
>Chris
>
>>
>>My method of storing it (I use the 5 litre size) is to put it into 
>>used apple juice boxes. These are 6 litre boxes with a plastic bag 
>>with dispenser spout on the inside. I fill them up, squeeze all the 
>>air out, and then set them up so that I can decant whatever 
>>quantity of stock developer I want, without letting any air in. The 
>>longest I've had one of these is 9 months, and it still worked. The 
>>last time or two I used it I did a snip test just for developer 
>>action. I was using some other developers in between, but usually I 
>>use it all within a month or two.
>>
>
>Christer Almqvist
>D-20255 Hamburg, Germany and/or
>F-50590 Regnéville-sur-Mer, France

I use a plastic film cannister (a Fuji Neopan 1600 grey one). Into 
that I put about a single shot off a roll of Plus-X (cheap and 
develops quickly) on which I have 36 identical shots of a grey scale. 
The emulsion is towards the inside, so it doesn't matter if the 
outside sticks to the can. Into that I pour straight developer, then 
develop, fix - don't bother with wash, and inspect. It's easy to tell 
if the developer is good. I've done this for a long time with other 
developers, as in years past I've succumbed to trying to use old 
developer and regretted it. It do this whenever I have any doubts. 
The whole process takes about 6 minutes or so. I keep the exposed 
roll in another film cannister; scratches are of no concern.

- -- 
    *            Henning J. Wulff
   /|\      Wulff Photography & Design
  /###\   mailto:henningw@archiphoto.com
  |[ ]|     http://www.archiphoto.com

In reply to: Message from Johnny Deadman <john@pinkheadedbug.com> ([Leica] Help! Perplexing development problem (D400/Xtol))
Message from Henning Wulff <henningw@archiphoto.com> (Re: [Leica] Help! Perplexing development problem (D400/Xtol))
Message from Christer Almqvist <christer@almqvist.net> (Re: [Leica] Help! Perplexing development problem (D400/Xtol))