Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/06/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Tim Atherton wrote: > > I've been trying to search the archives for Mark's instructions on how he > stores Xtol... but the archives don't seem to produce any posts prior to > 2003? > > Anyone have the message? (Mark?) > > + anyone know why I'm only getting 2003 posts back? > > A Bark from Mark: The people from the Smithsonian were nice enought to send over some of my old papers in the vacume tube. Here they are in free flow form! Taken from a bunch of posts, I took the quotes out and made the line endings not short. People seem have have trouble believing this concept and get lazy on it. Their Xtol is sitting there in half filled bottles. Lots of "failures" I've heard about on the internet have been from that. Lots. I can tell you what works for me is pouring out my Xtol into 250 ml bottles which are used as one shots in one liter metal tanks. There is no temptation to have your xtol oxidize in a partially filled bottle. Another thing i though of last week is what if your container you mix up your Xtol in had some fixer in it or something else. It could be Xtol has less tolerance to contamination. I use a mixing container marked "Xtol." it's the only chemical that gets poured in there. I generally do that with all fixers and developers. 100 ml per roll minimum stock only so far seem to apply to T Max 100 or Delta 3200 which develop to extinction and cant pick up enough density no matter how much longer you give it. If i were you I'd not use the small can for anything. I use mine to scoop Sulfite. Never run anything smaller than a one liter tank. Shot 4 quick rolls and run it in the liter tank. Which film? Email me for times or call me. Get the 5 liter Xtol not the 1 liter. Get 5 - 1 liter brown glass bottles from a laboratory supply company and a few half and quarter liter ones, get a 8 liter 3 dollar plastic bucket to mix up your Xtol at room temperature and pour it into those bottles with a nice little funnel. Have them all marked "Xtol" ahead of time. In a one liter tank you can use quarter liter bottles of Xtol as one-shots. Line them all up on your darkroom shelf they will make you feel good. As i run lots of 2 liter tanks i have lots of half liter bottles pre poured out. I pour out 6 large 500 ml bottles for processing 2 liter tanks 8 small 250 ml bottles for processing 1 liter tanks __________________________________ Dont order the one liter. They have problems. Order the 5 liter and aslo order 5 one liter glass bottles and a few half and quarter liter bottels. you cant store the stuff with air in the bottles they have to be ALWAYS filled to the top. you to get into xtol you have to do the thing with the bottles. some use a wine bladder but that does not appeal to me. I've got a line of bottles all marked "Xtol" on my self. AS i go 1:3 and often use 2 liter tanks i mix up 6 large 500ml bottles for processing 2 liter tanks 8 small 250ml bottles for processing 1 liter tanks i think use those bottles as one shots. It's worth it. Mark _________________________________________ The popular dilution on the lug for Xtol is 1:3. This will give you more sharpness and edge effects then 1:2 or 1:1 or certainly straight. It will still give you almost invisible grain with most films. Any grain you DO see with be tight and regular. So Give the 1:3 a try and see how you like it. It is raved about often here on the Lug and mentioned in "The Film Developing Cookbook" by Anchell Troop; a LUG Bible… perhaps pour out your Xtol into 250 ml bottles to use as one-shots. You don't want air touching your Xtol during storage. Don't get the one liter packets, get the 5 liter packets. The negs from 1:3 are very easy to print. Very smooth. > You use metal tanks and reels? I commonly run 4 reels in a liter metal > tank and have no problem. > > By the way I do like Delta but have swithced to Neopan films. The 100, > 400 and 1600. _______________________________________________________ I'm at 1:3 as i just posted but now I'm reading this... with a metal tank and reels each reel gets a quarter of a liter; 250 mls so at 1:3 like I use that's 62.5 mls of Xtol. A bit below your 75 mls... so something funny is going on. Five liter packet? glass bottles none kept partially filled? 1:2 with my metal tanks and reels would delelver 83.3 of Xtol 1:1 with my metal tanks and reels would delelver 125 of Xtol By the way, it's iron in the water that might be the culprit for problems. If you know you have lots of iron in your water (how would you know that?!) then don't even TRY not using distilled water. Although Iron might be one of the more easy things an on line filter takes out. I have on line filters i got from Calumet. (Which I've always thought of as a photo plumbing store) Also it is important i think to mix up your chemicals not in very hot water but in the range listed on the packet. If you get much hotter than the hottest recommended I can see how that would not be good for Ascorbic acid derivatives. IK put mine in the middle of the range but i cant recall what that temperature is. I've been using Xtol for three and a half years and no problems, certainly no "failures." My Xtol is stored in small brown glass bottles filled to the top with no air pockets right under the cap. And in filtered Portland Water which is pretty good water to the extent that it is pretty foolish to buy those bottled waters here. Unless like me you've got lead pipes. My condolences. But I'm not completely sure this is "Xtol failure." Nor am I sure there is such a thing. Xtol needs to be handled in ways people who are used to D76 have trouble coming to terms with. I think there may be a reason for the Xtol to have oxidized. I tend to think like that. Things happen for reasons. If it was D76 when it was dead it would be brown. You'd not use it then. It would not have failed you and your film. But as it's Xtol interestingly it stays perfectly clear. And that's most of the problem. Xtol sure fails to warn us it had oxidized or died for whatever reason! But those reasons eventually present themselves from all the people I've talked to and pretty quick. At least so far. _________________________ Notice for a liter tank filled with 35mm rolls I'm only getting 62.5 mls of Xtol per roll! For a few years now. The Kodak swat team (yellow jumpsuits and red baseball hats) have not broken down my door yet! It's possible my times are a few minutes more than what Kodak are. I'm at near exhaustion with my developer which is a good thing. By the way this WAS a problem also with Delta 3200 which i know go 1;1 on But i have had great luck with 62.5 mls per roll which is 1:3 with Delta 400(older) and 100. Tri X. Tri X professional and Plus X professional, Neopan 100, 400 and 1600. I'd be amazed in a conflict with Agfa films and the other older Ilford films. Sharp excellent negs and if you read the Anchell and Troop stuff and some other stuff it seems to be the "classic" dilution the better smarter people are using. It's the most you can dilute without running into trouble which is generally the way to go. The most you can dilute without getting into too much grain or un even development. Or loss of film speed. You get excellently optimal compensation at this dilution. The highlights don't block up while the shadows can contine to build up density throughout your development cycle; till you agitate again. This translates to maximum film speed. Which tends to be the speed indicated on the outside of the box, no more or less. Mark Rabiner Portland, Oregon USA http://www.rabinergroup.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html