[Leica] xtol question

[dlr at dlridings.se (Daniel Ridings)]

Hoppy,

I certainly agree with you about false economy! I would have dumped that 
jug without giving it further thought.

The only reason to use it is to experiment with Xtol's shelf life. That, 
the shelf life, has never been an issue with me. The 5-liter bags are a 
good size for me. I run through them at a rate of about 1 bag a month. 
That is much shorter than the 6 months storage Kodak mentions.

So, I agree about not taking any chances with developer that has been 
around about a year.

My guess, though, is that it would work just fine. It was in a full 
bottle, stored in a dark area ...

But why take the chance? I agree.

Daniel


G Hopkinson wrote:
> Daniel I agree with all that your opinions on the XTOL. I use only that 
> now myself (1:1) I've had zero problems with it myself (not
> that I'm a volume BW user). I have read a number of reports in the LUG of 
> problems.
> I was just commenting on what seemed false economy to me if you were 
> doubtful, taking any real or imagined risk to save a couple of
> dollars of chemicals and the effort of mixing the new batch.
> 
> Just my opinion of course. Probably our original poster will come back and 
> say that it was all good and I should have had faith.
> 
> Cheers
> Hoppy
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> Subject: Re: [Leica] xtol question
> 
> G Hopkinson wrote:
>> Very interesting detail from Marty.
>> But I have to say, given the XTOL reputation of rapid onset and 
>> catastrophic failure to soup, don't even mess with the current
>> batch.
> 
> XTOL's reputation of catastrophic failure is about as exaggerated as the 
> reports about Mark Twain's death that he got tired of hearing.
> 
> Here is a snippet from a commercial processor from another list:
> 
> --------------- snippet begin ------------------
> I know I am not about to change anyone's mind on their favorite and 
> least favorite
> developer but,  in defense of XTOL I will chime in.
> 
> I do custom film processing for a handful of people and have done since 
> 1981.  I switched
> to XTOL when it was the hot new developer back somewhere in the early 
> 90s.  In the early
> 80s I used FG7 mostly until I got tired of the inconsistancy and 
> switched to D76 so I could
> replenish.  Then I switched to XTOL because the people I worked with 
> wanted me to. I have
> processed well over 25,000 rolls of film in XTOL and to this day still 
> process 1000 rolls a
> year since I cut processing down to one day a week.
> 
> I have been buying the 5 liter mixes since the old packaging style and I 
> wouldn't know
> how to even guess how many packages I have bought.  NEVER a failure.  I 
> did try to switch
> back to D76 a year an a half ago because I was trying to use Plus X.  I 
> got half way through
> a batch with replenisher and dumped it as it was way out of control.
> 
> What XTOL does is give beautifully glowing tones especially on the 
> modern films.  It is
> beautiful with ACROS, TMAX 100 and TMAX 400 and Delta 100.  It is very 
> sharp and fine
> grain and consistent over a long period of time.  I use the extended 
> time system for a tank
> of developer that I run to 150 rolls.  That is about 3 liters of 
> developer stock.  I keep the
> developer in the processing tank with a floating lid and don't even 
> worry about the length
> of time between mixes. Even after a 3 week vacation I take it for 
> granted it is still good.
> 
> The sudden death syndrome I think was related to a few instances with 
> the old packaging
> and I wonder how long it has been since anyone had that problem.
> 
> Anyway I am not a KODAK rep and I don't care what developer you like but 
> I am very happy
> with XTOL as is the main pro lab here in town.
> 
> Dennis
> 
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