Experiences with Xtol

Freakscene said:
>concertina type bottles

Hold bubbles in the crimps and are actually worse than plain bottles. I have demonstrated this in repeated tests. Sorry.

Marty
Click to expand...

That's what's called bursting my bubble ... Damn! 😛
 
Instead of concertina bottles, and if you don't have spent wine bladders, try marbles. As you use up the developer, fill the bottle of stock with marbles until the level of solution is again at the top.
 
Trius said:
Instead of concertina bottles, and if you don't have spent wine bladders, try marbles. As you use up the developer, fill the bottle of stock with marbles until the level of solution is again at the top.
Click to expand...

I really like the idea of the spent wine bladders Earl but how do you fill them ... I know how to empty them ... well I used to before I stopped drinking. I'll have to start again now ... your fault! 😛

as for marbles ... I lost mine years ago! 🙂
 
Xtol has become my favorite developer, 1:1 is my go to dilution for Acros but 1:3 is looking realy good too.

I've only had one batch go bad, it turned yellow after 6-8 months but still worked. The images were grainy but they still came out.

Again...Xtol with Acros is really nice, esp. diluted 1:3...

2072300751_5b5e0cdd4a_o.jpg


1196340600.jpg



Good Luck,
Todd
 
maddoc said:
This looks very good to me ! I have just bought a 5l package of XTOL but not tried yet (Have to use the D76 first) Quite keen to see how XTOL will work with Tri-X (pushed to 800) In the above photo, was the Neopan rated @ true 1600 ? How often do you agitate the tank ?
Click to expand...

Thanks. This is with the film rated at 1600ASA and developed in XTOL 1+1 for 8.5 minutes at 20 degrees. Agitation is my norm (constant agitation for the first minute followed by two inversions per minute thereafter). No acid stop bath was used, just a plain water rinse (which I feel helps reduce grain clumping).

BTW, the shot above is of Chris Orwig who, if you've not heard of him, is an awesome photographer.

I love the look of this developer, but having been bitten a couple of times I'm very cautious of its storage, and don't like to keep it for too long. Of course, that's just an encouragement to shoot more film 🙂
 
Last edited:
You can test if your XTOL has gone dead by putting a few drops on the film leader. The leader should change color after a minute or so. If there is no reaction or a poor one, it's dead.
 
Last edited:
My wife buys it too

My wife buys it too

Earl,

I carefully saved a 3L wine box for this purpose. However, I can't figure out how to get the bladder open for cleaning and refilling. Any advice?

Thanks!

Wayne

Trius said:
I just mixed up a 5L batch and will use it for the first time this weekend. After mixing I poured it into a (cleaned) 5L wine bladder from box wine (MY WIFE BUYS THAT STUFF NOT ME!!!), so now I have an air-tight container with convenient pour spout and sturdy boxboard casing. I think it will match well with poached whitefish.

I'll be using the Rodinal/Xtol combo formula I got from Honus, who got it from Patrick Gainer on APUG.

Rich, if you look at Honus' work here or on flickr, he has lots of samples. Very good stuff.
Click to expand...
 
I'll put in word here against XTOL for small format films. I never found the acutance to be as good with this than with D-76. For sheet films it is my developer of choice, partly because I develop in trays, but partly for the tonality. I've always gotten better negatives with XTOL when films were exposed under tungsten light.
 
If you want to see really really nice Tri-X, shoot it iso2000 and develop it for 17:30sec at 20 or 21C with 3 inverts every 30 seconds. I promise it'll be fine grained and stunning.
 
I purchased a 2-gallon (7.5 liter) plastic storage tank from Adorama. http://www.adorama.com/PEST2G.html If you add the floating lid, you keep the oxygen out and can simply draw from the spigot as you need it. Very handy. I've yet to experience sudden death syndrome (knock on wood).

Don't be afraid to drop a bit of Rodinal in with the Xtol as well 😱

kipkeston - What dilution do you use for 2000iso Tri-X? At 17.5 min., I'm guessing it to be 1+3.
 
If you want to test Xtol for activity, buy a 200 microlitre pipette from a scientific supplier. On a film leader in ordinary room light, place a 200 microlitre drop on the emulsion side. A minute later, add another a centimetre or two away. A minute later, do the same thing. After the third drop has been on the film for a minute, rinse and fix. If you don't get a clear progression of densities in the dots where you've placed your Xtol, it's gone off. If you have a densitometer, you can quantify this.

Marty
 
Last edited:
Keith said:
I really like the idea of the spent wine bladders Earl but how do you fill them ... I know how to empty them ... well I used to before I stopped drinking. I'll have to start again now ... your fault! 😛

as for marbles ... I lost mine years ago! 🙂
Click to expand...
ROTFLMAO!!!

As I said, my wife empties them; maybe Mad Carol could be employed? (I have nothing against box wine in concept, but the stuff my wife buys is not exactly my joy. She makes a wine spritzer with it, so it is quite economical and I salute her for that.)

What I do for filling is to mix up the whole 5 liters in a large vessel. Having a meangerie of cats, I have a stash of plastic jugs that used to contain cat litter; they are quite sturdy. Once emptied and cleaned thoroughly, they serve to hold my distilled water stash, stock HCA, etc.

Once I mix the stock X-Tol (or K-Tol in my case, the Kentmere version), I then use a funnel to pour from the jug into the wine bladder. A bit tedious, but 5L is a lot for me, so it shouldn't occur too often.

Perhaps I should move to OZ and help out on the consumption end; now that you have a more reasonable PM I could entertain the idea. 😛
 
mr_phillip said:
Thanks. This is with the film rated at 1600ASA and developed in XTOL 1+1 for 8.5 minutes at 20 degrees. Agitation is my norm (constant agitation for the first minute followed by two inversions per minute thereafter). No acid stop bath was used, just a plain water rinse (which I feel helps reduce grain clumping).

BTW, the shot above is of Chris Orwig who, if you've not heard of him, is an awesome photographer.

I love the look of this developer, but having been bitten a couple of times I'm very cautious of its storage, and don't like to keep it for too long. Of course, that's just an encouragement to shoot more film 🙂
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info about your development technique and also about Chris Orwig. Very helpful and informative. I also had a look at his web site, some really really good photography !
 
Wayne: I suppose it depends on how the valve is attached to the wine bladder. I had to work a bit with a knife to pry the valve out of the mouth of the bladder. Then it's easy to rinse and fill, after which you pop the valve back in. My wife buys Alamaden Mountain Chablis ( 😱 ), other types may have a different arrangement.
 
I use Xtol for all my films, based basically on availability (the darkroom at college stores only Xtol).
I have tried a couple of different films on it with various results.
I started out with TriX and Tmax, no issues, plain satisfaction at the recommended times and dilutions.
The problem came recently when moving to Ilford: HP5+ @ 1:1 for 11 min as suggested at the massive dev.chart... became ridiculously grainy.
I discovered the problem was the agitation pattern (quite "energetic"). The last roll with HP5+ agitating twice every minute, really gently (for the 11 minutes) came out smooth and beautiful.
After reading this thread I imagine the same result could be achieved by reducing the developing time, 8.5 as someone stated before, and agitating more "efusively". correct me if wrong.
 
Honus said:
Don't be afraid to drop a bit of Rodinal in with the Xtol as well 😱
Click to expand...

Robert, how much Rodinal, & does that change the time? I'd like to try that with a single roll of (old) TMAX 3200. The roll has shots I wouldn't want to lose; maybe I should try this with a test roll.
 
Sam Elkind's [insane] Xtol/Rodinal hybrid
Xtol = 100 mL
water = 400 mL
Rodinal = 4 to 5 mL
Sam says 9 minutes works okay for Tri-X @200 @ 24C. It looked weird to me.

Marty
 
Thanks Earl

Thanks Earl

Trius said:
Wayne: I suppose it depends on how the valve is attached to the wine bladder. I had to work a bit with a knife to pry the valve out of the mouth of the bladder. Then it's easy to rinse and fill, after which you pop the valve back in. My wife buys Alamaden Mountain Chablis ( 😱 ), other types may have a different arrangement.
Click to expand...

My wife bought a Pino Grigot in a plain black box. I think that might even be the brand name. 3L is a good handy size for XTOL. She needs to buy another box & I'll help her finish it over the holidays. 😀
 
grainhound said:
Robert, how much Rodinal, & does that change the time? I'd like to try that with a single roll of (old) TMAX 3200. The roll has shots I wouldn't want to lose; maybe I should try this with a test roll.
Click to expand...

Guy,

I would probably use 1+1 Xtol and 1:100 Rodinal to start. I usually start with the times from the Massive Development Chart and use 90% of the shortest development time between the two. I try to use dilutions of each that have somewhat similar development times. I've never done TMAX, so you'd be on your own. If you want to try it with another film, drop me a PM and I will try to help.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom