Rhodes
Time Lord
Should I use it? Is there any way to test it besides a test roll?
11th months XTOL
- Thread starter Rhodes
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Moriturii
Well-known
USE IT! Everybody wants to know now.
sevo
Fokutorendaburando
Not really - you could test the reduction potential if you had a couple of chemical reagents and test gear at hand. But a test roll would be cheaper, faster and safer.
Benjamin Marks
Veteran
Just clip off the leader of some film and throw it into developer at the dilution you plan to use. It should turn black after a couple of minutes. If it does, you can do a test roll to see if your development time is well suited for your subject. If not, discard and mix fresh.
Ben Marks
Ben Marks
Jani_from_Finland
Well-known
Can this be done in daylight or a room that is lit?
Rhodes
Time Lord
The leader test clip I already done that a few times, allways turned black and I used the dev with no problems. But next month the developer is one year old. I ordered more but it's unavaliable in the store.
RObert Budding
D'oh!
XTOL is cheap, images are valuable. I'd toss the old stuff and mix up a new batch.
Mackinaw
Think Different
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If it was stored in an airtight container, with all of the air expelled, it's probably still good. I've stored Xtol, in those accordion-style containers, for over a year.
Jim B.
Jim B.
Rhodes
Time Lord
13 euros here! No, if was stored normal, no airtight, etc. Yes, I wainting to see if the store gets the new bacth and send me my purchase!
Turtle
Veteran
If not airtight and not in a full bottle, I think you will be lucky to use this successfully, but hey, you never know. Use some old film leader to see if its still active and then decide if you want to take the risk of thin negs (assuming it still has some puff in it).
let us know!
let us know!
Benjamin Marks
Veteran
Yes. The point is the leader has already been as exposed as film can be. If it were me, and the images were important to me, I would follow the advice of the poster who said: chemicals are cheap, images are priceless. All of this is relative, of course. The film-leader test is really just one way of seeing whether there is anything chemically going on in your developer. D-76 used to turn brown and sludgy when it went bad. Ditto Dektol. Xtol, just kind of looks the same, so there is some benefit to a quick and dirty test. I don't know, though, whether it "ages" in a linear way. A test roll will tell you your true film speed with a particular developer. But if it is old, I wouldn't use that info as anything other than a starting point for your NEXT test, which should be with fresh developer.
Ben
P.S. one of the reasons folks like Rodinal and Microdol-X is that they kept basically forever in their non-diluted forms. If you are only developing film intermittently, this is something to consider. In my case, I like XTol more than those other developers and would mix it fresh, if that were an available option. Good luck. Let us know how it turns out.
B
