Old HC-110, how do I test it?

[CliveC]

I've read that Kodak HC-110 ages pretty well. I'm new to developing film and I bought a bottle off somebody for $5 as part of a bigger buy of developing gear. The colour is a dark reddish colour.

Is there an easy way to test whether or not it is effective?

 

[gsgary]

I would say use the leader off a roll and see if it goes clear could be wrong never really thought about it

 

[John Bragg]

It should be fine. Mine is the colour of dark rum and works great.

 

[gsgary]

St Ives Cornwall, used to live there

 

[gsgary]

There is some good film gear upstairs at Pratt's market Hayle last time i was there he had 4 Leica 111's a Nikon S and a Nikon F boxed never used

 

[John Bragg]

Thanks for the tip. I will look in there some time. St Ives is a great place. Just a thought. is your HC-110 the 1 litre Syrup ? if it is then you are ok. Not so with the weaker european mix they used to sell. I had some fail and went to using the syrup and a syringe to dispense it.

 

[gsgary]

What am i thinking it wont clear, cut a piece of film in a changing bag and try some in a developing tank and it should go clear

 

[John Bragg]

What am i thinking it wont clear, cut a piece of film in a changing bag and try some in a developing tank and it should go clear

It should go dark, not clear. Just use a piece of leader that has been trimmed off and exposed to light.

 

[nikon_sam]

I've had this bottle for quite a while...not sure how old it is but it still works just fine...compare it to the newer bottle with an expiration date of 04-2013...

 

[gsgary]

It must be nearly as good as Rodinal my favourite

 

[sepiareverb]

I found a bottle of HC110 in my last darkroom when I moved, must have been six years old at minimum. Half-full, not even squeezed. It was fine. Late 90's Kodak started putting on a code that included the date, and mid 00's started putting 'expiration' dates on the bottles. Color is not really an indicator for HC-110, some batches are darker than others.

I'd do a clip test to be sure, a chunk off a roll you run in your regular stuff, but I'm a tester.

This is a great HC-110 resource.

 

[Dana B.]

Looks like HC-110 from Rochester may be phased out. B&H has discontinued it. The Freestyle website doesn't carry it. I called Calumet; its warehouse is out. Amazon isn't carrying it. A buddy of mine went into the Freestyle store in Hollywood last week and was told HC-110 was being sold, but under a new German formula only sold in huge containers. What the heck.

 

[znapper]

They just changed the bottle-design, Google around a bit and have a look, its the same liquid ^^

Here's an example at fotoimpex.de: http://www.fotoimpex.de/shop/fotochemie/kodak-hc-110-entwickler-1-liter.html

Here's a discussion on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/ishootfilm/discuss/72157633088053026/

Oh, and yeah, cut a piece of film-leader from a 35mm cassette (or use one you already have put in the bin), mix up a 1+31 dilution, develop normally for that particular film.

Rinse and take it out (no need to fix), it should be black (or near opaque), if it is just tinted and fully see-trough, I would not use the developer any further.

 

[ZeissFan]

I used to use a lot of HC-110 when I was shooting for newspapers. Great stuff -- very predictable.

What always irked me about Kodak was that they only provided times for Kodak films and never for Ilford or Agfa films, while Ilford and Agfa always provided developing times for Kodak, Ilford and Agfa products.

Before the Internet, you really didn't have any way of knowing how to process Agfapan 25 (for example) in D-76 or HC-110. And if you were shooting a paying job, that wasn't the time to experiment.

I don't know if that's still true today, and now that I think about it, it probably was one of the reasons why I moved away from Kodak film developers.

 

[Photo_Smith]

Looks like HC-110 from Rochester may be phased out. B&H has discontinued it. The Freestyle website doesn't carry it. I called Calumet; its warehouse is out. Amazon isn't carrying it. A buddy of mine went into the Freestyle store in Hollywood last week and was told HC-110 was being sold, but under a new German formula only sold in huge containers. What the heck.

That's false. Kodak outsourced their whole chemical business to Champion Chemical in 2006.
From the press release:
"Champion Photochemistry was chosen by Kodak after a global competition to acquire its major photochemical plant in Chalon, France and, contemporaneously, entered into a multi year supply agreement with Kodak for all of its photochemical requirements in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.


So whatever your 'buddy' was told was just silly rumours from a shop assistant that could be easily disproved with a 10 second Google search.

Kodak:
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/chemistry/bwFilmProcessing/hc110.jhtml

Some Vendors that can supply:
http://www.ag-photographic.co.uk/kodak-hc110-1l-367-p.asp

http://www.silverprint.co.uk/ProductByGroup.asp?PrGrp=5011

http://www.macodirect.de/kodak-p-299.html

You need HC110? it shouldn't be too hard to find...

 

[denpapp]

I just happened to be on the Freestyle website looking at some other things - they show HC-110 as "Currently in retail store-Shipping in 24-48 hours" - that comment for them seems kind of weird as they usually say stuff like "Low stock, being re-ordered". Sounds like there is some uncertainty about them stocking this, but I wouldn't presume to guess what it might be.

 

[Photo_Smith]

?? Surely currently in retail store shipping in 24h means just that?
If it said something like 'no stock, on back order-long lead times' then your pessimism would be possibly partly justified.
There is obviously no uncertainty about ordering a product that someone has 'in stock' with the normal retail 24-48hr shipping times – or am I missing something?

I think the type of person who sees the future of a currently stocked product as 'uncertain' is probably pessimistic in a very unhealthy way.

 

[Nokton48]

I bought a dusty bottle of HC110 locally at Midwest Photo Exchange. At Columbus Camera Group, I found some old stock HC110 Replenisher, which I bought, for no other reason, than future experimentation. Recently been mixing it with Rodinal with very successful results.