Ted Striker
Well-known
That must be nasty looking stuff. My 2 year old bottle is half gelatinous, and so dark red that dilution E (1:48) is still a dark brownish liquid.
Ted Striker
Well-known
I'm on pace to shoot up to 8 rolls of film this year. In past years I'd run out and buy a few liters of HC-110, but with this new pace of shooting, I think my unopened liter will last me several decades.
zuiko85
Veteran
I decant HC-110 into 4oz amber bottles as soon as I open a new bottle. Then mix from one 4oz until empty. My syrup changes color a little, looking more orange with age, but results are consistent every time. I use dil. H usually.
I feel like a dummy for not knowing this but, the last time I wanted to develop some photo paper, size 4X5, my last Ilford paper developer had died. In a quandary as what to do, I thought ‘hey, why not try try the HC-110’ so I mixed dil. B and it worked just fine. I developed 12 sheets of paper in a small tray with about 8oz of solution and it wasn’t slowing down noticeably on the last sheet.
I feel like a dummy for not knowing this but, the last time I wanted to develop some photo paper, size 4X5, my last Ilford paper developer had died. In a quandary as what to do, I thought ‘hey, why not try try the HC-110’ so I mixed dil. B and it worked just fine. I developed 12 sheets of paper in a small tray with about 8oz of solution and it wasn’t slowing down noticeably on the last sheet.
Ted Striker
Well-known
How long does it take you to go through a liter?
jawarden
Well-known
I could see how some customers would want that developer to last several years.
Corran
Well-known
Okay I know a lot of folks here nowadays don't shoot enough film but seriously, 30 years? Do you even make photographs?
luuca
Well-known
that's odd... my bottle is 3y old, full at 80% and looks like new (color and density)
do you stock it in the fridge? I let it on the shelf (but no light hits it)
luuca
Well-known
for example I usually shot color.
hc110 is for some random bw I do sometimes...
with 10ml I develop 2 rolls... that's 200 rolls per liter... 1 roll each month.
it's more than 16 years.
Ted Striker
Well-known
Nope, I dont store my HC-110 in the fridge. It's in the basement, near all my tanks and reels. It is almost as dark and thick as blood now. Truly a vile liquid, I was scared to use it this weekend as I was worried that finally it would not work. But it did, just as a fresh bottle would have. HC-110 is bullet proof!
zuiko85
Veteran
Well, in the last 10 years I've used about 1.5L. But I've slowed down on regular B&W film and go on a binge now and then exposing 4~6 36X rolls over a week or two. Compared to my youth (I'm 70 now) it's hardly anything. In my early twenty's a hundred feet of Tri-X usually lasted 2 or three weeks. On one occasion I exposed 100 feet in one day at the
Formula V races at Elkhart Lake racetrack.
Shooting two half frame Pen F bodies.
I do use photo paper as a negative in 4X5, very easy to load and develop because it can be handled under safelight, requires very minimal equipment and you can expose develop and contact print all in the same day.
Oh well.
Ted Striker
Well-known
I spent several summers of my youth at Elkhart Lake. One of my all time favorite photos was shot in turn 5 at Road America at an Indy Car race. I sure wish I had the negative to that shot! That was a looong time ago.
Freakscene
Obscure member
Oxygen dissolves more and better in water than in the organic solvents that made up 'old' HC-110. This means that it is most likely that the new aqueous HC-110 will oxidise more quickly than the old organic solvent formulation. Kodak uses antioxidants to minimise oxidation but typically they have limits to their efficiency and for how long they protect against oxidation.
A couple of things to note: the HC-110 I have used has always had an expiry date. Kodak never claimed it lasted indefinitely. In my experience it was very long lived but I did need to periodically recalibrate it, but the bottle I still use expired in 1995.
Kodak's estimates for longevity of stock solutions may be nearer to the mark for the longevity of the new aqueous formulation.
I have the skills and access to the equipment to synthesize the organic compounds in the 'no-water' HC-110, but, I suspect, like Kodak has found, there is probably little profit in manufacturing small batches of no-water HC-110.
Marty
Ted Striker
Well-known
Oxidation occurs very easily in a non aqueous environment. I can see HC-110 start oxidizing very shortly after the bottle has been opened the first time. What the absence of water does is prevent chemical reactions (such as acid base reactions), due to a lackof solvent. Without a solvent such as water, chemical reactions are either extremely slow or non existent.
Freakscene
Obscure member
The glycols and organic amines that are the liquid base of HC-110 are solvents. They are what the dimezone-s and KBr are dissolved in. The solvents are polar, like water, but the differences between them and water are that they are aprotic and have much lower capacity to dissolve oxygen. They therefore prevent both oxidative and acid-base reactions, but the failure of aqueous HC-110 analogues is usually due to oxidation of dimezone-s.
Marty
Ted Striker
Well-known
Glycols and water are not automatically interchangeable. They may both be solvents, but they do not have the same qualities.
yossarian123
Sam I Am
Does anyone have data or hands on experience with the new stuff? I'm having a hard time finding actual real world data from the film community.
Freakscene
Obscure member
It hasn’t been out long enough for anyone to provide use based longevity information.
I just bought some of the old stuff. Given that I only use HC-110 for old film, it should last me long enough.
Marty
yossarian123
Sam I Am
I just bought some of the old stuff from b&h. Five minutes later the site is showing that it's discontinued. And it's not taking any additional orders. ��
Hoping my order didn't get canceled.
I'm not super worried about longevity since I burn through it pretty quickly. I mostly want to see how it compares during actual development against tri-x and double - X.
Hoping my order didn't get canceled.
I'm not super worried about longevity since I burn through it pretty quickly. I mostly want to see how it compares during actual development against tri-x and double - X.
Ted Striker
Well-known
It is still very shocking that Kodak has discontinued HC-110. Some things you think will be around forever. As soon as you think that, then it's gone.
The new formula is NOT HC-110, no matter what Kodak calls it. The chemical changes are so substantial that it is objectively significantly different.
yossarian123
Sam I Am
I spent time today looking at the data sheets for old and new. It's odd that the formula is different but the processing time + dilution appears to be identical to the old version.