XTOL Problem

venchka said:
PS: I mix Xtol with distilled water and store in an air free enviornment.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

I buy a 5 liter canister of distilled water and put the canister in the kitchen sink filled with warm water and after half an hour I check temperature. First I pour the content of bag 'A' in the canister, close and shake the canister. Repeat with bag 'B'. Skake well, let it rest for a while, shake again, repeat until all particles are dissolved. Then I put the developer into brown glass bottles, add some butane gas and store it in the darkroom. Don't forget to add a label so that you know when you mixed your developer.

By the way, the 'sudden death' problem only occured with Tmax 100 films, 1:3 dilution, 1 liter packages and small tanks. But some people managed to create their own sudden death developer by mixing or storing it badly and giving an old bottle ('I think that is the developer') a chance to ruin an important film. If you are in doubt test the developer. If it's bad discard it, XTol is a very cheap developer.

From my experience, distilled water is a good choice in many ways. I started that when I lived in a place with ferrous water. A while ago, I saw some reports from people that wondered about tiny white or black spots in their images and assumed emulsion defects, but they only occured when they used tab water. It seems that some ingredients in our tab water were not anticipated by our film and chemistry suppliers.
 
Sorry i am offtopic in the conversation 😀, but i used it a couple days ago and everything worked out ok. I shaked the bottle, then i filtered the remaining particles with a coffee filter.
 
M like Leica M6 said:
I buy a 5 liter canister of distilled water and put the canister in the kitchen sink filled with warm water and after half an hour I check temperature. First I pour the content of bag 'A' in the canister, close and shake the canister. Repeat with bag 'B'. Skake well, let it rest for a while, shake again, repeat until all particles are dissolved.
Click to expand...

I think it is a good idea to modify this process for better developer stability:

Just like James Bond wants his Martini "stirred, not shaken", XTOL should be mixed with a minimum of oxygen dissolved in the end product. AFAIK any developer is prone to deterioration by oxygen, and by shaking the mixture, your are effectively pre-aging your newly prepared developer!

May I suggest you try the following approach:
  1. Take a clean 9l (~ 2.3 gallons) bucket. Anything larger than 6 liters / 1.85 gallons will do.
  2. Add 4 liters (1.05 gallons) of demineralized water, making sure to keep the water inside the prescribed temperature range. Higher temperatures ease the powder dissolving process, but might damage the developer's chemical composition..
  3. Add component A into the water
  4. Stir mixture using a glass or plastic stick, taking care not to agitate the mixture too intensely so that air bubbles get immersed in the liquid. The trick is to stir with a large radius around the center of the bucket. This produces a vortex without sucking air bubbles into the solution. If the radius of your stirring motion is too small, the vortex will become much deeper, increasing the risk of pulling in air bubbles.
  5. Stirring in the way described above helps to collect undissolved powder in the center of the bucket. You will find that material with larger grain size will dissolve more slowly. By collecting that material in one spot, you can then pound the powder remains using your glass or plastic stick to help dissolve them.
  6. Repeat the procedure with the B component.
  7. Fill up with demineralized water to obtain 5 liters (1.32 gallons) and stir (don't shake).
  8. Store developer in brown bottles, either filling them up to the brim or using inert gas to avoid further exposure to oxygen.
Enjoy!
 
Last edited:
#4 & #5 above are the key. Works like a charm. When I emptied my remaining 13 month & 2 weeks old Xtol last weekend it was crystal clear.
 
Arjay said:
May I suggest you try the following approach....
Click to expand...
That's pretty much what I do, even using brown glass bottles for storage, since about 2006. So far--*knock on wood*--I've never had a problem. Though, I tend to batch my developments doing at least 8 rolls at a time, and always do a simple little test with the cut off film leader first just to be safe.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom