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  #11  
Old 1st September 2016, 01:10 PM
alexmuir alexmuir is offline
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I actually have two unopened bottles of the original Paterson brew. They came as part of a bundle of darkroom kit. Given Pete's unfortunate experience, I have decided not to use them. Perhaps I should offer them to a Collector via eBay! It seems that anything can pass as collectable nowadays.
Alex.
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  #12  
Old 1st September 2016, 07:07 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alexmuir View Post
I actually have two unopened bottles of the original Paterson brew. They came as part of a bundle of darkroom kit. Given Pete's unfortunate experience, I have decided not to use them. Perhaps I should offer them to a Collector via eBay! It seems that anything can pass as collectable nowadays.
Alex.
Alex, before you make your fortune on e-bay as a seller of "collectables" , you might want to try a film leader in the developer. I have found this leader test to be pretty reliable. I develop for the correct time then fix for maybe a minute and give it a quick rinse. If the leader is black to the extent of only being able to see a clear incandescent bulb's filament wires as orange instead of a white hot glare then the developer might well be good.

Mike
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  #13  
Old 1st September 2016, 08:34 PM
alexmuir alexmuir is offline
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Thanks Mike. I may give that a try.
Alex
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  #14  
Old 2nd September 2016, 11:29 AM
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yes Thanks from ME too --- I will try that as I have some un=opened Acutol and Acuspeed in 250ml plastic Paterson containers.
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  #15  
Old 2nd September 2016, 04:33 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Yes, I have used this several times with Xtol so it does seem to work. Xtol is said to show no change of colour when exhausted so gives no warning so a test is highly recommended. Actually the "no colour change" isn't entirely true in my opinion as the last time I tried the leader test with it, it had turned a pale yellow as opposed to the colour of water and sure enough it then failed the leader test.

Mike
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  #16  
Old 2nd September 2016, 10:26 PM
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Martin Aislabie Martin Aislabie is offline
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I don't want to sound harsh but this is all too familiar tale.

All liquid developers have a short shelf life (12 months max in an unopened bottle) and powders like ID11 have a storage life of only 3 years.

So the lesson is - throw away any donated/inherited developer - its not worth the cost of a lost film.

Stop is much more long lasting and can be used if the indicator dye is still the right colour.

Personally, I don't trust fix in a sealed bottle that is more than 24 months old - but may be that's just me.

If you ever are unsure about your developer activity - get a strip of 35mm film and put a drop of the developer in question on to it and watch to see if it darkens. In 2 mins you should have a fairly healthy black.

The same test can also be done with working strength fix - put a drop of fix on a length of 35mm film, let it clear for 3 mins and then then put a 2nd drop of dilute fix adjacent to the first.

The 2nd drop of fix should achieve the same level of clarity as the 1st drop within 2 mins for it to be active enough to use.

You can also use up your neglected expired rolls of 35mm film we all seem to have at the back of a draw somewhere as the chemical testers.

Martin
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  #17  
Old 3rd September 2016, 08:50 AM
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B&W Neil B&W Neil is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Aislabie View Post
I don't want to sound harsh but this is all too familiar tale.

All liquid developers have a short shelf life (12 months max in an unopened bottle) and powders like ID11 have a storage life of only 3 years.

..................

Martin


Martin,

Let us not forget there are some liquid developers that do keep well and have a legendary reputation:

Kodak's HC110 – as used by Ansel Adams, 10,000's photographers world wide and me!

Rodinal or RO9 – still a firm favourite by many, keeps for ever, great performance, and can be used even when it has turned dark brown.

I am sure there are a few others but these are the two I know will keep for years in concentrate form in opened containers.

With HC110 I am still using a part litre bottle that is now approaching 15 years old.

With Rodinal / RO9 the 500mls I have at the moment on my darkroom shelf is at least three years old and is now a nice dark brown colour. I developed some 5x4 sheets with it last weekend and they came out perfect. Some even say 'the darker it gets, the better it gets!'

I do agree with you though about the keeping qualities of the other developers under discussion in this thread and would also advise not to take a chance if they are past their use by date.

Neil.
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  #18  
Old 3rd September 2016, 11:02 AM
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Martin Aislabie Martin Aislabie is offline
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Hi Neil

Its a fair point

As I was writing the post, I wondered if someone would raise Rodinals legendary keeping qualities.

However, the point I was trying to make was, as you say apart from Rodinal and HC110, almost all the liquid developers have a short shelf life, particularly after opening.

If we were to make a list of all liquid developers and in the first column were the ones with a short shelf life then in the second column the ones with good keeping qualities, it would be a pretty lop sided list.

Martin
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  #19  
Old 3rd September 2016, 02:26 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Aislabie View Post
Hi Neil

Its a fair point

As I was writing the post, I wondered if someone would raise Rodinals legendary keeping qualities.

However, the point I was trying to make was, as you say apart from Rodinal and HC110, almost all the liquid developers have a short shelf life, particularly after opening.

If we were to make a list of all liquid developers and in the first column were the ones with a short shelf life then in the second column the ones with good keeping qualities, it would be a pretty lop sided list.

Martin

Martin,

You made your point, with some very good advice, but I do like accuracy. I wouldn't like to hear someone had chucked out a litre of HC110 just because it was 12 months old

There is another BW liquid developer that has a long life - Ilford's Ilfotec HC. I have not used it myself but it is widely known to be a clone of Kodak's HC110, and has very similar keeping qualitites and performance.

Neil.
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  #20  
Old 3rd September 2016, 07:47 PM
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I am still using a bottle of Ilfotec HC first opened in about 2007. I dose it with Protectan every time I take out another 8ml or so. I like it for FP4+
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