Re: OTish: Rodinal/Agefix keeping time, and how to know if they are still good?
I'm still shooting and developing B&W as well. I bought a few liters of Rodinal when Agfa went under, all in 500ml bottles. From what I've read, it will last a long time. It's one of my favorite developers, so I haven't been giving it a chance to sit around in opened bottles. AFAIK, the sealed bottles will last indefinitely. I also use HC-110, which is similarly reputed to last a very long time. I use it less frequently and have used concentrate that was almost 1 year out of date with no problems - the development times per dilution and temp were consistent with fresh concentrate. However, the oldest bottle of HC110 got a bit "chunky" towards the end - as if something was starting to precipitate out. It also turned a slightly darker color. One experience I had - when I inherited my father's photo gear, there was lots of chemistry that was decades old. I used the half bottle of rapid fixer (concentrate) and it worked fine. (Of course -with fixer, improperly fixed film may look fine for a while but it's been a few years and everything seems OK.) He had powder developer in cans and those mixed up great - indistinguishable from brand new. However, almost everything in the paper/foil packets that was over 10 years old or so had some degree of a brown tint to it. The Microdol (which usually is a little brown anyhow) and D76 worked fine. I mixed up some dektol and it was the color of cola - but worked OK as a film developer, and despite the color was consistent with the development times for D72 (which it is very similar to.) Of the chemistry I have on hand, I'm most concerned about the HC110 and the stuff in paper/foil packets (I bought a big lot of D76 off ebay a few years ago.) But odds are everything will out last me. - MCC Toralf Lund wrote: > Anyhow, I was just wondering if any of you lot have any opinions on the > *actual* shelf life of photo chemicals, notably Rodinal developer and > Agefix fixer. I mean, I know what the official white-papers and various > other resources on the web will tell you, but I suspect the figures > given are generally very pessimistic. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mark Cassino Photography Kalamazoo, Michigan www.markcassino.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
Re: OTish: Rodinal/Agefix keeping time, and how to know if they are still good?
Adam Maas schreef: > Rodinal: If it' liquid, it's good. Has shelf life measurable in decades. Probably true, but I just noticed that when switching from a bottle that was openend about a year ago (and quite brown and some residu) to a fresh bottle requires, you may have to adapt development time to get the exact results. Conclusion: it works, but may be a bit slower than fresh. At high dilutions, I'd also suggest to use more total volume, to prevent exhaustion of the active developer in the mixture. Groeten, Vic -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
Re: OTish: Rodinal/Agefix keeping time, and how to know if they are still good?
Rodinal: If it' liquid, it's good. Has shelf life measurable in decades. -Adam Toralf Lund wrote: > As you may know already, I'm still shooting and developing B&W film. > Actually, I started doing it around the time when "everyone" switched to > digital; going backwards into the future, and enjoying it. > > Anyhow, I was just wondering if any of you lot have any opinions on the > *actual* shelf life of photo chemicals, notably Rodinal developer and > Agefix fixer. I mean, I know what the official white-papers and various > other resources on the web will tell you, but I suspect the figures > given are generally very pessimistic. > > The thing is, when I bought some development equipment 2nd hand a while > back, I got lots of small bottles of Rodinal and a couple of larger ones > with Agefix thrown into the lot. The Rodinal at least must be at least > 15 years old - I can tell from the "support" phone number on the box. > > Now, I've tried both the developer and fixer and I know they work, > meaning that I get useful images on the film. What I find rather hard to > tell, is whether they work quite as well as they should. So how do I > know? What exactly are the indications that the chemicals are too old? > And when would you expect them to be? > > I've also tried fresh developer, and I'm not really able to spot any > differences. This was not Rodinal, though. And I must admit that the > fixer in question is the only one I've ever used. > > - Toralf > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
