Response to The Problem with Xtol - Some After Thoughts

Geez you all are making me nervous about my tank line (Xtol) here in my home darkroom. I've been running a small tank line (1 gal. tanks with floating lids) for about 2 years now. I change out the stop/fix/ perma wash monthly, but I've only started completely fresh twice. I'm a low volume user, so I aggressively replenish, and probably turn the tank over every other month or so. This way, I don't have to preseason the dev. I was using TMAX RS, but I read an article about Xtol, where they were basically saying Kodak had developed it as a long life deep tank dev. So, I thought I'd give it a shot. Kodak has alot of info. on their site about Xtol in deep tanks. You can get aim points for specific gravity, all that process control stuff. I've found it to be a great developer for trad. films, but have less success with TMX in 4x5, so I still have to default to TMAX RS for that. I use the 5 l packs for the repl. & keep it in a spigot tank with a floating lid. I have encountered the caking problem, but only in the smaller packs. The only thing I really don't like about it, is the fine dust involved with mixing it up. I have to immerse the bags in the water, and just be careful. If I get excessive buildup in the tank, I just filter this out. Except for the problems with TMX, I've found this to be a reliable dev. But then, I'm using it in a straight stock solution, not diluted as you all are. It's just been the cleanest, longest lasting tank dev. I've ever used.

[ Previous | Next ]