Kodak XTOL

[Peter49]

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I´m not really new to the darkroom magic, but after some digital years I´m back to film. I use my M7 now with Kodak TX and have a bottle XTOL. After searching some Infos in the web about more tips&tricks round about xtol, i found this usefull text:

 

http://www.joerg-bergs.de/en/xtol/

 

There is also a very old website: http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/xtol/, but this text is not up to date.

 

 

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[Martin B]

Thanks for sharing this - Xtol is one of my most favorite B&W developers which I often use in 1:2 dilution with water. Rodinal and Xtol have become my main developers to which I stick for now. 

[Ko.Fe.]

I have gallon bottles of concentrated and diluted fixer. I have lith developer in two, well, soon in four 1L bottles. I have three 1L bottles of C-41 and one 1L bottle of BW stop mix. Plus stop concentrate and foto-Flo concentrate and diluted. Now you know why I prefer to have as less bottles as possible. Somewhere I read how D-76 was replaced with more eco friendly XTOL and how XTOL was replaced with more concentrated HC-110. I could do any film in HC-110, diluting directly from the bottle. But sometimes I'm lazy, I use Rodinal which is small bottle as well, but much more liquid in concentrate form.

[Martin B]

I have gallon bottles of concentrated and diluted fixer. I have lith developer in two, well, soon in four 1L bottles. I have three 1L bottles of C-41 and one 1L bottle of BW stop mix. Plus stop concentrate and foto-Flo concentrate and diluted. Now you know why I prefer to have as less bottles as possible. Somewhere I read how D-76 was replaced with more eco friendly XTOL and how XTOL was replaced with more concentrated HC-110. I could do any film in HC-110, diluting directly from the bottle. But sometimes I'm lazy, I use Rodinal which is small bottle as well, but much more liquid in concentrate form.

 

Yes, this is the disadvantage of using Xtol - that it needs to be diluted in a quite large amount of water. After I make it fresh, I have to keep it in two 1 Ga cans. Fortunately it doesn't go bad too quickly; last time my stock solution lasted for about 8 months at room temperature before turning yellow (then it wasn't good anymore, and I lost some negatives when still using the remaining rest). 

[Chuck Albertson]

I just mix it up and store it in one of those 5-liter bottles Kodak used to sell for storing their color chemistry. I manage to use it all before it goes bad. Kodak's data sheet recommended against making it with distilled water (maybe it still does), but I've found that's the only way to get consistent results.

[Martin B]

I just mix it up and store it in one of those 5-liter bottles Kodak used to sell for storing their color chemistry. I manage to use it all before it goes bad. Kodak's data sheet recommended against making it with distilled water (maybe it still does), but I've found that's the only way to get consistent results.

 

I am using Brita filtered water to make the stock solution, and am also getting consistent results. Never tried to mix the powder in regular water to see if there is a difference. 

[Guest )-(]

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I'm three rolls into seasoning XTOL, keeping a 2.5l working bottle replenished. Long way to go but I like the idea of replenishment over the 1:1 I was using previously.

 

I just use tap water, can't say I've noticed any inconsistency.

 

I'm liking XTOL for its easy shipping and flexibility, will have a closer look at those links, thanks.