Topic: Shelf life of Paterson developers (sheep, horses and sausage and chips)

[Pete_R]

I'm looking at some different film/dev combinations and wanted to try Aculux - I currently use FX-39 for most things. In Leon's test of Aculux last year in B&W, he said Aculux 2 would "suddenly die without showing any signs of oxidisation" and this worried me as, being a fairly low volume user, I tend to have stuff hanging around for a while. So, I asked paterson and below is their reply for anyone else who might be interested.

"The best way to increase the shelf life of developers is to decant the
concentrate into smaller glass bottles. This will prevent oxidation. In the
bottles supplied once the seal has been broken shelf life will be around 6
months as long as the bottle remains at least half full. Our current bottles
do keep the solution fresh for a longer period than our previous bottles.
Concertina bottles are not that effective due to the thin wall thickness of
them, glass is far more effective. Both Aculux and FX-39 darken when
oxidized so you are able to tell when deterioration sets in."

[LT]

in my experience, aculux suffers with the same "sudden death" syndrome as xtol is reported to show, so I reckon it's best to always buy small amounts and use regularly.  I daresay that keeping in glass bottles will help, as will removing any air from the bottle by either using glass beads to raise the level, inert gas sprays, or as I do, using vacuum pumps and stoppers designed for use in wine bottles (5.99 in Sainsbury for pump and 3 stoppers - extra stoppers available for about 1.99 for pack of 4)

It is a great developer though.
 

[Pete_R]

It is a great developer though.
 

I think I'll have to agree on that. Just done my first film (Delta 400) with it and I really like the results. I'm not a great fan of grain but I find this quite OK.

Here's a few results though these are too small to see the grain.

[Wally]

I use Kalt Air Evac Bottles

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/sc_prod.php?cat_id=1603&pid=1000002450

they work great, and are very easy to use