Author Topic: Old Chems....Will they still work? (Read 4278 times)

Ed Wenn · « **on:** February 14, 2011, 02:31:32 PM »

Rodinal
Ilford Hypam Fixer
Jessops Econostop

All of them 6 years old. Last used about 4.5 years ago. Stored in a shed ever since. Temperatures variable.

Will they work still?

Not, "Will they work and give me perfect results?", but more, "Will they work at all?" I don't mind if they're a bit unpredictable or may have weakened....I just want to know if they're good enough for Ballpark (TM) Photography.

Ed Wenn · « **Reply #1 on:** February 14, 2011, 03:29:07 PM »

OK, so as far as the Rodinal is concerned, the answer appears to be, "Yes" see http://www.apug.org/forums/forum37/53266-does-rodinal-literally-last-forever.html

Francois · « **Reply #2 on:** February 14, 2011, 03:34:39 PM »

I know the stop bath will last forever. If you're unsure, just use plain white vinegar diluted 50-50... it will do the same thing.

Rodinal, as long as it isn't mixed should last pretty much forever. It's the oxygen contained in the water in soluble form that kills developers. Since Rodinal doesn't contain any, that's why I think it will be good. If in doubt, test it on a bit of unexposed film...

As for the fixer, the only way to know if it's still good is to do a drop test. A piece of film leader is perfect for that. Just fix for double the clearing time

But overall, I think you should be OK with the stuff.

Ed Wenn · « **Reply #3 on:** February 14, 2011, 07:42:49 PM »

Cheers! 2 rolls in and everything's looking good. Have had to take a hazchem break now that the kids are back from school, but I have 3 more to process later.

Francois · « **Reply #4 on:** February 14, 2011, 09:35:37 PM »

Good thing to keep the stuff away from the ever inquisitive little fingers...

Also happy to see the stuff was still good after all this time.
I kick myself when I think of all the good chems I sent to the Toxic Waste Disposal only because the date on it was expired...

jojonas~ · « **Reply #5 on:** February 15, 2011, 09:18:35 AM »

glad to hear you using those chems ed

and fun indeed to hear that some can still be used!

Ed Wenn · « **Reply #6 on:** February 15, 2011, 01:21:32 PM »

Revelation....last night whilst processing my first 5 films in 5 years, I learned two very important things:

10cl is 1/50th of 500ml. 5cl isn't.
You get much better negs when you use the correct concentration + dev time combo

Overall, though it was a great success and I got 5 decent sets of negs out of it (2 are substantially thinner than they would have been if I'd got my maths right to start with, but I'm sure I'll get something out of them via the scanner).

I was bit concerned how things would work out though because - as I explained to Damion on the phone yesterday PM when I called him away from the world of international finance to get some last minute tips - I was processing 5 different film types, all with different push/pull requirements, taken with a single camera (good news) albeit with a homemade lens which I guessed the aperture of and then took 5 films over three years without once seeing any of the results. Throw into that the old chemicals and my almost total lack of recall as to how one processes film and I thought I might be in for an interesting time.

But everything went just fine...another testament to just how Ballpark (TM) you can be with analogue photography and still get decent results.

Francois · « **Reply #7 on:** February 15, 2011, 03:55:32 PM »

Similar thing happened to me... morale of the story: never use the French Canadian translation on a pack of D-76... use the original U.S. English version

Ed Wenn · « **Reply #8 on:** February 16, 2011, 08:25:03 AM »

I think you're being charitable, Francois. My problem was that I did my maths wrong...plain and simple.

Francois · « **Reply #9 on:** February 16, 2011, 03:47:09 PM »

It happens to all of us Ed...
That's why I ended up spending too much time writing a program to do the calculations for me...
the motto here is: let the computer do the boring stuff...

al · « **Reply #10 on:** February 16, 2011, 10:17:37 PM »

Quote from: ed.wenn on February 14, 2011, 03:29:07 PM

OK, so as far as the Rodinal is concerned, the answer appears to be, "Yes" see http://www.apug.org/forums/forum37/53266-does-rodinal-literally-last-forever.html

I decided to switch to using rodinal for everything, only for the reason that the long shelf life suits my tight-arsed approach and intermittent developing frequencies. It might not be the best stuff for everything, but the horror of having to pour half full bottles of expensive developer down the drain every few months and never being sure that the developer would be ok convinced me its the stuff for me for now on. I bought a big bottle and will probably never need to buy developer again

Ed Wenn · « **Reply #11 on:** February 16, 2011, 11:02:51 PM »

Given that your life - with respeck to them thar kiddies - mirrors mine except from 2 years in the future, I'm a keen observer of "how Al does his photography stuff" and will therefore get hold of a stonking big bottle of Rodders toot sweet.

p.s.
All being well, I hope to do my first C41 run tomorrow.

Urban Hafner · « **Reply #12 on:** February 17, 2011, 07:41:12 AM »

The alternative to Rodinal would be Caffenol. Instant coffee, vitamin c, washing soda and possibly potassium bromide also keep forever when they are not mixed.

Urban

Ed Wenn · « **Reply #13 on:** February 17, 2011, 11:49:54 AM »

Urban...I get what you're saying and I do have a soft spot for caffenol since it's the first developer I ever used, but you can't beat the convenience of a single shot, pre-mixed developer which will last forever.

LT · « **Reply #14 on:** February 17, 2011, 11:52:15 AM »

or even cheaper - mix your own D23 as you use it - you dont even need scales, just use the teaspoon method:

1 liter of warm water
add a "pinch" of sodium sulfite, and stir
add 2 1/2 teaspoons of metol and stir
add 4 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon of sodium sulfite and stir.

cool until about 20 degrees and use as stock. easy and DIRT cheap. I have some metol in powder form that I've been using for 8 years, still working fine.

Francois · « **Reply #15 on:** February 17, 2011, 03:49:37 PM »

There's also PMK with will last for centuries... only problem is it's very toxic.

Urban Hafner · « **Reply #16 on:** February 17, 2011, 05:24:31 PM »

Quote from: ed.wenn on February 17, 2011, 11:49:54 AM

Urban...I get what you're saying and I do have a soft spot for caffenol since it's the first developer I ever used, but you can't beat the convenience of a single shot, pre-mixed developer which will last forever.

That's true. And that's why I've switched to Rodinal, too

But now I have all this instant coffee that you can't drink ... Maybe I'll just mix the ingredients separately with water. Apparently everything but the coffee lasts a long time as a solution.

Urban

Ed Wenn · « **Reply #17 on:** February 17, 2011, 05:40:37 PM »

Quote from: urbanhafner on February 17, 2011, 05:24:31 PM

But now I have all this instant coffee that you can't drink ...

Word.

Dave Elden · « **Reply #18 on:** February 18, 2011, 06:14:30 PM »

Quote from: Francois on February 16, 2011, 03:47:09 PM

That's why I ended up spending too much time writing a program to do the calculations for me...
the motto here is: let the computer do the boring stuff...

...Or in my case a slide rule, I keep one in my darkroom bag just for stuff like this and calculating exposure times for different size prints. It is exactly like the one shown here: http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/slide42/sama-600ce-set.jpg

Francois · « **Reply #19 on:** February 18, 2011, 06:27:22 PM »

Oh, yeah... they had those in the old Kodak guides...
They were called "computers" in the old days...

Phil Bebbington · « **Reply #20 on:** February 18, 2011, 06:58:32 PM »

Slide Rules were always alchemy to me, but, so was long division!

LT · « **Reply #21 on:** February 18, 2011, 08:06:59 PM »

Quote from: Phil Bebbington on February 18, 2011, 06:58:32 PM

but, so was long division!

me too! I still have a total block on long division. I can do long multiplication easy, but long div - never could get the process. That's probably why I failed my maths GCSE.

Francois · « **Reply #22 on:** February 18, 2011, 08:59:33 PM »

You mean I'm not the only one here who flunked math?

It's comforting to know this...

LT · « **Reply #23 on:** February 18, 2011, 09:28:12 PM »

Francois - it took me 3 re-sits to pass the exam

I got there in the end though.

Phil Bebbington · « **Reply #24 on:** February 18, 2011, 10:44:24 PM »

Leon, they wouldn't even allow me to sit it!

wblati · « **Reply #25 on:** February 19, 2011, 12:09:36 PM »

explanation???

i mixed some rodinal recently and when i poured out it it was purple in colour...? the negatives developed ok but was worried at first of the color of the liquid.

al · « **Reply #26 on:** February 19, 2011, 12:27:16 PM »

was it purple when you poured it out after developing? if so perhaps just the anti-halation layer which disolves into the developer. Variety of colours depending on the film

wblati · « **Reply #27 on:** February 19, 2011, 01:29:58 PM »

it was light red before and purple after developing. i developed some films a couple of months ago without any colour changed but a few days ago it turned purple, really dark in colour.

Quote from: al on February 19, 2011, 12:27:16 PM

was it purple when you poured it out after developing? if so perhaps just the anti-halation layer which disolves into the developer. Variety of colours depending on the film

LT · « **Reply #28 on:** February 19, 2011, 02:15:41 PM »

Quote from: wblati on February 19, 2011, 01:29:58 PM

it was light red before and purple after developing. i developed some films a couple of months ago without any colour changed but a few days ago it turned purple, really dark in colour.

Quote from: al on February 19, 2011, 12:27:16 PM
was it purple when you poured it out after developing? if so perhaps just the anti-halation layer which disolves into the developer. Variety of colours depending on the film

35 mm or 120 or sheet films?

wblati · « **Reply #29 on:** February 22, 2011, 10:32:56 PM »

35mm