Save the 1-liter XTOL campaign

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As many of you may know, Kodak has officially decided not to package XTOL in one-liter kits anymore. I find this personally inconvenient, not to mention wasteful, since the only other size is 5 liters. That's enough to process 40 rolls at 1:1 dilution--a bit much for me. I emailed my protest to them. Their answer was to get five 1-liter bottles and plan on a six-month shelf life. Not too sympathetic or responsive to customer needs. But if a few more--maybe a lot more--people convey their sentiments, maybe Kodak will change its corporate mind. If anyone else is so inclined, here's a handy

LINK TO KODAK email

Maybe they will at least come up with a 2-liter kit.

-- Bob Fleischman (
RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), January 06, 2002

Answers

While I can sympathize with the unresponsiveness of companies, they're suggestion is quite viable. I have no trouble going through 5 liters at 1:2 dilution in a few months.

Note that the cost of the 5-liter package is only about 2x the cost of the 1-liter package. If you can use 2 liters before it goes bad, it's not costing you any more than using the 1-liter packages. (And you don't have to mix up solutions as often.) I suspect their decision is based on the fact that packaging is costing as much or more than the chemicals themselves.

-- Mike Dixon (mike@mikedixonphotography.com), January 06, 2002.


THEIR suggestion. [sigh . . .]

-- Mike Dixon (mike@mikedixonphotography.com), January 06, 2002.

Bob,

I had consistency problems with XTOL in the 1liter packages. From one 1 liter batch to the next I would get density variations as great as one paper grade. This is some years ago now, but I recall that someone in Kodak's technical services department acknowledged the problem, which was supposed to be related to the difficulty of getting the machines that packaged the chemicals to give consistently accurate pours into the small packages. The recommendation I was given: go to the five liter size. I did, and my batch consistency problems disappeared.

So I do not mourn the passing of the 1 liter packages. XTOL does seem to keep well in full, tightly-capped bottles. If you are uncomfortable using developer that is more than a few months old, chuck it and make a new batch. Developer has got to be one of the cheapest parts of photography. Once you have pots of the right size, it really isn't more trouble to make five liters than it was to make one.

If that option remains unpalatable, you might think about switching to Ilford's DDX, which, like XTOL, gives full emulsion speed and a good balance of grain and sharpness with most standard films. And DDX requires no mixing of powders at all.

-- David Mark (dbmark@ix.netcom.com), January 06, 2002.


I am sorry to hear this, as I use the 1 liter XTOL packs exclusively. No, I won't e-mail Kodak because they will not listen. I believe they make all decisions from an typical MBA/marketing basis, and don't possess any love for the medium or craft these days. I bet the people making these decisions have never even seen the inside of a darkroom. This belief is why I have decided to use Iflord products exclusively (except XTOL). Aparently its time to work up my processes with DD-X. Too bad, because I really liked XTOL :-(

I wonder what's next? Tri-X, Plus-X, T-Max, papers, its just a matter of when, not if. I suggest all Leica shooters go with Ilford.

-- Dan Brown (brpatent@swbell.net), January 06, 2002.


Buy a bunch of 250ml bottles suitable for photo chemicals and divide out your five liters. Fill them so that the surface tension of the liquid bulges up from the top of the bottle before fitting the cap. I develop my Tri-X in Xtol 1:3 so I use one bottle for four rolls or two bottles for eight rolls, etc. In well stoppered bottles with no air, Xtol will last a year.

Yes I know about Kodaks 100ml of Xtol per roll but it only seems to matter with developer hungry films such as T-max.

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), January 06, 2002.



Well, that's what I'll do, I guess. I wonder where you get 250ml bottles?

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), January 07, 2002.

250ml...5 litres...hmm,lessee, that makes twenty bottles.

You can get the chi chi ones from Jobo. Available in black or white.

-- erik x (xx@xx.com), January 07, 2002.


It's a wonderful country. Anyone can invest their money in a good idea and try to make a profit. This is good because it creates jobs and gives us lots of products to choose from. Thank heavens if one of the products we make costs more to package and sell than we can sell it for we are free to stop making it. Good products with high sales tend to survive. I am always amazed when people think a company should be effectively obliged to pay them to use a product. Reduce it to school yard terms: if I buy baseball cards for $0.50 and can only sell them for $0.25, how mad will I be if the other kids make me keep doing it?

-- jeff schraeder (jeff@circlesofclarity.com), January 07, 2002.

Nice to see satisfied users of XTOL. I think it is great stuff. All you need is XTOL and Rodinal and a lot of developing ground is covered with the various dilutions. Not much need to waste time with anything else unless it is PMK with medium/large format.

-- Richard Jepsen (rjepsen@mmcable.com), February 07, 2002.

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