Agfa Process AP44 storage life

[Calamity Jane]

Howdy!

I'm getting anxious to try some colour transparencies with my 4x5 and picked up a couple of 0.5L AP44 kits.

Reading thru the package info, it specifies a storage life of ONE WEEK in plastic bottles !! ?? Considering the cost of the chemicals, that's awfully short.

(I used to use a Beseller E-6 and seem to remember a storage life of a few months, but it isn't available anymore.)

Does anybody know if the Agfa AP44 actually dies that quickly or is the company just trying to CYA?

They do say storage is 4 weeks in glass bottles but glass bottles are hard to find.

Any experience with AP44?

[Nick_3536]

Glass bottles are easy to find. The grocery store is full of them. Sure they make you dump out the contents first but what can you do. Or the liquor store they still sell glass bottles. Plastic bottles vary from little better then nothing to some that are supposed to be pretty good at keeping oxygen out.

The other choice is to wait until you've got enough sheets to use up the full kit at once. 500ml kit is what a four roll kit? So 16 sheets of 4x5.

[Jim Galli]

Beer comes in glass bottles. With a nice amber tint at that. So does wine. Oxygen is the real trouble. Common sense seems that with a plastic bottle that you can squeeze all the excess 02 out of before you cap you would have the best success. If I use glass I'm always tempted to "top up" with distilled h2o to get rid of the air space. Hydrogen peroxide comes in cheap brown plastic bottles.

[Nick_3536]

I don't think the head space is the real issue. It's the oxygen that gets in via the plastic walls of the bottle. Some one suggested wrapping plastic bottles in saran wrap.

[Calamity Jane]

Nick: Not many glass bottles in the grocery stores up here. "Environmental levies" have send most things to plastic.

As a non-drinker, I hadn't even thought of booze bottles. Guess I'll hit the dumpster at the local watering hole . . .

[James Phillips]

I also frequently use the Agfa kits and have not had any difficulty keeping the mixed chemicals for a few weeks. I now am using a Jobo 3010 drum for E-6 and find that I can do 2 "runs" of six sheets each per 500 ml kit.

If you look at my article http://www.largeformatphotography.info/unicolor/ and scroll down toward the bottom you will see my cooler (heater in my case) method which more importantly displays the bottles I use.

These glass bottles are easily and cheaply attainable from many supply houses (mine from PetroCraft Products .. Calgary...Ph 403-272-9590) of which I am using the 250 ml size. I routinely mix a 500 ml batch into two sets of bottles one evening and then use a single batch of bottles when developing the film. The batch easily lasts a few weeks after mixing in these 250 ml bottles (as I fill the bottles to the top) and the size is just right for the kits.

Kind Regards,