Moersch SE-6 Developer Shelf Life?

[John Layton]

While my "go to" print developer these days is Moersch 4812, which has a long shelf life...I also use a bit of Moersch SE-6 (cold tone) print developer...but cannot find any references to its shelf life. I've got a bottle of SE-6 concentrate (previously opened and about 2/3 full) which is over a year old and would like to mix some up soon.

Anybody? Thanks!

[andreios]

I have been out of darkroom for a few years and found all of Wolfgang's developers still alive upon my return (original solutions, undiluted)... Anyway, you can simply try to see if it works... :)

[Michael R]

I assume you mean SE6 Blue (SE3 is the "Cold" one and comes in two parts)

Best would be to write to Moersch since there isn't any official info out there as far as I know, and anything you get from people will be anecdotal at best.

A reasonable general rule of thumb for any print developer concentrate (single solution) is 6 months once opened (for example this is what Ilford suggests for its concentrated developers), but that's a conservative (ie for reliable, consistent results) average and doesn't mean something wouldn't last longer, depending on how full the bottle is etc.


While my "go to" print developer these days is Moersch 4812, which has a long shelf life...I also use a bit of Moersch SE-6 (cold tone) print developer...but cannot find any references to its shelf life. I've got a bottle of SE-6 concentrate (previously opened and about 2/3 full) which is over a year old and would like to mix some up soon.

Anybody? Thanks!

[sperdynamite]

I've been using 4812 as well.

John, would you care to share your Splitgrade calibration offsets for various papers when using 4812? I 'think' I have mine dialed in for Multigrade Classic. The Bergger paper I have unopened I believe was tested in 4812 but I still need to do the 'new' RC paper from Ilford, and warm tone.

[John Layton]

While I do use a Heiland VC LED light source for split grade printing...I do this by "seat of the pants" testing - without an analyzer...so have no actual calibration data to share.