XTOL Shelf Life

[Brian Sims]

Why does dry Xtol in the package have a shelf life? What is the risk of mixing and using out of date XTOL (1-2 years beyond exp date)? I bought a bunch from a store going out of business, and now have a dozen gallon pkgs out of date.

[Gem Singer]

It might be that Kodak dates it because the phenidone (dimezone) in the formula has a shorter shelf life than the other chemicals in the formula.

My guess, if it has been kept dry, it will be okay.

[Armin Seeholzer]

I already used 2 package with 1 year over the date and did not see any change at all!

Cheers Armin

[nolindan]

Put a snip of film leader in the developer - if it turns jet black in a few minutes the chances are the developer is OK. With out-of-date developer it is probably an especially good idea to do a snip test before each use. Some years ago Xtol had a bad reputation for failing early and without warning and it turned out Kodak had a packaging problem with this developer - so it can have a shortened life due to some change it encountered in the powdered state.

If the powder is caked or lumpy or the developer is off-color when freshly mixed then dump it.

[Ron Marshall]

I've used two packets that were over a year out of date with no change. But I tested it with a scrap sheet before using it on anything important.

[Jim Chinn]

I picked up a couple of 1 year past date 5 litre packages at a camera swap meet last year. Both packages worked fine, but I did test each batch. Like others have said, test it before putting important images in it.

[Tomas]

It is 12 years since the question was asked, and 12 years since last post, but anyway I would like to share my result from mixing an out of date package of XTOL.

I usually, this time also, mix XTOL Stock solution at twice the strength. 1/2 the water, 2.5 liter instead of 5 liters.

Today I mixed 100ml of 'my stock' with 300ml water (equals 1+1 solution) and developed a FOMAPAN 200 8"x10" sheet in a Jobo 2500 tank.

The negative came out fine as far as I can decide. Everything seems normal.

The bag I mixed had a best before date in 2016 and now we are writing November 2021 - 5 years past date.
The powder was fine, no miscoloration, no lumps, all normal.

[otto.f]

It is 12 years since the question was asked, and 12 years since last post, but anyway I would like to share my result from mixing an out of date package of XTOL.

I usually, this time also, mix XTOL Stock solution at twice the strength. 1/2 the water, 2.5 liter instead of 5 liters.

Today I mixed 100ml of 'my stock' with 300ml water (equals 1+1 solution) and developed a FOMAPAN 200 8"x10" sheet in a Jobo 2500 tank.

The negative came out fine as far as I can decide. Everything seems normal.

The bag I mixed had a best before date in 2016 and now we are writing November 2021 - 5 years past date.
The powder was fine, no miscoloration, no lumps, all normal.
Yes but the expiration date of the powder isn’t the big question. It’s about the shelf life of the liquid. How long did your stock solution stand?
Talking about Foma: they offer a smaller bag than Kodak does, for 1L, priced in Foma tradition: €3,95. It’s called Fomadon Excel and is claimed to behave exactly the same as Xtol. I did not try it yet though.

[Tomas]

Yes but the expiration date of the powder isn’t the big question. It’s about the shelf life of the liquid. How long did your stock solution stand?
Talking about Foma: they offer a smaller bag than Kodak does, for 1L, priced in Foma tradition: €3,95. It’s called Fomadon Excel and is claimed to behave exactly the same as Xtol. I did not try it yet though.

Nearly 1/2 year. The 5 year over date mix is only 2 weeks old, so can not tell, but earlier I have left stock solutions for nearly 1/2 a year, when it suddenly started making low contrast, muddy negatives.

[otto.f]

Nearly 1/2 year. The 5 year over date mix is only 2 weeks old, so can not tell, but earlier I have left stock solutions for nearly 1/2 a year, when it suddenly started making low contrast, muddy negatives.

Yes that’s the way it is described by Kodak too