Does powder Dektol go bad?

[Jim Noel]

Bad Dektol will take forever to develop the print, and the contrast will suffer.
I have successfully used Dektol, and other powder developers, when the powder and resulting solution were almost chocolate brown. When the solution begins to smell bad, it generally is.

[fuegocito]

My oxidized version of the Dektol is definitely ale-ish minus the bubbly

The print came up really quick (within first 4-6 second) and definitely a lot faster than the beer formula developer I normally uses.

[c.d.ewen]

Thanks, Jim. I'll watch the contrast, and I'll keep my nose clean

I'll confess to another abuse of Dektol: I calculate apertures by shining a point-source light through the back of a lens, while having a piece of photo paper under the front. The circle projected onto the paper is the entrance pupil. Developing the paper, all I want is a black circle to measure. I use old Dektol until I get tired of waiting for it.

Charley

[SamReeves]

I have a bunch of 1 gallon packages which are past date, and they all work fine. Just make sure they're all sealed.

[BradS]

I have a bunch of 1 gallon packages which are past date, and they all work fine. Just make sure they're all sealed.

Even the original factory sealed foil packages, Dektol eventually goes bad.

[Robert A. Zeichner]

I'd be interested in knowing how to tell "sort-of-bad" Dektol from "pretty-bad" Dektol. Dead Dektol I think I can figure out.

Do you lose detail or what?

I picked up a real cheap 5 Gal bag of Dektol at a local camera store's clearance sale. I poured the contents into Mason jars and sealed them. All of the jars started out considerably darker than the contents of a fresh Dektol bag. As I use it, the partially filled jar gets very noticably darker than the unopened jars, but the stuff still works for casual contact prints.

I figure I'll just keep using the old stuff until I need glasses

Charley

You might want to be real careful doing this as Dektol is not a single chemical, but a combination of powdered ingredients that must all be dissolved in water to assure the correct proportion. If you divide the powder, there is no guarantee that each mason jar will contain exactly the same thing as the components may settle due to differences in weight and crystal structure!

[Sirius Glass]

Kind of like a British ale...

but better!

[c.d.ewen]

You might want to be real careful doing this as Dektol is not a single chemical, but a combination of powdered ingredients that must all be dissolved in water to assure the correct proportion. If you divide the powder, there is no guarantee that each mason jar will contain exactly the same thing as the components may settle due to differences in weight and crystal structure!

Robert:

You're quite right. It's a chance I decided to take because of the price. I did put the entire package into a large jar and shook it a bit, hoping to mix it as well as possible.

Charley