What happened?

I have just developed a roll of 35 mm TMax 400 in Xtol 1:1 that has turned out clear with only the beginnings of about four very faint images on the right hand edge of some frames showing. Development time was the recommended one by Kodak. The tank was at least half full so suppossedly had plenty of developer in there. Now I can only put it down to two things. The first being that the 1 litre pack of Xtol had lumps in it and instead of throwing it away and using a new 5 litre pack I had, I persisted. Secondly when I had used the stop I inadvertantly poured Photo Flo in to the tank instead of fix. I poured out the Photo Flo and washed the tank a couple of times with water and then went on with the fixing.

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Any ideas?

How old was the XTOL? I have found that mixed XTOL dosen't last more

than 2 months in partially filled of plastic bottles.

I actually mixed it about 20 minutes before using it. I should of

dumped it as soon as the lumps started to come out of the 'A' packet.

It was probably old stock as I bought it at a drug store in an out of

the way town.

What you did not do is use photo-flo instead of fixer. Had you done

this, you would have had milky looking film, or some significant

indication that there was emulsion on the film. You only get clear

(or nearly clear) shadows if you fix the film, even with proper

development.

Could be bad XTOL, but the image on only one side is interesting. Any

chance you put the empty reel in first, then the reel with the film

on top?

Conrad,

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I never thought of that. I think I put it on the bottom but now I'm

not sure.

Lumpy part A is bad for sure. Do a search and you'll find people

who've given up on Xtol as well as people, like me, who have used it

for years without problems.

I'm with Conrad on this, it sounds like the reel was on top. Years ago

when I was using tanks for dev., I always used the max. capacity of

the tank, even if I was only doing one roll, just so I wouldn't have

any problems. XTOL has taken a real beating on these forums lately,

I've been using it for a few years now (although full strength in a

tank line), and have been very happy with the results. The only

clumping problems I've ever encountered were a few years ago with the

1 liter packs, only in part B. XTOL isn't the only developer that

suffers from packaging problems, nor is Kodak the only manufacturer

that has had bad packaging. I've had lousy packaging problems with

more Ilford products, than I've ever had XTOL...

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=000fyL

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=000njB

You did not put the empty reel on bottom and full reel on top. I put

2 reels in full, and only enough solution to cover bottom. (By

mistake, before I measured how much solution I needed). Top reel

developed to the same extent the bottom did. Kind of an extreme

compensation technique?

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You might not have had full density had you done this, but most

assuredly the top would have shown decent, perhaps compressed, images.

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Best estimate is the Dreaded Xtol Failure.

Well, okay. I'll buy the fact that maybe the chem. had gone bad, but

I've also mixed up Dektol and D76 that has had huge chunks of

brick like clumps in it, where you have to mash it up with a stirring

paddle...almost like just about half the batches of E6 bleach that we

get from Kodak too. But, as I said, I'll buy the scenario that the

XTOL was bad from the start... BUT, the developing with only half the

solution in the tank, would only work providing you were using an

inversion method of agitation...the developer has to get up there

somehow??? Most people probably turn the tank over to agitate, but

I've seen some weird techniques before...

In my opinion the benefits of using Xtol are greater than the risk.

There are some steps that I take with Xtol that I think have

protected me from some of the disasters that are mentioned on this

board. a.) If either of the powders are "clumped" upon opening I

take it back to the dealer for a replacement. This has happened

around 6 times. b.) Mix the powder with distilled water and at room

temperature c.) Make sure that I have at least 100ml of stock

chemical per roll regardless of dilution used. d.) I use distilled

water for my stop bath as well. e.) Make sure the stock solution is

stored in a dark place and without air between the top of the

solution and the cap. f.) Dump (rare)the stock solution if it's

older than 30 days.

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I have had only one incident of failure in over a thousand rolls. I

get consistent high-quality negatives. I haven't found anything I

like better.

What agitation method do you use? My experience was with inversion

agitation in a Jobo 4x5 system and a half-full tank. You said you

used 35mm, which is commonly agitated with inversion, typically every

30 seconds.

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Perhaps if you described your processing technique better we could

give better guesses at the cause of the problem. What kind of tank,

pour developer through lid or put reels in tank already filled,

agitation method and frequency, etc.

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Caking in different chemicals can be different results: moisture can

cause clumping, but no degradation, for example with simple salts. In

others it can be the result of a chemical reaction with air or

moisture, which will degrade the chemical.