Mytol

Film Photography & Darkroom discussion

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anyhuus
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2005 4:53 am
Location: Norway

Mytol

Post by anyhuus »

Anyone tried Mytol, the homebrew version of XTOL (see "Darkroom Cookbook" formula #25)?

Is Mytol prone to the same "sudden death" phenomenon as XTOL allegedly were? According to Kodak, the sudden death of XTOL were caused by two factors, airtightness of 1l packages (or the ratio of contained air vs. chemicals in the 1l packages), and higher dilutions than 1:1.

Does the same (i.e. sudden death and Kodak's cure) apply to Mytol aswell?

The reason for wanting to try Mytol is not to avoid potential XTOL problems, merely that I find satisfaction in mixing developers myself, and that I've heard so much good about XTOL. Mytol then seems like an alternative.

JC
Posts: 25
Joined: Fri Jul 29, 2005 5:43 pm

Post by JC »

What do you mean by "sudden death?"

As in the XTOL was bad off the shelf or after it was mixed and sat on the shelf?

The contents of Paul Lewis' Mytol and XTOL are similar and are reported to give like results.

At one point, the smaller packages of XTOL were reported to be less reliable than the larger 5lb ones.
Last edited by JC on Mon Aug 22, 2005 2:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

anyhuus
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2005 4:53 am
Location: Norway

Post by anyhuus »

XTOL alledgedly had a problem of losing all potency overnight, with no warning. I have never seen a good explanation for this phenomenon, but you'll find plenty of info about it on the net. Just google for "xtol" and "sudden death". E.g. http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fet ... _id=002Yz0

What I'm wondering is if this problem apply to Mytol aswell, and that Kodak found some unknown chemical way of solving the issue.

JC
Posts: 25
Joined: Fri Jul 29, 2005 5:43 pm

Post by JC »

Sounds like a Kodak quality control issue...

I don't know why if you mix the Mytol formula fresh before use or store it in air tight containers why it would go bad suddenly, it should last 6 months or so.

Give it a whirl.

Digitaltruth
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Post by Digitaltruth »

Its more than a quality control issue. Xtol has inherent problems that appear to be related to the interaction of ascorbic acid and air/water. Some people have no problems, other people cannot use it reliably.

There is some good information about Xtol on this page:
http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/xtol/
Digitaltruth Photo
https://www.digitaltruth.com

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