My daughter and I just finished building a home darkroom in our basement (walls and all!). Just developed our first roll last night (Tri-X, with D-76) , which came out fine.

This is my first time processing in 25 years. I was amazed to find the B&W chemicals and film still familiar, but am fuzzy on one point:

The Kodak literature on Dektol suggests diluting 1:1 or more, depending on the paper, but appears to indicate that diluted Dektol can't be stored other than overnight. Am I reading this right? I remember reusing the stuff for quite a while in an overheated room over my parents' garage when I was a kid. What I can't remember is whether I diluted and reused in diluted form, or just worked with it in the original concentration (i.e., as dissolved from powder into water, without further dilution). Any suggestions?

Thanks.

-- Joe Hutcheson (jchutch@ne.mediaone.net), December 26, 1999

Answers

Pour the working solution from the tray into a bottle for storage, then try it and see if it's still working ok. It'll probably be fine for a week or so at least.

If this is important (and it often is to me too) you might try Ethol LPD paper developer instead. It'll keep longer and won't cause those nasty black tray stains and tong marks that Dektol and Ektaflo/Polymax often will.

-- John Hicks (jbh@magicnet.net), December 27, 1999.

If you just want to save it overnight (and if you have room to leave the tray set up), cut a piece of wax paper to size and lay it on top (like a floating lid on a deep tank) and smooth out the air bubbles as best you can. This will prevent oxidation nearly as well as putting it into a bottle with as little air as possible.

As we have a dedicated darkroom, we do this all the time. (We mostly use Luminos' liquid-concentrate VC print developer, but it should work about the same with Dektol.)

-- Michael Goldfarb (mgoldfar@mobius-inc.com), December 27, 1999.

I've been diluting it 1:2, storing it in a stoppered bottle, and have been reusing it for more than a week or two. My highly unscientific approach has been to use new chemicals when the stop starts to weaken. I haven't noticed any problems, but this doesn't mean it's right, of course. I, like you, am back into the darkwoom, now with my daughter, after a ~20 year layoff.

-- Chris Werner (cbwerner@att.net), December 28, 1999.

I also pour diluted (1+2) Dektol back in a bottle, top it off with fresh 1+1 diluted Dektol and use it over and over for 2 weeks or so. It keeps pretty well, stock or diluted, in a bottle filled right to the top.

-- Tim Brown (brownt@ase.com), December 29, 1999.