Ralf Michael wrote
: Hello everyone,
Well, if in doubt, I’d buy a new developer, e.g. the ones pictured above, before a film is irretrievably ruined. It’s not that expensive, after all. However, Agfa’s Rodinal did actually have a very long shelf life in the past. A few years ago, I found two bottles of Rodinal (still made of glass) from my school days; they were about 20 years old at the time – one had been opened, the other had never been opened. I developed two short pieces of film in both (just test shots), and that worked perfectly fine.The Rodinal bottles used to state that the concentrate had an indefinite shelf life in an unopened bottle, but once opened, it was valid for 6 months. I don’t know whether Rodinal still uses the same formula today, but as a precaution, I wouldn’t use the concentrate for longer than a year once opened.
Regards, Ralf
The secret lay in the unopened or inert-gas-filled
glass bottles. In our very good plastic bottles, I would estimate a maximum of 5–10 years, but only if they are the original, unopened bottles or if inert gas has been used.
Even 50 years ago, opened Rodinal didn’t keep that long.
As described in the article linked above, glass bottles are unrivalled. Next come our PE-PA and PET bottles.
In terms of shipping, glass bottles are of course a nightmare. If you take away all the wasted Rodinal from broken glass bottles in postal shipments, we’re better off today :-)
Best regards,
Mirko
