HC-110 variants?

[ChrisR]

Jonny Martyr has a nice blog postson the available variants of HC-110, at https://johnnymartyr.wordpress.com/...ht-want-to-use-an-alternative-to-kodak-hc110/ . Some of the information is from his experience, some from specs and datasheets. He doesn't claim to any kind of scientific comparison, and given he uses 5 litres of HC-110 per year, I guess shelf life is not high on his priorities!

I bought my last bottle of HC-1190 in 2018, and it looks like I will finish it this year. It's the thick, yellow version, so I've never tried the thin runny versions that supposedly have shorter shelf life. Whatever I get to replace it will probably be in a 500 ml bottle, good for around 80 films the way I use it! That should help reduce the longevity I need, but I'm still very interested in shelf life!

One thing I've noted from my reading around is that the formulations of these variants are mostly slightly different than the original, and I've seen different properties claimed. For instance, I've seen a claim that Euro-HC gives higher accutance, though at the moment I'm not quite sure where I saw it.

I'm quite taken with the idea of Adox HC-110 Pro, which claims to be a yellow syrup, and comes in 500 ml bottles. It's slightly dearer than Euro-HC, but I can only find it stocked by FirstCall Photographic, which charges £9 postage (slightly offset by a 10% off code until the end of the week!).

Anyway, I wondered what the TPFC Massive thought of the various options?

 

[ChrisR]

For instance, I've seen a claim that Euro-HC gives higher acutance, though at the moment I'm not quite sure where I saw it.

Nik and Trik make the claim in their post about Bellini Euro-HC. They also make clear it's less syrupy. the implications for longevity are not clear to me.

 

[Kevin Allan]

I'm currently using a bottle of the more recent less-syrupy Kodak HC110. Worryingly, it rattles when I shake the bottle, so it appears to have crystalised. I haven't noticed any bad effects yet, but I'm presumably not going to get the full I litre out of it.

My previous bottle was Bellini Euro HC, because I couldn't get Kodak at the time. That was fine and I will probably get that again in future.

 

[ChrisR]

I have about 75ml of my syrupy HC-110 in two 50ml dark bottles. Both have some precipitate (or at least, some sort of solid or sludgy form) at the bottom. I thought it would affect the syrup, but like you I've not noticed any problems. Someone suggested that it can be re-dissolved, so I gave one of the bottles a really good shaking before packing it away last time. We'll see how that goes!

 

[Kevin Allan]

I have about 75ml of my syrupy HC-110 in two 50ml dark bottles. Both have some precipitate (or at least, some sort of solid or sludgy form) at the bottom. I thought it would affect the syrup, but like you I've not noticed any problems. Someone suggested that it can be re-dissolved, so I gave one of the bottles a really good shaking before packing it away last time. We'll see how that goes!

I've just noticed that Johnny Martyr's blog mentions the crystallisation issue. Good to know it's not just me. I will try warming it up when I get further down the bottle.

 

[D_M_J]

I'm currently using a bottle of the more recent less-syrupy Kodak HC110. Worryingly, it rattles when I shake the bottle, so it appears to have crystalised. I haven't noticed any bad effects yet, but I'm presumably not going to get the full I litre out of it.

My previous bottle was Bellini Euro HC, because I couldn't get Kodak at the time. That was fine and I will probably get that again in future.

I've had similar 'issues' with HC-110, and would regularly not use the whole bottle, didn't get any noticeable effects when developing but didn't fill me with confidence. I've switched to Ilfotec HC for now and that seems to last better, with much the same results for me.

 

[jsgbham]

I've been using Bellini Euro HC for a while and am quite pleased with it - shelf life seems to be a non-issue. I have had a bit more success using the slightly longer Ilfotec HC developing times as a starting point rather than the Kodak HC110 ones, though - especially for HP5.

 

[ChrisR]

I bought the Adox HC0110 in the end, found a way round the massive shipping costs. It seems a little less viscous to me, from shaking the bottle. I've still got around 30 ml of my 2018 Kodak original though. I reckon I should get 3 or 4 more films out of that, before I get too close to the sludgy stuff!