I have kept a bottle of D76, a kodak fixer, and a bottle of unused kodak stop bath for more than a year. none are mixed and they are in their original plastic bottle. Can they still be used or should I discard them? what would be the best environmentally safe way to discard them? or are they still useable?

I also have a Liquid Emulsion, unused, how long can i keep it and still be able to use it?

-- maggie ng (sopita19@hotmail.com), October 21, 2001

Answers

The D76 may be bad. I would toss it. If the fixer has yellowish deposits and is REALLY stinky, it's bad. Unused stop bath basically keeps forever.

-- Tim Brown (brownt@flash.net), October 22, 2001.

Doesn't D-76 change color when it's gone bad? Both the powder and the solution changes color to orange/brown.

Yesterday I used Kodak Selenium toner that I mixed 1+9 in 1999 and it's still good. :-)

-- Patric (jenspatric@mail.bip.net), October 23, 2001.

Developer oxidizes and goes from clear to yellow to brown. Even if it is yellow, toss it. Fixer can be tested by throwing a clip of unprocessed B&W film into it. It will clear the film if it is still good.

-- ted (ted@elfintrader.com), October 29, 2001.