Adox FX-39II bummer!

John Wiegerink · Feb 7, 2025

I had checked Freestyle sometime back and FX-39II was "out of stock" and due to be on their shelves in February. Now I just checked and it says March 7th. Want to bet there will be a price hike when it does come back in stock. You know, create a shortage and you now have a reason to raise the price, type thing. All I know is I'm getting really tired of waiting, but have no choice since I don't know where else to buy FX-39II. I'd have to be fairly rich to order directly from Adox since shipping costs are far more than the developer itself.
What is the shelf life of an unopened bottle of FX-39II? If it's pretty good as far as shelf life I will be ordering more than one bottle for sure.

koraks · Feb 8, 2025

John Wiegerink said:
What is the shelf life of an unopened bottle of FX-39II?

This I think would be a good question to ask @ADOX Fotoimpex

Sanug · Feb 8, 2025

Usually Adox guarantees 2 years after purchase for their photochemical products. But it's a good idea to ask Fotoimpex. I used FX-39 II in the past, but never stored it very long.

Film-Niko · Feb 8, 2025

John Wiegerink said:
What is the shelf life of an unopened bottle of FX-39II? If it's pretty good as far as shelf life I will be ordering more than one bottle for sure.

I have not tested the shelf life with an unopened bottle. But here is my experience with the shelf life in my normal using routine:
Generally when I open a bottle of liquid (non-powder) developer for first usage, I refill the developer in a dark glass bottle. And remove the oxygen by using protective gas (Protectan).
With that workflow FX-39 II has a shelf life (in the glass bottle) of at least 1.5 years. I say at least, because so far after that time span I have always used / consumed all developer. And it worked fine even when I used the remaining rest in the bottle which was 1.5 years old.

Fortunately Adox has a production date on their bottles. So you always know how old your developer is.
Kudos to them for that!!

pentaxuser · Feb 8, 2025

John Wiegerink said:
I had checked Freestyle sometime back and FX-39II was "out of stock" and due to be on their shelves in February. Now I just checked and it says March 7th. Want to bet there will be a price hike when it does come back in stock. You know, create a shortage and you now have a reason to raise the price, type thing.

I'd be inclined to check if you can pre-order at Freestyle and pay the current price now in advance of Freestyle's receipt of the FX39II and if so will Freestyle honour that price There appears a good chance that by the time it is back in stock it may be that an imposition of a tariff will have been imposed

Of course it may be that Freestyle will say that if they have to pay a tariff it cannot give any guarantee of not passing it on but it may be worth asking

pentaxuser

John Wiegerink · Feb 8, 2025

Film-Niko said:
I have not tested the shelf life with an unopened bottle. But here is my experience with the shelf life in my normal using routine:
Generally when I open a bottle of liquid (non-powder) developer for first usage, I refill the developer in a dark glass bottle. And remove the oxygen by using protective gas (Protectan).
With that workflow FX-39 II has a shelf life (in the glass bottle) of at least 1.5 years. I say at least, because so far after that time span I have always used / consumed all developer. And it worked fine even when I used the remaining rest in the bottle which was 1.5 years old.

Fortunately Adox has a production date on their bottles. So you always know how old your developer is.
Kudos to them for that!!

Thanks for that information on shelf life. I usually break my liquid developers down for Boston brown bottle storage. Even Adox Rodinal goes from plastic to glass.

John Wiegerink · Feb 8, 2025

pentaxuser said:
I'd be inclined to check if you can pre-order at Freestyle and pay the current price now in advance of Freestyle's receipt of the FX39II and if so will Freestyle honour that price There appears a good chance that by the time it is back in stock it may be that an imposition of a tariff will have been imposed

Of course it may be that Freestyle will say that if they have to pay a tariff it cannot give any guarantee of not passing it on but it may be worth asking

pentaxuser

I was actually being a little sarcastic about a price hike, but who knows. Adox knows that both Freestyle and Cinestill are "out of stock" of FX-39II. They acknowledged that to me in another thread on their new HC-110. I'm just guessing, but maybe Adox is really ramped up on the production of the new HC-110 that other developers might have taken a slight back seat. Could be some of the mixers and portioner machines used in making FX-39II are now dedicated to HC-110 for a short spell? Who knows? Guess all I can do is wait.

retina_restoration · Feb 8, 2025

pentaxuser said:
I'd be inclined to check if you can pre-order at Freestyle

Freestyle doesn't allow for "pre-ordering" of products they do not have in stock. All you can do is have them add you to a restock notification list.

Andrew O'Neill · Feb 8, 2025

I've got three bottles sitting in my darkroom. One partially used. It's contents are slightly darker than the unopened. Hopefully okay...If it's anything like their Adotech IV, it should be.

pentaxuser · Feb 8, 2025

retina_restoration said:
Freestyle doesn't allow for "pre-ordering" of products they do not have in stock. All you can do is have them add you to a restock notification list.

Thanks Maybe the OP knew that already but I felt it was worth mentioning just in case and of course all this talk of the imposition of tariffs may be just that - only talk

pentaxuser

John Wiegerink · Feb 8, 2025

pentaxuser said:
Thanks Maybe the OP knew that already but I felt it was worth mentioning just in case and of course all this talk of the imposition of tariffs may be just that - only talk

pentaxuser

Yes, I did know it. I tried ordering FX-39II way back I think in Dec. or early Jan. and was informed it was "out of stock". Freestyle will inform you when it's in, but you can't preorder.

Andy,
If you wouldn't have hogged three bottles there would have been at least one left for me. Ha-ha! I really am glad to hear the shelf life is pretty decent. The reason I want some FX-39II is that I want to further experiment with Adox HR-50 film and FX-39II is supposed to be a good developer for it.

Andrew O'Neill · Feb 8, 2025

John Wiegerink said:
Yes, I did know it. I tried ordering FX-39II way back I think in Dec. or early Jan. and was informed it was "out of stock". Freestyle will inform you when it's in, but you can't preorder.

Andy,
If you wouldn't have hogged three bottles there would have been at least one left for me. Ha-ha! I really am glad to hear the shelf life is pretty decent. The reason I want some FX-39II is that I want to further experiment with Adox HR-50 film and FX-39II is supposed to be a good developer for it.

I have those bottles for the same reason. I also want to see how other films respond to it. Hopefully, stores will be stocked up soon with it!

John Wiegerink · Feb 8, 2025

Andrew O'Neill said:
I have those bottles for the same reason. I also want to see how other films respond to it. Hopefully, stores will be stocked up soon with it!

I have tried it with Fuji Acros old and new and it worked very well. I'm not saying it's better than Xtol-R since I didn't have time enough to play with it. Freestyle says they will have it in stock by Mar.7th. We'll see?

blee1996 · Feb 8, 2025

I have standardized on Adox FX-39 II for slower speed films (ISO 25-100), since it works so well with both traditional and T-grain films. My last bottle (squeezed wine bag) is down to about 200ml, and I did sign up for freestyle and cinestill notification.

blee1996 · Mar 11, 2025

@ADOX Fotoimpex Do you have any latest estimate on when FX-39 II and other Adox photo chemicals will be available in the United States? Thank you!

Disconnekt · Mar 11, 2025

Freestyle Photo shows on their site that they're getting the 500ml size on March 14th for $11.49, here: https://www.freestylephoto.com/33830-Adox-FX-39-II-Film-Developer-500-ml

John Wiegerink · Mar 12, 2025

Disconnekt said:
Disconnekt said:

Freestyle Photo shows on their site that they're getting the 500ml size on March 14th for $11.49, here: https://www.freestylephoto.com/33830-Adox-FX-39-II-Film-Developer-500-ml

Click to expand...

Yes, I've been following that on Freestyle's site, but they have disappointed me twice already by pushing the dates a little further down the line. Still, my fingers are crossed and my one Contax G1 is loaded with Adox HR-50 for when it gets here.

Ernst-Jan · Mar 12, 2025

blee1996 said:
@ADOX Fotoimpex Do you have any latest estimate on when FX-39 II and other Adox photo chemicals will be available in the United States? Thank you!

Working at a company that ships by boat to the USA I can say it happens quite often that a boat is delayed.... From my window I can see a container should have been in Rotterdam last monday.

loccdor · Mar 12, 2025

The Adox E-6 chemicals must be on the same boat, they've had their time adjusted likewise. We'll see in two days if it gets pushed off again...

Disconnekt · Mar 12, 2025

At least Freestyle keeps the "arrival" date updated, Cinestill has it on their site (out of stock still), but just says "Will be available after March 7th", so theyll probably get it around the same time Freestyle does.

John Wiegerink · Mar 12, 2025

Disconnekt said:
At least Freestyle keeps the "arrival" date updated, Cinestill has it on their site (out of stock still), but just says "Will be available after March 7th", so theyll probably get it around the same time Freestyle does.

I wouldn't bet 25 pennies on that. I've watched Freestyle change arrival dates at the last minute twice already, but I do hope you're right cuz I'm getting tired of waiting. Impatient is more like it!

bluechromis · Mar 13, 2025

As an alternative, the home-mixed FX-37 is said to be similar to FX-39 and is very affordable.

John Wiegerink · Mar 13, 2025

bluechromis said:
As an alternative, the home-mixed FX-37 is said to be similar to FX-39 and is very affordable.

I made my own FX-37 batches twice and while it was a good developer it wasn't as good as the Adox version of FX-39II I last used. I'll just wait impatiently for FX-39II.

retina_restoration · Mar 13, 2025

bluechromis said:
As an alternative, the home-mixed FX-37 is said to be similar to FX-39 and is very affordable.

I have found the following to be accurate:

Feature	FX-37	FX-39
Grain	Finer grain, smoother	Slightly coarser but still fine
Sharpness (Acutance)	High (balanced with fine grain)	Higher (more edge contrast)
Tonal Range	More compensating, softer highlights	Less compensating, brighter highlights
Best Film Speed	ISO 100–400	ISO 400 and above (but works across speeds)
Look	Balanced, classic tonality	Crisp, modern, high acutance
Usage	Ideal for prints and detailed enlargements	Ideal for scanning and high-contrast subjects

I've used FX-39 only recently, on several different films in both 120 and 35mm formats. I compared a roll of Delta 400 developed in both PMK and FX-39 (the same roll, cut in two and each half developed in each developer), and found that the FX-39 negs indeed gave the impression of better acutance, but compared to PMK, the grain was much more coarse, and the tonality overall was more "graphic" (contrasty, with abrupt transitions between values). It wasn't a look I much cared for, but I can imagine for some it would be the cat's meow.

Previous experience with home-made FX-37 was challenging: most listed development times were far too long and gave harsh, overdeveloped negatives. But when I reduced development times from - for example - 8 minutes down to 4.5 - 5 minutes (for FP4), the results were much more palatable. FX-37 does provide a speed boost of up to 2/3 of as stop, so for me, it allowed me to use films at their rated speed and get very good negs.
I found that FX-37 didn't deliver the nicest results with the 400 ASA films I tested, but that was more about personal taste than the developer's suitability for faster films. It was simply too grainy for my liking and it didn't play nice with the highest values, rendering them somewhat abruptly.

Keep in mind that my point of reference for "the ideal negative" is work made using PMK Pyro, which is very effective for maintaining a pleasing rendering of high values (tonal separation without blocking up) and it suppresses the appearance of grain thanks to the pyro stain.

John Wiegerink · Mar 13, 2025

retina_restoration said:
I have found the following to be accurate:

Feature FX-37 FX-39

Grain Finer grain, smoother Slightly coarser but still fine

Sharpness (Acutance) High (balanced with fine grain) Higher (more edge contrast)

Tonal Range More compensating, softer highlights Less compensating, brighter highlights

Best Film Speed ISO 100–400 ISO 400 and above (but works across speeds)

Look Balanced, classic tonality Crisp, modern, high acutance

Usage Ideal for prints and detailed enlargements Ideal for scanning and high-contrast subjects

I've used FX-39 only recently, on several different films in both 120 and 35mm formats. I compared a roll of Delta 400 developed in both PMK and FX-39 (the same roll, cut in two and each half developed in each developer), and found that the FX-39 negs indeed gave the impression of better acutance, but compared to PMK, the grain was much more coarse, and the tonality overall was more "graphic" (contrasty, with abrupt transitions between values). It wasn't a look I much cared for, but I can imagine for some it would be the cat's meow.

Previous experience with home-made FX-37 was challenging: most listed development times were far too long and gave harsh, overdeveloped negatives. But when I reduced development times from - for example - 8 minutes down to 4.5 - 5 minutes (for FP4), the results were much more palatable. FX-37 does provide a speed boost of up to 2/3 of as stop, so for me, it allowed me to use films at their rated speed and get very good negs.
I found that FX-37 didn't deliver the nicest results with the 400 ASA films I tested, but that was more about personal taste than the developer's suitability for faster films. It was simply too grainy for my liking and it didn't play nice with the highest values, rendering them somewhat abruptly.

Keep in mind that my point of reference for "the ideal negative" is work made using PMK Pyro, which is very effective for maintaining a pleasing rendering of high values (tonal separation without blocking up) and it suppresses the appearance of grain thanks to the pyro stain.

I found the said times a little long and I also tried the developer slightly more dilute. I liked the tonal range better when it was diluted more, but not the grain. I suppose I could have played around with it more, but couldn't really see any advantage over my trusty Xtol-R. FX-37 is a good developer, but so are a lot of other developers. I just want FX-39II for Adox HR-50 and maybe some Acros II I have left. Oh, I have two 120 rolls of PanF+ I'd like to run it in also just to see what the combination can do.

Adox FX-39II bummer!

John Wiegerink

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Adox FX-39II bummer!

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