Adox FX-39II developer failure

[Robert Ley]

I started shooting B&W film for the first time in many years and trying new films and developers. I got some Adox HR-50 and many on the forum thought that FX-39 was a good developer to use with this film, so I tried it. I picked up a 500ml bottle and used about a third of it for a few rolls of film about 4-5 months ago. Last week I tried it again and notice when I mixed it that it was a little dark, Having never used this developer before and I had seen Rodinal get a little dark but still worked fine, I forged ahead and processed one roll. It came out terribly underdeveloped and I found out that this developer doesn't last as I have used it.

Does anyone have a strategy for making this developer last a little longer than 5 months?

 

[retina_restoration]

I started shooting B&W film for the first time in many years and trying new films and developers. I got some Adox HR-50 and many on the forum thought that FX-39 was a good developer to use with this film, so I tried it. I picked up a 500ml bottle and used about a third of it for a few rolls of film about 4-5 months ago. Last week I tried it again and notice when I mixed it that it was a little dark, Having never used this developer before and I had seen Rodinal get a little dark but still worked fine, I forged ahead and processed one roll. It came out terribly underdeveloped and I found out that this developer doesn't last as I have used it.

Does anyone have a strategy for making this developer last a little longer than 5 months?

Yes: don't let air in the bottle. Decant it into 100ml bottles if you want to preserve it for more than a few weeks once opened. It ain't Rodinal!

 

[koraks]

In general with developers, if you seal the concentrate from oxygen, it should last longer. So do as @retina_restoration says:

Decant it into 100ml bottles if you want to preserve it for more than a few weeks once opened.

@ADOX Fotoimpex does not appear to specify a shelf life for the opened concentrate.

longer than 5 months

I would frankly consider using a different developer that's inherently less prone to oxidation if you go for long periods between developing sessions.

 

[retina_restoration]

In general with developers, if you seal the concentrate from oxygen, it should last longer. So do as @retina_restoration says:


@ADOX Fotoimpex does not appear to specify a shelf life for the opened concentrate.

Nope. They do not. I am making suggestions based entirely on my own experience with the disappointingly short shelf life of this developer.

 

[Robert Ley]

I am using HC-110 for most of my film and just opened a fresh bottle of Adox's version of HC-110 and it worked well in the one roll of Kentmere 200 that I tried. I have a bottle of DDX that appears to be fine and Adox Rodinal so I'm pretty fixed for developer for a while. I thought that the FX-39 worked well on the HR-50 so I may get another bottle and decant it into smaller bottles. Would spraying Dust off into the bottle help, or are there better gases to use.

 

[Trucker]

I am using HC-110 for most of my film and just opened a fresh bottle of Adox's version of HC-110 and it worked well in the one roll of Kentmere 200 that I tried. I have a bottle of DDX that appears to be fine and Adox Rodinal so I'm pretty fixed for developer for a while. I thought that the FX-39 worked well on the HR-50 so I may get another bottle and decant it into smaller bottles. Would spraying Dust off into the bottle help, or are there better gases to use.

You don't need gas at all, just drop glass marbles into the bottle as used and the contact surface area will be reduced into the neck, as close to the top as you like.

 

[John Wiegerink]

I found FX-39II to be a very good developer for slower films like Delta 100, Kentmere 100 and even PanF, but it doesn't keep well in my experience. I would not trust it, even decanted into smaller air free brown bottles, past six months. I found that, for me anyway, buying the smaller size bottle and using it faster was the best way to go. If I used it as my only developer, which means I'd go through more at a faster rate, then the larger bottle would be fine.

 

[Chuck1]

Any suggestions for a long lived slow speed,low grain developer?

 

[John Wiegerink]

Any suggestions for a long lived slow speed,low grain developer?

Do you mean "slow speed" as in the film itself? If you are using a slow speed film then many developers can work. I don't have a problem as far as grain goes when using most ISO 100 speed films in Pyrocat-HDC (HD) or my replenished Xtol-R and those are both very long lived. But, and here's the big butt, I use medium format mostly and very seldom ever go above a 16X20 print.

 

[retina_restoration]

Any suggestions for a long lived slow speed,low grain developer?

Yes! PMK

 

[250swb]

It came out terribly underdeveloped and I found out that this developer doesn't last as I have used it.

FX39 II can turn a light brown in an unopened bottle that's only been sat on the retailers shelf, and this is caused by light, not oxygen. But it still works. So the obvious question here is have you tried the developer a second time to confirm the assumption it's a problem with the developer and not another cause?

 

[Robert Ley]

FX39 II can turn a light brown in an unopened bottle that's only been sat on the retailers shelf, and this is caused by light, not oxygen. But it still works. So the obvious question here is have you tried the developer a second time to confirm the assumption it's a problem with the developer and not another cause?

The developer was way past light brown and the film was very underdeveloped. After I pulled the film out and looked at the clear film I dumped the developer and chalked it up to the developer going bad and frankly I didn't want to find out whether it might be OK...just moved on. Freestyle has the Adox HR-50 developer back in stock so I am going to try that developer as it was made for their HR-50 film.

 

[John Wiegerink]

FX39 II can turn a light brown in an unopened bottle that's only been sat on the retailers shelf, and this is caused by light, not oxygen. But it still works. So the obvious question here is have you tried the developer a second time to confirm the assumption it's a problem with the developer and not another cause?

I had the very same problem with the first bottle of FX-39II I bought. I didn't gas the bottle as I usually do since I for some developers. I wanted to actually see what the shelf life storage of the remainder might be. It was stored in the dark at between 66 and 70 degrees and by 4 months I started seeing noticeable density change on testing. It was enough as to where I tossed it. It was a little darker than pale brown. My new batch I gassed and it is just over six months and seems fine so far, but it too is starting to show its age color wise. I'm starting to believe around six months is a good cutoff point for even a gassed or filled to the top bottle once opened, but will keep testing my gassed bottle.

 

[Robert Ley]

I had the very same problem with the first bottle of FX-39II I bought. I didn't gas the bottle as I usually do since I for some developers. I wanted to actually see what the shelf life storage of the remainder might be. It was stored in the dark at between 66 and 70 degrees and by 4 months I started seeing noticeable density change on testing. It was enough as to where I tossed it. It was a little darker than pale brown. My new batch I gassed and it is just over six months and seems fine so far, but it too is starting to show its age color wise. I'm starting to believe around six months is a good cutoff point for even a gassed or filled to the top bottle once opened, but will keep testing my gassed bottle.

John, you mention gas...what gas do you use and where can it be obtained. I have heard of using some gas to replace the air in the bottle. When I worked in a large teaching hospital photography department we had a Wing-Lynch processor and that used nitrogen under pressure and the E-6 and C-41 chemistry would keep very well.

 

[John Wiegerink]

John, you mention gas...what gas do you use and where can it be obtained. I have heard of using some gas to replace the air in the bottle. When I worked in a large teaching hospital photography department we had a Wing-Lynch processor and that used nitrogen under pressure and the E-6 and C-41 chemistry would keep very well.

I have an aerosol can for refilling butane (gas) lighters I use at home. Up to my cottage I have a set of torches for welding and cutting so use that up there, which is acetylene gas. I prefer the acetylene gas since it's a heavy gas. Some folks just give their bottle of developer a shot of "dust off" and then slip the cap back on. I think you could use the gas in a propane torch also and that should work.