Edwal FG7

tendim · May 2, 2011

G'day folks.

I've been using Xtol but it is only available in the 5L variants in Toronto. I usually end up throwing away a good chunk of it as I go through so much time before shooting B&W film.

Back in the day I shot a large body of work with HP5+ and Edwal FG7 (With sodium sulphite) and loved it. That said, I'm wondering if anyone knows of anyplace in Canada that still sells Edwal FG7, or a suitable replacement.

Thanks,
-10d

Kevin Caulfield · May 2, 2011

I suggest buying the 5l bottle and decanting into smaller brown bottles. I've been doing this with FX39 for several years now and it works very well.

On the advice of a fellow Melbourne APUGer (I don't even remember who it was), I bought a number of small brown bottles in sizes ranging from about 10 ml up to about 100 ml from a local shop which sells perfumes and associated items.

craigclu · May 3, 2011

Kevin Caulfield said:
I suggest buying the 5l bottle and decanting into smaller brown bottles. I've been doing this with FX39 for several years now and it works very well.

Many years back, I called them (FG7 folks) for a different reason and the tech person was actually a bit apologetic about the switch to plastic that they felt forced to do... He suggested decanting to smaller, glass bottles for extending the shelf life. I used it for many years in that manner and never had any go bad on me, even with sporadic use. It would discolor a bit over extended time but it always maintained activity levels for me. I used to get about ½ stop over D-76 1:1 and virtually identical tonality on the materials that I was using. I posted this old ad once before but thought it was interesting to see the old hyperbole....

Roger Cole · May 3, 2011

Freestyle has it. Don't they ship to Canada?

cmacd123 · May 3, 2011

Roger Cole said:
Freestyle has it. Don't they ship to Canada?

They ship SOME things. Chemicals marked ORMD are only sold in the States.

Last time I saw any advertised in Canada the dealer told me that the distributor was no longer carrying it. I think it is now made by BKA.

Roger Cole · May 3, 2011

cmacd123 said:
They ship SOME things. Chemicals marked ORMD are only sold in the States.

Last time I saw any advertised in Canada the dealer told me that the distributor was no longer carrying it. I think it is now made by BKA.

Oooo, what a PITA. That's a LOT of stuff, some of which I can't imagine why it's considered hazardous in the first place.

PhotoJim · May 3, 2011

One other option: if you could get 1L packages of XTOL, it would cost about 40% of what 5L costs. See D76 as an example. So... Discarding some XTOL still might save money versus buying smaller packages.

vpwphoto · May 3, 2011

I dumped a dozen bottles of that down the trap 5 years after I became a t-max man.

Neal · May 4, 2011

Dear tendim,

As Kevin said, just decant into smaller bottles. I keep it in 250ml bottles and have had no issues in over 10 years. While I go through it more quickly now, I have kept it for over a year in those accordion bottles without issue as well.

Neal Wydra

tendim · May 4, 2011

G'day folks.

I contacted the US distributor for Edwal products and he gave me a name of a local shop which may have it, or if not is able to order it for me. The shop is "Film Plus" in Toronto.

In the meantime, I've sourced some of those accordion style brown bottles and I've been able to split 5L of solution into 1 Gallon and 1 Qt bottles to help it keep longer.

Cheers.

Roger Cole · May 4, 2011

Internet chatter is that the accordion style bottles (I used to use them and still have some) are not that great because the plastic is more gas permeable than the best plastic. That said, I'd guess that a gas permeable accordion style bottle with the air squeezed out will be better than a gas permeable bottle with air on top.

Gerald C Koch · May 4, 2011

tendim said:
G'day folks.

I contacted the US distributor for Edwal products and he gave me a name of a local shop which may have it, or if not is able to order it for me. The shop is "Film Plus" in Toronto.

In the meantime, I've sourced some of those accordion style brown bottles and I've been able to split 5L of solution into 1 Gallon and 1 Qt bottles to help it keep longer.

Cheers.

Do not, I repeat, do not use the accordian style bottles to store developers. They are made from polyethylene and are not impervious to oxygen. You should use either glass or bottles made from PETE or PVC. These can be idemtified by looking at the SPI recycle number which appears in a triangle somewhere on the bottle. Look for a 1 or a 3. PETE is used for many soft drinks. I use empty Powerade bottles. They are nice and rigid and crystal clear.

Something else about the accordian bottles they are impossible to clean.

Edwal FG7

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