Explanations of Crawley's FX Developers

albada

Subscriber
Joined
Apr 10, 2008
Messages
2,175
Location
Escondido, C
Format
35mm RF
Has anyone compiled and published Geoffrey Crawley's FX developers, along with explanations of why he formulated them as he did?
I know they were published in the BJP (British Journal of Photography) over the years, but did those articles include rationales of their formulations?
I'm asking because I'm getting back into formulating developers, and it occurred to me that Crawley had a tremendous amount of knowledge and it would be a pity for it to be lost. Some of Crawley's reasons are documented in the FDC (Film Developing Cookbook), but that was probably just the tip of the iceberg of his knowledge.

Mark
 

Alex Benjamin

Subscriber
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Messages
2,556
Location
Montreal
Format
Multi Format
Interesting topic! I tried FX-1 and FX-2 briefly last year—very unusual beasts that I felt would take me years to master, and they do feel like they came out of the mind of a mad scientist. Not sure what Crawley was getting at, esthetically speaking. Almost seems that he was experimenting for the sake of experimenting—for the sheer pleasure of it.

Did a bit of research at that time, but couldn't find much on the web regarding Crawley, other than this

Paterson 'Acu' Range

Paterson, Chemicals
www.photomemorabilia.co.uk

Not sure there's much that is documented about him and his motivations. Best info would probably come from those who knew and worked with him, but don't know how many there are.
 

Kino

Subscriber
Joined
Jan 20, 2006
Messages
7,775
Location
Orange, Virginia
Format
Multi Format
As you state, there is some discussion of Geoffrey Crawley's FX developers in, "The Film Developing Cookbook", 2nd edition by Bill Troop with Steve Anchell.

Formulas for many FX developers are listed, but not all.

The book is dedicated to Grant Haist and Geoffrey Crawley with many references to both scattered throughout.

There are also some FX formulas in "The Darkroom Cookbook", 4th edition by Steve Anchell.

Is there an online archive of BJP that is accessible? That would be a great resource!
 
Last edited:

Alex Benjamin

Subscriber
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Messages
2,556
Location
Montreal
Format
Multi Format

The FDC is also where I got most of my info on FX-1 and FX-2.

I searched the BJP for "Crawley" and nothing pops up. Their online archives don't seem to go past a few years back.
 

Alex Benjamin

Subscriber
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Messages
2,556
Location
Montreal
Format
Multi Format
Found this here. From 2007. Essentially the same thread topic as albada...

Crawley

Hi All, I have turned 56 years old and it seems over the last two years I have become obsessed with photo chemistry and may have more interest in it than actually making photographs, at least when I cannot go out and photograph. I am interested in obtaining any of Geoffrey Crawley's writings...
www.photrio.com
 

Kino

Subscriber
Joined
Jan 20, 2006
Messages
7,775
Location
Orange, Virginia
Format
Multi Format
It looks like the complete series of BPJ have been digitized, but are unfortunately pay-walled through a company called "ProQuest" which sells subscriptions to Educational Institutions and Libraries. Probably have to visit a major library (National Level) to use their subscription to do research.

Digital: British Journal of Photography 1854-

The British Journal of Photography has been digitised up to 2005 with the remainder to be completed early in 2016, BPH first reported on the project here back…
britishphotohistory.ning.com
 

Alan9940

Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2006
Messages
2,430
Location
Arizona
Format
Multi Format
John Finch of pictorialplanet.com has some information on a few of Crawley's formulas, though he doesn't go into much about why they were developed.
 

reddesert

Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2019
Messages
2,430
Location
SAZ
Format
Hybrid
Often large university research libraries will have subscriptions to Proquest and similar services, even if they don't subscribe to the actual journal. If you visit a university library in person the Reference desk will typically help you look up articles, even if you aren't a university affiliate (especially if it's a public university). I looked up the Proquest holdings of BJP through my university. The Proquest search interface is kind of problematic as the default search seemed to only go back to 1980. The Darkroom Cookbook dates FX-1 and other Crawley formulas to 1961. With that information, I was able to burrow deeper into the Proquest form and find that there is a series of about 8 articles by Crawley titled "Notes on Present Day Monochrome Emulsions and their Development," from Dec 1960 to Jan 1961.

These are the articles you want. Proquest has scanned PDFs. Each article is about 3-4 pages of dense text. I only skimmed it, but if you read the whole thing I imagine you would gain insight into Crawley's thought process. Part 8 summarizes formulas for various FX developers. Crawley divides then-available films into three "grain structure groups" and film speed groups and discusses different applications. Of course, these films do not directly correspond to todays films (Pan-F and Tri-X are listed, but were likely different in 1960).
 

Keith Tapscott.

Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2005
Messages
1,813
Location
Plymouth. UK
Format
Multi Format
I believe the FX prefix stood for experimental formula. Without going through the reasons why they were designed, his best developers were probably FX18 for a general use fine grain developer, FX5b for extra fine grain and perhaps FX37 for newer technology films like TMax, Delta and Acros.
 

snusmumriken

Subscriber
Joined
Jul 22, 2021
Messages
2,525
Location
Salisbury, UK
Format
35mm
In my youth (1969s) I read a lot of photography magazines: Amateur Photographer, SLR Camera, Creative Camera and Practical Photography. Geoffrey Crawley regularly wrote about his developers in one of those, but I can’t remember which one. Most likely AP, I guess. I just remember his mad scientist mugshot at the top of the page, and the fact that I would then rush off and buy a bottle of Acuspecial or whatever he was describing.

I very very rarely bought/could afford BJP, so there were definitely Crawley articles in one of the above.

PS -seems he moved from BJP to AP - see here.
 
Last edited:
OP
OP

albada

Subscriber
Joined
Apr 10, 2008
Messages
2,175
Location
Escondido, C
Format
35mm RF
Thanks everyone for the clues. And @Alex Benjamin : That was an informative thread you linked to.

It appears that information about Crawley's work is scattered about, and was not assembled into one booklet or article or website. That's unfortunate. In reading postings, I noticed quotations from Ilford's chemists that they thought some of Crawley's formulas were over-complex, especially those employing three developing agents. Hmm...

Mark
 

Alex Benjamin

Subscriber
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Messages
2,556
Location
Montreal
Format
Multi Format
albada said:
It appears that information about Crawley's work is scattered about, and was not assembled into one booklet or article or website. That's unfortunate.
Click to expand...

Anybody knows if the Unblinking Eye website is still kept up to date? Seems like it would be a great place to drop Crawley's original articles. Would be great right next to Sandy King's original pyro articles they already have posted there.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…