FA 1027

RPippin · Mar 25, 2012

I think I may have bought the last liter of FA-1027 film developer from Formulary. They listed only one liter left on their web site, and when I did a search on it the only thing I found was some postings from 2004. Negative stuff from the advertising strategy, positive stuff from anyone who actually used it. My worry is that it might be a great developer, but than be unavailable in the future. Any current feedback on this from folks who actually used this would be appreciated, as well as a substitute for the future if it can't be found at Formulary.

L Gebhardt · Mar 25, 2012

Don't worry, it's not a good developer. Had a very lumpy curve shape with the few films I tested with it. Real images were sometimes good, if the lumpy curve helped them, or terrible, if the important areas fell on a flat spot.

jeddy-3 · Mar 26, 2012

Fa-1027 First Time User

I have never heard anything bad about actual results until I read L. Gebhardt's reply. In fact, I've only read pretty glowing reviews of the stuff. Today I will develop both a roll of Tri-X and a Roll of Rollei Retro 100 (both 35mm). I will post results sometime later today or tomorrow.

In response to the second part of your question, I have read that PP's Fa-1027 is either very similar to, or is re-branded F-76 Plus Developer which is sold by Clayton Chem and sold at their website with the same name (I can't post links as this is my first post here at APUG). I am neither a chemist nor am I an experienced photographer/developer and do not know if this is fact, but if you like your FA-1027 results it might be worth investigating. Indeed, the development times listed at the Clayton site are very similar to those published by Photo Formulary. They state that higher concentrations yield more contrast...common sense I guess.

If you do use your FA-1027 successfully, please post your dev. times to the Massive Development Chart and/or filmdev.org . I plan on doing the same.

Formulary/Bud Wilson · Mar 26, 2012

The Formulary has no plans to discontinue FA-1027, and try to have it in stock at all times for you. Just counted 11 on shelf, glad to see that soft ware is counting the inventory properly. ??

Thanxs Bud

Trask · May 28, 2012

I'm not sure who "PP" is, as referred to in Jeddy-3's post -- but I'd be interested to hear from Formulary what they think of the notion that FA-1027 is re-bottle Clayton F-76 Plus.

brian steinberger · May 28, 2012

I tried this developer once a few years ago when I was chasing the 'silver bullet.' Found it extremely slow with HP5 and Neopan and ultimately gave up on it for fear of discontinuance and also the fact that I'm not crazy about buying film developers in liquid form. You just never know how fresh they are.

Trask · May 28, 2012

I understand the sentiment, Brian. I once bought a bottle of DDX only to find it nearly exhausted. Happily, Rodinal has never done that to me. I just bought a couple of European developers at a shop in Warsaw, in liquid form, but they come in foil pouches with zero air in them, so with any luck they'll be good for a while. That said, I wouldn't mind trying FA1027, but I've also got to stop looking for a magic bullet and learn to better use the tools I have in abundance!

Rick Bennett · Nov 12, 2013

I just ordered a bottle the other day and it has been shipped. It is a new product and I seriously doubt that they have stopped making it. The results with Kodak Tri X 400 and Plus X 125 (I have a number of rolls of plus x in my freezer) are outstanding. I print with a cold light enlarger so my development time is just over 20% higher than Formulary recommends, dilution 1:9 for 7 minutes. Initial agitation 30 seconds, thereafter 5 seconds each 30 seconds. I also pre soak my film in fotoflo 200 (a couple drops in a liter of water) for 30 seconds.

Trask · Nov 13, 2013

I'd love to see some images of this developer with both Tri-X and Plus-X, the latter of which I have 2 100' rolls frozen.

FA 1027

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