Formulary FA-1027 dev question

[Bioflex]

I am using Photographers Formulary FA-1027 film developer for the first time. My first lesson learned is that reverse osmosis water is not the same as distilled. I am using distilled now.Still the D-max areas (film leader) don’t seem as black as they should be? I developed Kodak T-max 100 for 6.5 minutes @68 degrees. Should I give it more time or is something else wrong? I also ordered benzortriazole and mixed using nondistilled water, the chemical is concentrated on bottom, can I pour off the water and replace and remix with distilled water?

 

[Rudeofus]

There are some developers, which somewhat suppress development of highly exposed regions. These allow you to develop longer, giving you better shadow detail while overall image contrast does not run amok. I don't know, whether FA-1027 falls under this category, but it might. In this case you can not evaluate the negatives based on their leader. Try to scan or print these negs to see whether they are ok.

 

[Bioflex]

Thank you, I was weaned on Kodak’s Tri-Chem-pac and spent my photographic life on DK-50,D-76,And Dektol. It is encouraging to know that there are still so many options and things to learn about analog photography .