FX15 Developing times?

[Kevin Caulfield]

Just looking for some development times for FX15, please. I'm interested in Acros 100, Neopan 400, FP4, HP5, etc, but any times will be a great help. Thanks.

 

[timhenrion]

I believe I put a couple of these times in the Massive Dev Chart.

From my personal data:

Delta 3200 @ EI 1600 --- FX-15 1+1 --- 19m 15s @ 18C
HP5+ @ EI 640 --- FX-15 1+1 --- 15m @ 18C
HP5+ @ EI 640 --- FX-15 1+3 --- 24m @ 20C

Note that these times shoot for a little higher CI than normal (0.65-0.70) for scanning

 

[Kevin Caulfield]

Thanks, timhenrion. Yes I believe your times are now in the Massive Dev Chart.

 

[craigclu]

[TABLE="width: 528"]

[TD="colspan: 7"]Here's a paste of some notes that I made a long time back, starting with this initial note: Only info found shows starting times midway between D76 1:3 and Microphen 1:3[/TD]











FX-15 Starting Times









1:3
1:0






Delta 100 @ 100
14.5







Delta 3200 @1600

9






Delta 400
20







PanF @ 25-50
12.5







FP4 @ 125
15.5







HP5 @ 400
22















[/TABLE]

 

[PerfesserKev]

I've found this developer quite interesting in brief tests. I decided to give it a try after becoming a great fan of Crawley's FX-37 for T-grain films and wanted to see what his work offered for traditional emulsions.

FX-15 has great midtone gradation and better highlight detail than D-76. The times I'm getting for FX-15 are comparable to D-76 1:1. I need to do some side-by-side comparisons with Xtol next, but my guess is slightly sharper with a slight increase in graininess -- a nice compromise point between a high acutance developer and a more mushy solvent developer. If you use Xtol 1:1 or higher I doubt the differences would be important to you. But if, like me, you enjoy the alchemy of chemical mixing then this one seems a gem.

Start times for FX-15 1:1 @ 68F with three agitation cycles every 30 seconds:

Foma 100 (Arista.edu Ultra) 10 min.
Efke 100 10 min.
Agfa APX 100 12 min.

Since times are tough to find I'll add more here as I get them, and send them to Digital Truth for the dev chart.

 

[PerfesserKev]

Another quick note: The Foma emulsions are pretty notorious for being a bit short of box speed. With the speed increase this developer seems to have, I find that the 10 min 1:1 time above does bring the Foma 100 to a true ISO 100 with good contrast and appropriate shadow detail. Looking forward to see how it does with the T-grain-ish 200 and the traditional 400 as well.

 

[nworth]

FX-15 is indeed an interesting formula. I'll have to try it sometime. It's good that we can ask one another about recommended development times, but notice that there can be a 2:1 disparity in the recommendations. OK - it's a starting point. When you don't have a clue about times, remember that once the shadows are fully developed, you are just adding contrast with further development. Your task is to find the time that gives the right contrast. Short rolls of 35mm film are great friends at times like these. As a first guess, look for a similar developer for which you do have times (or use the recommendation you got from someone). Add 10 percent if you are uncertain. Expose a short roll to a scene with a full range of values (maybe a step tablet) and develop for your guess time. Bracket. Evaluate the contrast (best if you can compare it to something you know is right). Adjust the time accordingly. Repeat as necessary.

When you have the times for one film down cold, can you extrapolate for other films? Maybe. Once again, look at a similar formula for which you have times. Adjust your time proportionally for the new film, and try a roll. Evaluate the contrast and adjust accordingly. For example, say you determined the development time of HP5 to be 22 minutes in FX-15 and 13 minutes in D-76 (1+1) (a sort-of similar developer). You want to develop Tri-X. Tri-X develops in 9.5 minutes in D-76. So FX-15 takes about 1.7 times as long as D-76 (1+1). Try 16.5 minutes for Tri-X in FX-15 and evaluate the results. The trouble is, this does not always work, so be prepared for poor results on your first roll.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Remember that development times are only a guide. They may get you close to the correct time for your particular method. However some fine tuning may be required. Such things as differences in agitation and errors in temperature can have their effect.