Help with Fuji Microfine developer

[lawrenceimpey]

I bought a few packets of Fujifilm Microfine developer but there seems to be a problem with it. I mixed it as follows: "While stirring 1 litre of warm water (50 deg C), pour in sachet contents gradually. Keep stirring until completely dissolved. Use complete sachet contents at once."

The problem is that I am left with a cloudy stock solution in which there are many suspended particles that don't dissolve, even though I followed the instructions to the letter and left the stock to dissolve for a day or two. The expiry date on the packet is 11/2011.

I've now wasted two packets on this and have only one packet left. Has anyone else had this problem with Microfine? I have no problems with dissolving other developers (D76 / Xtol etc.). Maybe because I have hard water?

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Did you use tap water or distilled water? I am unfamiliar with Microfine but I would surmise from the name that it is similar to Kodak Microdol. High sulfite developers tend to precipitate calcium sulfite when mixed with hard tap waters.

 

[lawrenceimpey]

Did you use tap water or distilled water? I am unfamiliar with Microfine but I would surmise from the name that it is similar to Kodak Microdol. High sulfite developers tend to precipitate calcium sulfite when mixed with hard tap waters.

Thanks, I didn't know that. Yes, it's similar to Kodak Microdol / Ilford Perceptol. Will try with distilled water.

 

[Rick A]

How warm was the water? Try bringing the temp of the solution up to around 125f and stir a whole bunch more.

 

[lawrenceimpey]

How warm was the water? Try bringing the temp of the solution up to around 125f and stir a whole bunch more.

Tried at 50C both times and did indeed stir 'a whole bunch'

 

[john_s]

For what it's worth, here is Ryuji Suzuki's take on what is in Microfine, copied from his now-defunct website:

Microfine is a ultrafine grained developer supplied in dry powder package. This
formula somewhat resembles a cross of D-25 and Microdol. The developing
agent is metol (3-7%). The solution contains a large amount of sodium sulfite
(70-90%), some sodium chloride (7-15%), and a small amount of sodium
phosphate monobasic (0.5-1.5%) to make the solution pH very weakly alkaline.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

In place of using distilled water you can use tap water that has been boiled for 5 - 10 min. Allow the water to cool and stand overnight, and then filter off any sediment. This will remove the calcium salts from the water.

 

[lawrenceimpey]

As it was my last packet I got a bottle of purified water and heated it to 50C. This time the powder dissolved perfectly.

Thanks for all the feedback.