Same Developer for Tmax-100, Plus-X & Tmax-400, Tri-X?

aldevo · Jun 14, 2009

jim appleyard said:
Hi Jed, Frank sums it up every time! Yes, you can certainly split-up X-tol into smaller bottles and the extra liter that D-76 doesn't have shouldn't make that much of a difference. I haven't noticed much, if any, difference between the two.

Actually, I'd buy 5 1L jugs (the Photographer's Formulary sells brown glass bottles that are cheap and ideal) and stay away from soda bottles.

If you're wondering why you get those great deals on soda at the supermarket it's because it has a limited shelf life before it goes flat. And the reason it goes flat is the gas permeability of plastic soda bottles (which, after all, are designed to be blow-molded at minimal expense)

That same gas permeability does your developer's shelf life no favors.

Christopher Walrath · Jun 14, 2009

There's a post for Crawley FX15 by Ian Grant on here somewhere this past week. But I have it on the magazine website as well.

aldevo · Jun 14, 2009

Jedidiah Smith said:
Thanks for all the input, and especially to Frank and Bruce for the summaries of years of use. That's what I love about this place. I could pay for all the chems and spend a bunch of time doing a very limited test in my own house, but I can get so many years worth of experience in the answers from all of you. Definitely shows the Internet could be GOOD for photography!
I will probably try with X-tol first and see if I like it again. A note about the Clayton developer - yes, I see they are down here. I always wanted to try that dev. when I was in Alaska, but shipping was crazy for some reason. So, maybe at some point I'll give that a try as well.

Did anyone ever find any information on that Paterson FX-50 "Crawley" developer? That stuff sounds like the bomb, but I've never used it...so might just be hype. Don't know. I will start first with X-tol as a base-line, and go from there.
Jed

It was the bomb all right, as in "tick, tick, tick...boom".

Roger Hicks did a very thorough test of the developer and it seems to produce superb results.

But, as has been the case wiith a lot of Crawley's formulations, shelf-life was a problem. FX-50 has been, AFAIK, discontinued. Crawley has recently introduced a new formulation known as FX-55, the formula for which is available on APUG. FX-55 is not, as far as I know, commercially available; if you wish to try it you must mix it yourself.

Jedidiah Smith · Jun 14, 2009

Ok, thank you for that info. I do not have any kind of a scale or anything to mix chemicals yet, but I may in the future. That would be kind of fun - but for now I just need something consistent when I re-test some film, so X-tol will have to do it.

By the way, you had me laughing at my "bomb" analogy. Hehe...tick, tick...boom!
I will take your advice and look for some good 1L bottle - they can't be that expensive, can they? And it's probably better for my health because I won't be tempted to drink 5L worth of soda!

Jed

Thomas Bertilsson · Jun 14, 2009

Jed, the DataTainer 1L bottles are just a couple of bucks each.

crawdiddy · Jun 15, 2009

aldevo said:
Actually, I'd buy 5 1L jugs (the Photographer's Formulary sells brown glass bottles that are cheap and ideal) and stay away from soda bottles.

If you're wondering why you get those great deals on soda at the supermarket it's because it has a limited shelf life before it goes flat. And the reason it goes flat is the gas permeability of plastic soda bottles (which, after all, are designed to be blow-molded at minimal expense)

That same gas permeability does your developer's shelf life no favors.

I use soda bottles, and find they keep developer extremely fresh. Obviously I fill them to the top when possible, but also squeeze the bottle when half full or so. Over a period of months, I don't find much deterioration. I'm a little more casual with Dektol than D-76, so as to not screw up negatives.

kodachrome64 · Jun 19, 2009

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry 8300: BlackBerry9000/4.6.0.167 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

Another vote for XTOL for these films. I use all of these films and also XTOL, which I have really come around on. Since I started the thread "What's so great about XTOL" I have really started to like using it at 1+3. Eventually I'd like to try replenishing it.

TMY-2 shot at 400 and souped in XTOL 1+3 is wonderful to me.

lawrenceimpey · Jun 22, 2009

aldevo said:
But, as has been the case wiith a lot of Crawley's formulations, shelf-life was a problem. FX-50 has been, AFAIK, discontinued.

I tried FX-50 when it was available from Paterson about five years ago and, once the bottles had been opened, it went off in about a week (yes, you read that right!). In my view it was a bit mad to make a commercial product that was so unreliable.

I like the other Paterson (Crawley-forumulated) Aculux and FX-39 developers, however, which you can order directly from their web site:
patersonphotographic.com

Same Developer for Tmax-100, Plus-X & Tmax-400, Tri-X?

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