FX-55 black-and-white developer

Description

Geoff Crowley’s FX-55 developer for black-and-white films. A phenidone-ascorbic acid developer developed by the late Crowley in 1982, it’s often hailed as “the last of the greats”. FX-55 is a high-acutance developer (increases perceived sharpness) like Rodinal, but where Rodinal produces large grain FX-55 is very fine-grained. FX-55 is close to Xtol, but has a bigger range of tonalities and raises most film’s speeds by 0,5 to 1 stop.

This kit consists of 1 set of dry powders to make stock A, and 1 dark brown PET bottle of liquid stock B. Used 1+9 by default, this kit makes either:

• 1 liter of FX-55 part A + 200ml of part B, good for 10 liters of working solution or
• 500ml of FX-55 part A + 100ml of part B, good for 5 liters of working solution.

The working solution lasts 36 hours maximum, so one-shotting is recommended. When kept separate, the solutions have close to indefinite shelf life at room temperature.

Example pics are shot by Casper Smet on Kentmere 400 @ 1600, developed for 17 minutes.

Usage

To prepare stock A:

1. get some warm water; use 3/4th of your final volume for mixing,
2. mix in the bag,
3. add more water to obtain the required amount of stock,
4. wait for the solution to cool down and
5. develop your film.

Part A is diluted 1+9, then 20ml of B is added per liter of working solution: 5+1+44 (100+20+880ml for 1L). The simplest way to make a liter is to dilute 100ml of A down to 900ml, then add 20ml of stock B, then add water to make 1L.

Times listed on the Massive Dev Chart are accurate for this developer. If you can’t find your time, use the times from Xtol 1:1 as a starting point or guesstimate a time from the other films. For Double-X at box speed, 10:00 gives a good result.

Contents

• Bag of part A, powders
• Bottle of part B, solution in propylene glycol

Notes

• If you don’t want to dev it yourself, I can also develop your film for you in FX-55!
• The kit does not come with fixer, but you can use any old B/W fixer. I prefer Bellini’s Ecofix for black-and-white work. Stop bath is also recommended.
• Mixed developer stays good for 36 hours, so use it shortly after mixing.
• I formulate a slightly modified recipe created by Pat Gainer to allow for easier dosing of part B, but the results are identical to the original recipe. Some people prefer extending the development times listed on the Massive Dev Chart by 10-15% but I found this wasn’t necessary.
• This item cannot be shipped in a letterbox parcel due to part B being dissolved in propylene glycol. The bottle doesn’t fit through the mail slot.
• Some precipate can form in Part B’s bottle, this is harmless. Give it a shake before use. The precipate will dissolve in the working solution.