Steve Shapiro (sgshiya@redshift.com)
Fri, 21 May 1999 21:12:16 -0700
Sandy, I used this beautiful developer, but only a few times.
-- snip --
Eduardo Benavidez.
Sandy King escribió:
Does any one on the list use Crawley FX-2 developer? If so I would
appreciate your comments about its qualities.
In The Film Developer Cookbook the directions to mix FX-2 call for the use
of potassium carbonate crystals, not anhydrous (the crystal form is said to
give a slight bicarbonate buffer effect). What does this mean, and how
might the same effect be gotten with the anhydrous variety?
Sandy King
I too find this to be my developer of choice.
I get the Formulary Packaged stuff with a small bottle of Pancryptol Yellow
included. I buy it from a local retailer for less than what Bud prices it
in the catalogue, but haven't tried to bargain with him, yet.
I just did a dozen 8X10s and some 4X5s, counting cafefully the amount versus
the square inches to be sure I'm not printing with exhausted developer as I
tend to expand the developing; I was using the green light and by inspection
with the Bergger or TriX it works swell.
For my enlarging negatives I rely on the fine grain, but wonderful structure
none the less. For grainless enlargements PMK is far superior to the other
formulas because of the richer stain. For a faster and complete developer I
use the Cookbook formula #6 Amidol Waterbath Film developer. Brett Weston's
biographer jumped on me the other night when I showed some of my contact
proofs, saying he never did use Amidol for his film development; and now
there's yet another guy who claims to have sold Brett his supplies and never
amidol.
>From his mouth to my ear he used a pinch of amidol in his PMK and Ansel used
the Crowley formulas, too; including the Windich Expansion, Contracting
formula with catchen.
If you're developing negatives any bigger than 4X5, you MUST try by
inspection; and the best article to date is the one by Michael Smith in the
current View Camera magazine.
It's amazing to my very experienced friends, that FX 2 can be used to expand
film density with development times up to a half hour and more without grain
swelling like the Acufine formulas.
Like Edwardo, back in the late 1800's Euguene Atget used this and left it
standing for an hour and a half with agitation every twenty minutes.
It's good stuff!
S. Shapiro, Carmel, CA
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