fx-39 and short shelf life

[kaiyen]

Hi all,

 

So I've been playing around with fx-39 for a while now. I know it has

a "short shelf life" but I'm not sure how short. In a half-empty

bottle, are we talking a month? 2? Also, does it just die, or does

it lose strength?

 

My last set of d100 negs look thinner than I expected for the contrast

conditions of the shoot. But they aren't clear or anything by any

stretch.

 

allan

[jon_porter1]

My experience is 2-3 months top. It doesn't just die like Xtol, but negs start coming out

thinner. Fortunately FX39 is also a good paper developer, so after two months I would just

use the remaining bottle up for that, diluted around 1:4.

[kaiyen]

Jon,

 

Thanks for the info on your experience. I'd say mine is just about exhausted, then. It was a good set of tests regardless.

 

Any thoughts on shelf-life when unopened? I wouldn't mind grabbing some the next time it's on sale, but I might not be able to use it right away.

 

allan

[Mike Gammill]

Yeah, it goes pretty fast once the original bottle of concentrate is opened. I always decant mine into smaller glass bottles with sealable lids. Then I add glass marbles to it to bring the level up to the top. I can usually stretch a few months out of a bottle this way if I'm not using it very often. Usually, though, I go through a bottle so fast that shelf life is not an issue.

I really like Plus-X, FP4+, and Pan F+ in this developer. If you come across some sale-priced Acupan 200, it does well in this stuff too. I'm not a big fan of TMX, but it doesn't look half bad in FX-39 either.

Cheers,

Mike

[james gibbons]

I find there is quite an obvious colour change when the FX-39 does go bad. From a very pale yellow to a more obvious yellow. (Think fluid replacement and dehydration...). In my experience once activity starts to fade it goes very quickly,

 

James

[conrad_hoffman]

This sounds a lot like my FX2. Keeps poorly in partially filled bottles, maybe a few weeks at best. Keeps for a year or so in perfectly full bottles, so I break up each batch into small bottles. Noticable color change as it goes bad, and negs just get progressively thinner, but... I noticed that shadow detail is the first thing to go, even before I notice overall loss of density. Thus, I'd advise you to pay close attention to storage with as little air as possible, and keep an eye on shadow detail, essentially EI, and toss the stuff if you suspect a problem.

[kaiyen]

Cool. Thanks for the info. My local store only gets it every so often and they try to sell it off at good prices whenever it sits too long. I'll eventually get some amber glass bottles and decant into them as soon as I open one.

 

Onto F76+ testing...

 

allan

[fran_ois_courtois]

once opened, max 3-4 weeks, then color changes and negs get very thin

[User_502260]

My stock answer is thet you need to store developer in tightly stoppered or capped dark glass bottles. I buy them from specialtybottle.com. Most developers will last a very long time that way. You should buy different size bottes so you don't wind up with half empty 8 oz. or 16 oz. bottles.