Edwal FG-7 Formula

[my photography site]

Hi All

 

This is my first post, I want to try Edwal FG-7 (+Sodium Sulfite) with Ilford

FP4+. My problems is that it is unavailable here in Ireland and the US postal

service will not send fluids overseas. Has any one got the formula for this

interesting developer as I can get most chemical's here.

At the moment I am using HC110 (Dil B/H) but am not happy with the results

especially with -N times. I have tried ID11 and Rodinal. All tested with FP4+

using Fred Picker's Zone VI Workshop method. The Rodinal was the best but as one

would expect to much grain.

Thanks for any help you can give with this matter.

 

Yours Brian Brady

[cats lab]

Hi,

 

I think I took this formula out of another post a few months ago

 

Water 350 ml

Metol 5 g

Sodium Sulphite 45 g

Diethylene glycol 12.5 ml

Triethanolamine 15 ml

Chlorhydroquinone 25 g

Water to make 500 ml

 

This is a stock solution

 

1 part stock + 15 parts 10% sodium sulphite solution

[trooper]

I used FG-7 for years as my primary developer. Very predictable and versatile. I'd have to admit that it was hard to tell any advantage or clear difference from ID-11/D-76. It was especially nice with FP4+ and gave a true speed of about 80 with my gear and techniques. You might try looking at Peter Hogan's products if UK sourced items are easily obtained for you. His Prescysol is very, very nice with FP4+ and HP5+, yielding negatives that require very little manipulation for stunning prints. Very nice shadow detail and controlled highlights work together to make for painless printing. He also is a source for Barry Thornton's primary mixtures which are dry and likely easily shipped for you (the Prescysol is liquid).

[User_502260]

I used FG-7 for many years. As I understand it the formula changed more than once. When I was in High School FG-7 was sold in dark brown glas bottles and had excellent keeping qualities. Once it started to be sold in plastic containers the keeping quality fell way off. I have read many times that FG-7 was a phenidone based developer. With films like Plus-X and FP4+ you can use a 1:15 dilution either with plain water or with 9% sodium sulfite solution. There is the usual tradeoff. With plain water there is more sharpness and more grain. With 9% sodium sulfite solution it has finer grain and less sharpness. It is very good with slower films like Pan F+ and was excellent with Panatomic-X. In both cases dilution with plain water worked best.

 

Other phenidone based developers which you should be able to get include Microphen, DD-X and possibly Acufine. There is also Kodak X-tol and Kodak T-MAX. There are many threads on PC-TEA. You make this up yourself and you can "customize" it by adding other ingredients.

[al_divenuti]

Cedric's formula cannot be correct. Anchell & Troop's "Film Development Cookbook" clearly state that it's a phenidone-based developer, rather than a Metol-based one.

 

I know that the most recent MSDS for the FG-7 stock solution also states that it uses Hydroquinone, Sodium Hydroxide, and Muriatic Acid (hydrocholoric acid) along with a little bit of Sodium Sulfite.

 

It's a proprietary formula. Nobody knows it in precise detail.

 

I used FG-7 (generally without the sulfite) for several years. I use PC-TEA now.

[al_divenuti]

And if Cedric's formula were correct - we'd all be outta luck because photographic-grade chlorhydroquinone has been hard to come by for roughly 30 years.

[patrick_gainer]

PC-TEA is a good choice. I'm not saying this just because I designed it. You can try it out in a small quantity if you get some triethanolamine (TEA), phenidone and ascorbic acid. To 100 ml of warm TEA add 1 level teaspoon of ascorbic acid powder and 1/4 level teaspoon of phenidone. Keep the mixture at about 150 F until it is dissolved. This is a concentrate. Dilute it 1:50 and treat it like full strength D-76: 8 minutes, 70 F for HP5+. If you think it will help, you can add sulfite to the working solution.<div></div>