We actually wrote something here
years ago about the shelf life of developer concentrates. I’d now like to say a few words specifically about the FX-39.
It is based on Willi Beutler’s Neofin Rot, and Willi Beutler and Geoffrey Crawley were friends.
The formula is somewhat daring, as the sulphite content has been reduced so significantly that, using modern developing agents with a superadditive system, we have produced a developer that both increases sensitivity and produces a high level of sharpness. One minor limitation is the shelf life.
ADOX has already done everything possible to improve this.
We wouldn’t be ADOX-FOTOIMPEX if we didn’t also have the confidence to bottle the whole thing in our oxygen-barrier 100ml bottles under inert gas and sell it to you as an easy-to-prepare concentrate. It works perfectly. Lina and I develop all our films in FX-39 II and recently we’ve been over the moon, as FOTOIMPEX has sorted out a lot of bottles and given them to us for free.
The purpose of this short post is to stop you from throwing away FX-39 II (and thus creating unnecessary waste) if the bottles look like the one in this picture:
looks. For the 100ml bottles, we do not recommend making partial batches, but with dilution to a one-litre batch, FX-39 II works just as well from such a bottle as it did on the first day.
You should only exercise caution if:
1) The concentrate shows
signs of precipitation 2) The small bottle has been opened previously or the aluminium seal is damaged
Otherwise: Happy developing!
