Does anybody have any experience with this developer? I'm interested in trying it with Bergger BRF and FP4+ with minimum agitation and as a stand developer. Thanks.

-- Steve Wiley (wiley@accesshub.net), November 15, 2001

Answers

Yes, I use TFX-2 and I am happy with the results. When I used it as a stand developer occasionally had streaking. Since I don’t take risks with my negatives I developed a semi-stand developing method that I will describe below. Since I adopted the semi-stand development technique I am achieving excellent results every time.

30 minute total developing time. Diluted 1:1 @ 68F. Note that you will need a tank that will hold at least one liter of fluid. I print on a condenser enlarger; you may want to increase development time if you print with a cold light.

The agitation method seems to be important with this developer when used with minimal agitation techniques. When I used too vigorous agitation the film occasionally got some streaking due to the turbulence created by the sprocket holes in 35 mm film. Most of the time the streaking was only observable on the film leader, but as is said I do not like to take risks with my negatives. I use very gentle agitation, 4 inversions take approximately 20 seconds. If you can hear the air trapped in the funnel of a Paterson tank sloshing the developer, you are inverting too quickly. After each inversion I rotate the tank 90o so that all areas of the film receive the same degree of agitation.

Presoak for 3 minutes, then drain

Fill the tank with developer and agitate gently for the first minute

Agitate with 4 inversions @ minute 4

Agitate with 4 inversions @ minute 7

Agitate with 4 inversions @ minute 10

Agitate with 4 inversions @ minute 20

Drain tank after 30 minutes of developing time. Use a 2 minute running water stop bath. And fix with TF-4 fixer. Wash normally.

I have used the above method of developing successfully on the following films: Pan F+, FP-4+, Delta 100, T-Max 100. Since the developer is diluted 1:1 I get finer grain than when I used it full strength.

I am an amateur with out access to testing equipment, I judge film/developer combinations based upon the prints that I can produce. Based upon my observations I offer the following observations: You should get some film speed increase, excellent shadow and middle tone separation, & highlight compensation due to the minimal agitation.

Based upon my experience TFX-2 works equally well on both conventional and T-Grain films. I like the overall print quality much better than prints made with negatives developed in my previous developers of D-76 and X-Tol.

-- Joe Guay (joeloriav@earthlink.net), November 16, 2001.