Charlotte Makes Photos

After Wednesday’s disappointing-to-me roll, rather than fall back on something familiar on Thursday, I decided to try something new.

Thanks to a review written by Alex Luyckx earlier in the summer, I became interested in trying out FX-37, a developer that promises to “provide the highest acutance for T-grained film stocks like Kodak, T-Max, Ilford Delta and Fuji Acros II,” so I purchased a kit from the lovely folks at Studio Argentique near the end of last year. It was more in the spirit of trying something new than having a deep desire for yet-still-sharper photos, but it seemed promising all the same.

So far, I have developed one roll using FX-37: the ones you see above. Admittedly, I am not certain what to think of it yet, but as soon as I began scanning, it was pretty clear to me that “high acutance” really seems to be the name of the game. It might even feel a little like an understatement!

Although things might look a little “sandy” for my personal tastes, it might just be a matter of film choice (T-Max 400), so something even finer like T-Max 100 or Acros II are certainly in order.

The Massive Dev Chart also recommended a slightly different inversion cycle, which I wasn’t accustomed to, and as someone with established muscle memory, I might have implemented it a little aggressively.

Either way, I look forward to developing more rolls with it and see where it takes me!

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