Developer Review Blog No. 50 – LegacyPro Mic-X

I first discovered a package of Kodak Microdol-X in the back of an old camera shop in Pittsburg, PA. Microdol-X was Kodak’s original fine-grain developer before being supplanted by Kodak Xtol. Although both But Microdol-X was much loved by those who used it and I’ll admit, it’s an excellent developer. Thankfully as a powder developer even those old pouches have a long shelf life, but the supply is limited. Thankfully the fine folks at LegacyPro have an answer, Mic-X, a complete clone of the original Microdol-X that uses all the original times and dilutions.

Technical Details
Manufacturer: LegacyPro
Name: Mic-X
Primary Developer: Metol
Type: Reusable/One-Shot
Mix From: Powder

Handling
Mixing up the stock solution is easy, similar to how Microdol-X is mixed up. I start with 3 litres of water at around 30-35C, then add all the contents of the pouch, mix, then top up to the 1 gallon (3.8L) final, then continue mixing until all the powder is dissolved fully. Once mixed, you have a stock solution and can develop film with the stock solution and reuse the developer for sixteen rolls of 35mm/120 or an equivalent number of sheets per gallon. With the original Microdol-X, you can use a replenisher to extend the life of your stock solution. But if you look at the original Microdol-X datasheet, it includes instructions on how to use freshly mixed Microdol-X as a stand-in, which, in theory, will work with Mic-X. The second option is to dilute it either to 1+1 or 1+3. Once diluted, the developer is one shot and must be used almost immediately and disposed of afterwards. The shelf life of the powder in a well-sealed bag is practically infinite. For the stock solution, a complete, tightly capped bottle has a six-month shelf life, while a half-full bottle is two months.

Applications
The one thing that I did notice this time around with Mic-X is the wild differences in development times between slow and fast films and modern and traditional grain structures. And it quickly became apparent that this developer was designed to work best with fast traditional film stocks. Mic-X and Microdol-X are designed to smooth out the harsh grain of older emulsions where the trade-off for speed was visible grain. So, if you’re using this with a modern film like TMax, you’ll get longer development times, whereas shorter times with something like Tri-X or HP5+. This is also true with slower films, again harkening back to the era when slower films already had finer grain, so a developer like Microdol-X would not be used or required. Now, in both these cases, you can use the developer with any film you want, and it will give excellent results. Mic-X is a good developer for films like Fomapan 200, Fomapan 400, Tri-X, HP5+, and even Double-X, all carrying on that classic fast film design. But you can also use this developer to help bring out more sharpness by using the one-shot mixes like 1+1 and 1+3 with those slower films. It also works excellent for push and pull development to compensate for the qualities introduced in those processes.

Qualities
One of the more interesting things about Mic-X is that, like Microdol-X, you can achieve different results depending on how you process your films. You get the full effect of fine-grain by developing your film in the stock dilution. However, once you start to dilute the developer, you get an increase in sharpness while increasing the visible grain slightly with 1+1 more and 1+3. I made the point to get all three options for this review, and when you have a gallon to work with, you can have a bit of fun. And I’ll admit, I did see a reduction in visible grain when using the stock dilution. In all fairness, I used it with mostly fine-grained films, Kodak TMax 400 and Ilford Delta 100. Both got superb results; I would even say I found the TMax 400 roll to be some of the sharpest results I’ve gotten from TMax 400, which is not bad. I loved the results from Delta 100. Even with a one-stop over-expose, Mic-X did a superb job. I saw a defined change in the role of Arista EDU.Ultra 200, aka Fomapan 200, the grain was among the finest I’ve seen, and surprisingly, there was no sacrifice in edge sharpness either. But the real winner was developing in the 1+1 dilution; it made Fomapan 200 look amazing, getting the most edge sharpness I’ve seen from the film without increasing the visible grain. I noticed that Fomapan 100 did well with Mic-X; I preferred the sock dilution over the 1+1; the only trouble is that I found that the 1+1 slightly under-developed the film, so I think a slight over-exposure may be rating it as ASA-64 might be in order. The contrast proved amazing, and there was an increase in sharpness at the 1+1 dilution without any increase in the visible grain. At the stock dilution, the grain was non-existent, with no reduction in sharpness. The exciting results were from Ilford FP4+, which I over-exposed by just over two stops and then developed in 1+3, and the results surprised me. The contrast was fairly low; adding the yellow filter helped bring some of it back, and the images were incredibly sharp. While you could see some visible grain, it was not too bad, probably because of that multi-stop pull.

Lowdown
I liked Mic-X more than I expected; even though I have used the developer as Microdol-X, my experience with the developer at that point remained fairly limited. This time, I found myself with a better understanding and selection of film stocks available to me to get the best results from the developer regarding what it was designed to do. I also went and used all available dilutions from the stock to 1+3. If you were a fan of Microdol-X, then Mic-X is the perfect clone of the classic Kodak developer; also, if you shoot a lot of grainy films and aren’t a fan of Xtol, then Mic-X is an excellent choice, especially if you’re a fan of Foma films and other traditional grained films. You can easily pick up the developer through most online speciality photographic dealers. For the price and the number of rolls per gallon, it is an economic developer for anyone who wants to cut costs with their film photography. I’ll keep this one in my back pocket for future reenactment events shot on Foma and similar film stocks.

Recommended Reading
Don’t just take my word on Mic-X check out these other blogs on the subject!
No Other Reviews Found.