kdemas
Enjoy Life.
OK, I'm a bit of a Rodinal junkie. I use it very frequently as I love not only the results but the ease of use and storage.
Last week I hit a hiccup and tonight I identified the problem.
My last batch about a week ago was my first set of failures. 3 rolls wildly under-exposed, really unusable, two done in Rodinal 1:50 and one a stand in 1:100. I did everything just as I usually do it from a relatively newly opened bottle of Rodinal, clearly there must have been a problem with the developer and I'd have to chuck it.
Yesterday I enjoyed visiting a local museum and shooting with some of the local RFF crew and, during lunch, Darren (ItsReallyDarren) asked if maybe it was the water? I said nah, I always use distilled I buy at the grocery store.
Hmmmm... there was one thing about the water. The ruined rolls were the first from a "house brand" distilled water I bought instead of my usual water. Heck, water is water, right???
Wrong.
I had a roll that I didn't mind ruining for a test so I loaded up the tank tonight, using my former brand of water that I still had. About half an hour later I unspooled the film from the crappy little plastic reel and...
Negs were perfect.
I went ahead and developed two more rolls and they were spot on, I can't really believe it. The "new" water somehow must contain something that Rodinal really doesn't like, humorous as they use the same distillation process!
Anyway, always test if you are switching ANYTHING in your workflow process, you just never ever know. I am still shocked by this frankly, I've never seen this before personally.
Has anyone else ever had this happen? Thanks to Darren for planting the idea in my head!!!
Just to give a heads up to those who shop and develop in California..
This water works with Rodinal (for me):
This was the water that caused me the problem:
Last week I hit a hiccup and tonight I identified the problem.
My last batch about a week ago was my first set of failures. 3 rolls wildly under-exposed, really unusable, two done in Rodinal 1:50 and one a stand in 1:100. I did everything just as I usually do it from a relatively newly opened bottle of Rodinal, clearly there must have been a problem with the developer and I'd have to chuck it.
Yesterday I enjoyed visiting a local museum and shooting with some of the local RFF crew and, during lunch, Darren (ItsReallyDarren) asked if maybe it was the water? I said nah, I always use distilled I buy at the grocery store.
Hmmmm... there was one thing about the water. The ruined rolls were the first from a "house brand" distilled water I bought instead of my usual water. Heck, water is water, right???
Wrong.
I had a roll that I didn't mind ruining for a test so I loaded up the tank tonight, using my former brand of water that I still had. About half an hour later I unspooled the film from the crappy little plastic reel and...
Negs were perfect.
I went ahead and developed two more rolls and they were spot on, I can't really believe it. The "new" water somehow must contain something that Rodinal really doesn't like, humorous as they use the same distillation process!
Anyway, always test if you are switching ANYTHING in your workflow process, you just never ever know. I am still shocked by this frankly, I've never seen this before personally.
Has anyone else ever had this happen? Thanks to Darren for planting the idea in my head!!!
Just to give a heads up to those who shop and develop in California..
This water works with Rodinal (for me):
This was the water that caused me the problem:
