Beware of the Fomadon

[rolleistef]

Hello everyone,

Something that might have been posted already about the Fomadon R09.
It's supposed to be based upon the formula of the Rodinal, which can last years. However, the Fomadon doesn't quite react like its Agfa counterpart, and it does age. More precisely, part of the chemicals actually falls at the bottom of the battle, and crystallises there. As a result the developer gets useless.

It happened to me yesterday, after years of use of Rodinal-ish developers, and I ended with a completely blank film. It had happened before with a nearly empty bottle. So if you have some R09 and can hear something rattling in its container, just (eco-responsibly) get rid of it!

Best
Stéphane

 

[pufy]

Same thing happens to 'real' Rodinal, but I never had any problems with it, it continued to work ok.

 

[Freakscene]

The precipitate in Rodinal and RO9 are partly from recrystallisation of the p-aminophenol and partly from aminophenoxy free radicals polymerising to form indophenol. Recrystallisation of the p-aminophenol occurs spontaneously. At the same time alkaline autoxidation occurs, creating p-aminophenoxy free radicals; these react to form indophenol.

This is not why R09 fails - it also occurs in Rodinal, which lasts almost forever. I don't know why R09 fails. But I've generally found that the manufacturer's recommendations about storage will work. if not, complain direct to them.

Marty

 

[roadmouse]

I didn't know. So far I've never had any problems with R09, but I'll check min next time before use.

 

[braver]

I didn't know. So far I've never had any problems with R09, but I'll check min next time before use.

Yup, even my previous bottle that sat as good as empty for a year. I'm also not sure what kind of Rodinal-like stuff I got now. Apparantly it's R09 from Connect Chemicals... whoever they may be...

 

[roadmouse]

Yup, even my previous bottle that sat as good as empty for a year. I'm also not sure what kind of Rodinal-like stuff I got now. Apparantly it's R09 from Connect Chemicals... whoever they may be...

I've used the R09 version from Adox for years (ADOLUX APH 09) and still have half a bottle somewhere.
Recently I've switched to HC-110 and haven't been disappointed yet.

 

[Fotohuis]

Rodinal / R09 one shot from CCP&S is original Rodinal from the former Agfa plant in Germany.

This Rodinal version you can use till the end.