Has anyne tried using Rodinal w/ colour film?

Steve M.

Veteran
Local time
4:26 AM
Joined
Jun 21, 2009
Messages
3,378
I want to develop a test roll to verify that my new camera is working properly, but all I have is Rodinal for a developer and a roll of Fuji consumer 400 speed film until my TriX arrives. It's probably going to get a lot of grain, but checking for light leaks and exposure are all I need to know. Will this work? Has anyone used Rodinal for this?
 
I'd like to hear these answers. Every time I've tried this which has been once by accident and once on purpose, I get nothing but very dark brown results. The negatives are bullet proof, but can be scanned with questionable success. I just used my regular time, temp, dilution.
 
I will occasionally use Rodinal to "stand" develop any type of unknown emulsion I don't have a "normal" development time for. This includes old color rolls, both C-41 and C-22 process. One hour in a 1:100 dilution; at the halfway point I turn the tank upside-down (otherwise I tend to get uneven development top vs. bottom).

Results are so-so and probably more dependent on film storage than anything else. But some of these films are 50+ years old so that is to be expected. Like John found also, the negatives are dark brown. I really have to tweak them when I scan, then "convert" them to B&W to correct the color.
 
css9450, nice trick inverting the tank, I never liked stand for many reasons, but uneven development was definitely a constant with Rodinal stand. Thanks.
 
I may try it, or may just pitch the Fuji colour film presently in the camera. My Tri-X will be here this week, and I can develop that stuff in my sleep. It might be smarter than adding another variable into this. There's a lab here that will develop and scan film for cheap, but they're on the other end of Albuquerque from me. Might as well be in Texas!
 
Interesting...

Been reading into Rodinal stand developing lately.

Something I ought to try.
 
I use semi-stand all the time - Rodinal at 1:100 , 3 sets of inversions at start, 20 minutes then 40, and it happily works with all the films I've tried at box speed. No bromide shifts and that lovely edge effect. I also use it with pushed film - 1:50 for 2 stops, 1:33 for 3 (never tried one!).

It was taught to me by an Ilford Artisan partner friend who has been doing it for years.

Edit - for black and white film only so far!
 
I develop ecn2 in rodinal and else. C-41 should be the same. I don't use one hour developing.
 
I might give that a go with some cheap colour film. I love the idea that Rodinal is a weak colour developer - is there any end to its talents?!

It's not a "weak color developer." It's a b&w developer, which is the basis for all films regardless of type. You aren't going to get color.

There is really no point to doing this for most color films except just messing around (chromogenic b&w films seem to work fairly well with normal developers despite being "color" stock though). If you for some reason have massive amounts of color film sitting around, I suggest you sell it to the folks who enjoy shooting expired color stock and buy actual b&w film. A few years ago I bought a massive box full of Fuji Pro films and ended up not really liking the results as they were expired, but some folks online were happy to pay me about $4 a roll for them (I bought them for about 25 cents each in bulk) and then I bought a bunch of b&w to go in the freezer...
 
I developed many times ECN films in xtol as well as rollei supergrain, don't remember about rodinal, but should work as well. here is an example - long time (about 20 years ago?) expired Fuji F500T:

34058537166_287a580663_c.jpg
 
Those pics look fine to me. I've never tried stand development, nor have I ever used Rodinal at anything other than 1:25 dilution, but 1:100 using Charle's method might be the way to go. Thanks for posting those examples, I'm going to give it a shot after all. My film is Fuji Superia Extra 400 by the way.
 
All I have for B&W is Rodinal. I'll test some C41 color sometime, but here is one from a RB67 with 70mm Rollei 400 Rodinal stand dev.

 
I've developed lots of expired C-41in Rodinal 1:50 for 15 minutes with fairly typical agitation: 1 minute continuous and 5 seconds per minute.

The results usually have big grain and low contrast but sometimes look really good, depending upon the subject matter.

The film has the orange color mask, so you have to scan it as color film.
 
Yes, I did for experiments.

Kodak Motion film Eastman KX SP718 (No rem-jet)
XPro with Rodinal 1+25
Time/temp development similar to Kodak XX

40246029803_d96d87bacf_c.jpg


32545987378_c3cc83cbc7_c.jpg





Kodak Vision3 500T, exposed +1-2 stops, remjet removed after fixing.
XPro on Rodinal 1+100, stand dev 1 hour.
45647332894_95f7a4b49c_c.jpg


44553234940_33fb6e0e02_c.jpg



Kodak Vision2 250D, exposed +1-2 stops, remjet removed after fixing.
XPro on Rodinal 1+50, time/temp similar to Kodak XX in Massive Dev Chart

45200689525_a529c69f8b_c.jpg


46116058391_ee45057406_c.jpg






Fujicolor 200, XPro on Rodinal 1+100, stand dev 1 hour


31021724753_6e4cb41a6a_c.jpg


31830715185_cf9c979d14_c.jpg



With another developer, just tested
X-Pro Fujicolor Superia 200 expired 2007
Pyrocat-MC 1+1+100. 25 minutes

23471769989_9fd4b667e1_c.jpg
 
Back
Top Bottom