How old is your Rodinal ??

John Bragg

John Bragg

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Hi, Alan.

You are making good use of it then. I have been hooked on HC-110 for a long time and nearly forgot about the Agfa bottle lurking in the cupboard depths. Last used some 18 months ago with TRI-X, came back to it out of curiosity and like it a lot with Neopan 400.

Regards, John.
 
How old is my Rodinal?

That's rather a rude question. One never asks a lady her age or anyone - man or woman, the age of their Rodinal. Harummmmph!
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All I know is, I now seem to have more choice everytime I develop film. HC-110 for soft and smooth, or Rodinal for biting sharpness and more restrained creamy whites ?? I like both in different ways, though at the moment Rodinal is winning me back....

John.
 
NickTrop said:
How old is my Rodinal?

That's rather a rude question. One never asks a lady her age or anyone - man or woman, the age of their Rodinal. Harummmmph!
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Click to expand...

Hi, Nick.

I am just so rude and forthright.. I do apologise 😀.
Just seems so amazing that the stuff seems so darned near indestructable !!

John.
 
My Rodinal's been in the closet since last summer...the bottle of HC-110 maybe 4 or 5 years but it's the pint of Photo-Flo 200 that's the oldest...brown glass bottle of Photo-Flo was given to me in the early 80's and it looked old then...along with this was a Weston Thermometer Model #2265 in it's box ($8.50 price tag)
 
I have about 150mL left in a bottle I've stashed at my parent's house. It's about 15 years old.
 
The bottle I'm using now and one I have stashed away are very recent but a couple years ago I found some in a box of mine a bottle that was about 5 years old at least, as I remember having bought it in Hong Kong when I lived in Beijing and I moved from Beijing back to the US in 2000. It worked perfectly.

By the way, which Neopan were those shots? 400, 1600, Acros 100 or 100 SS?

I just developed two rolls of 120 Neopan 400 with Rodinal that was shot through my newly acquired Tele-Rolleiflex and they were beautiful...
 
The older version of the Rodinal had an almost unlimited shelf-life. At one time I found a 1/2 filled bottle behind a cabinet and I could date its age, because I remembered when I put the cabinet there. It was 15 years old! Just as an experiment. I did run a couple of rolls through, 3 (120 Tx) in the old and 3 in the a fresh solution. The difference between them was about 1 grade softer image with the old one!
The "new" Rodinal (mid 90's I think) is not as resistant to ageing! Agfa had to change one of the preservatives for ecological reasons and the New Rodinal tends to age quicker (5-6 years).
HC 110 is a similar product - I am still working on a 10 year old bottle of it! It workd fine though it is even more resistant to puring than when fresh! It truly looks like molasses now when you pour it.
 
rich815 said:
The bottle I'm using now and one I have stashed away are very recent but a couple years ago I found some in a box of mine a bottle that was about 5 years old at least, as I remember having bought it in Hong Kong when I lived in Beijing and I moved from Beijing back to the US in 2000. It worked perfectly.

By the way, which Neopan were those shots? 400, 1600, Acros 100 or 100 SS?

I just developed two rolls of 120 Neopan 400 with Rodinal that was shot through my newly acquired Tele-Rolleiflex and they were beautiful...
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Hi Rich.

They are on Neopan 400 exposed at Ei200.

Regards, John.
 
TomA, might be right, but only for the older Rodinal, possibly. Somewhere in photo lore I read that someone found a bottle of Rodinal in a bombed out building in Germany that was being cleared 25 years +/- after WWII. They used it and it was fine.
 
I have a little 125ml bottle on which I wrote "opened 10/13". The year, unknown! It's probably around half full. I'm guessing it's around four years old.

Anybody care for it? I've regulated myself on a steady diet of HP5+ with Xtol for a while now. I bought this back in my great search for a film/developer combo. Rodinal lost cause it sucks for HP5+ 🙂 Drop me a couple bucks for shipping on Paypal and it's all yours!
 
I am using 5 or 8 year old Rodinal now and it is still working just fine. Only have 2 1/8 Liter bottles left since stocking up when Agfa failed, so soon there will be an order for more.
I've just also bought the fixin's for Beutler's developer and will be trying that with slower films shortly.
 
Can anyone date this bottle ?

Can anyone date this bottle ?

I recently found this 100 ml bottle of Rodinal in my girlfriend's father's cellar darkroom. They claim it's from 1977. However the top cap looks more like a bottle from the 80's. I'll be developing a few rolls of Fuji Neopan SS 100 in it next weekend. If there's interest I'll scan some of the results. There's some sediment in the bottom but I think it should work just fine.

Can anyone date this bottle ?

old_rodinal.jpg
 
Bryce said:
I am using 5 or 8 year old Rodinal now and it is still working just fine. Only have 2 1/8 Liter bottles left since stocking up when Agfa failed, so soon there will be an order for more.
I've just also bought the fixin's for Beutler's developer and will be trying that with slower films shortly.
Click to expand...

Beutler is a great "soup" for modern thin emulsion too. I have been using it for decades. I found that if you do Acros 100 in it, it is worthwhile to dilute it 1:1:10 (1 partA,1 part B and 10 parts water) rather than the recommended !:!:8. Contrast builds up very fast with Acros and a more dilute mix as well as 20-25% reduction in agitation will give you better tones. I usually run it at 6,5-7 min and rate it @ 100 asa.
If you can get EFKE 25, try it in Beutler (1:1:8) for 5 min. Razor edge sharpness and great tones.
 
Tom, thanks for the pointers! I'm getting ready to try that stuff out, quick, before the next quarter's activities start at school. For 3 months I won't be doing a lot of photography, or at least the time consuming part in the darkroom.
It is funny you should mention Efke 25 and Acros, those are both films I am tinkering with now!
 
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