just a little bit of Rodinol

[thafred]

Hey Darkavanger,
You really don´t need a stop bath! just use water to wash out the developer thus avoiding contermination of the Fixer. At least with modern Emulsion this should work well.
afaik the pH-shift from alkali Dev. to acidic Fixer used to "eat" holes into the gelatine so the Stop bath was used to make it less traumatic for the emulsion...the Films are said to be much more solid today so I always use water and never saw any ill effects. Its the same with hardener, modern Film doesn´t need it (at all/as much) as old one did.
PLease correct me if this is too big BS as I only read it on the web but it works well for me.

Film canister opener? Use the same as you do with your favorite beer 😉

worried about messing up!

Don´t be my friend...A Friend of mine, who is a professional photographer, nearly got crazy as I told her how I used to develop film in the beginning (using my fingers to judge water temps, chaos agitating, 500ml diluted T-max dev. for at least 10-15 films!!)...she was absolutely certain that there would be no useable neg. at all but the negs were not soo bad! plus with Scanning and Digital Darkroom I could get everything I wanted back then. (for printing they are horrible!) ... I´ve come a loong way since then trying to aim at the perfect negative for printing on my new V35 everything must be under tight control!
The point is: To get anything at all is not complicated, it´s almost too easy! to get everything right is very complicated otoh.

Good luck with developing! (start tonight!!!)

 

[Bryce]

Frank (and everyone else...)
FP4 and Rodinal is my standard combination. After years of tinkering, here's how I do it and why:
At 68-70 degrees, and film exposed at ISO 80-
35mm- Mix 2grams per liter sodium ascorbate and a half gram per liter of borax in water (half the strength Patrick Gainer recommends), then add rodinal at 1+50. Develop for 12 minutes with 3 inversions each 3 minutes.
120- use at 1+50 for 15 minutes, 4 inversions every 5 minutes. I don't add sodium ascorbate or borax for the larger film.
So why all the complication? My enlarger/ paper combination seem to require somewhat lower contrast negatives than most film developing data will accomodate, so using semi-stand development works best.
As for the different combinations with different sizes of film, in 35mm the results are just a little grainier than I like. The ascorbate/ borax makes a very noticeable difference in grain clumping, as well as speeding development. By 645 size, grain is right where I like it without the extra chemicals.
After all this, it took tons of trial by error to come up with a really satisfactory scheme. Done again, I'd stay away from the stuff unless I REALLY like to experiment.
As for HP5 or Tri-x in rodinal, I can't tell them apart except for the strange dark ooze that comes out of the tank with Tri-x, and the extra fixing time required for Tri-x. Results are very grainy in either case.
Specifically for 120 I've had trouble with uneven development with both Tri-x and HP5. I'd suggest running a test roll first.
Hope this is useful!

 

[Bryce]

Ooh, I forgot to mention- I don't use a stop bath. Pinholes seem to be guaranteed if you do use one. Just a water rinse.

 

[FrankS]

Thank you Bryce (and everyone else).

 

[titrisol]

PS. if you have vitamin C instead of ascorbate do not forget to neutralize the acid with some bicarbonate (baking soda) or the acidity will kill the Rodinal.
BTW Ascorbate + borax sounds like a good buffer

 

[ZorkiKat]

PS you can make a rodinal clone with some acetaminophen (paracetamol), lye and sulfite.
Search the net for it, Donald Qualls has a great recipe for it.

I use 'paRodinal' (the paracetamol-derived Rodinal) EXCLUSIVELY now for developing film. From what I've seen, it does exactly what Agfa Rodinal does.

There would be several paracetamol based recipes on the net, but Donald Quall's formula is the best. It allows the use of Rodinal dilutions and times to give equivalent results. Eg, with a 1+50 paRodinal dilution, you can develop your film for the same time real Rodinal 1+50 requires, and expect your negatives to come out the same as if it was souped in the real brew.

YMMV? I've used paRodinal only with Tmax, Tri-X, Fomapan, and generic Chinese BW films. I've yet to try it with Agfapan 100 (still got a few rolls). Saving that film for something really special and I've got till 2010 to do that... 🙂

 

[titrisol]

I have to try Donald's recipe yet, I haven't moved to my new home yet so development has ben brought to a sudden halt. (all my photo related equipment is in boxes somewhere between Charleston and Rotterdam)