New bottle of rodinal... to be expecing increased development?

[vicmortelmans]

Hi,

after starting seriously with film development about a year and a half ago, I'm now emptying my first rodinal bottle. There's already quite some residu at the bottom. One of the next weeks, I'll be starting a fresh bottle (also my last one in stock and probably the last one ever---bought them from the company store stock sale, being an Agfa employee, a while after Agfaphoto was split off).

I'm maintaining my own set of development times per film and depending on the ISO and contrast of the exposure. They work fine for me now.

I fear that the development power of my 'old' rodinal has decreased and that starting a new bottle with the same development time may give overdevelopment... Should I be careful, or will the fresh rodinal work identical to the 'old' rodinal?

Groeten,

Vic

PS. for reference by anyone bumping into this thread, here's my current table of exposure times:

film ISO contrast ontwikkeling
APX400 400 rod 1+50 8' 3x5xom
FP4+ 125 L rod 1+50 8' 2x5xom
FP4+ CHM125 125 H rod 1+100 16' 3x5xom
FP4+ 250 L rod 1+50 9' 2x5xom
FP4+ 65 L rod 1+50 7' 2x5xom
HP5+ 200 rod 1+50 7' 3x5xom
HP5+ CHM400 400 H rod 1+50 9' 3x5xom rod 1+100 20' staand (0071)
HP5+ CHM400 400 L rod 1+50 10' 3x5xom rod 1+100 25' staand
HP5+ CHM400 800 L rod 1+50 10' 3x5xom
HP5+ CHM400 800 H rod 1+100 20' staand
HP5+ CHM400 800 F (rod 1+100 30' staand) rod 1+50 12' 3x5xom
HP5+ CHM400 1600 rod 1+100 45' staand
TMAX 400 1600 rod 1+100 45' staand
400TX 800 L rod 1+50 16' 3x5xom
400TX 800 LL rod 1+25 10' 3x5xom
CHS100 100 H rod 1+100 20' staand
CHS100 100 L rod 1+50 8' 2x5xom
CHS100 65 H rod 1+100 15'
CHS100 50 H rod 1+100 12'
CHS50 32 L rod 1+50 6' 3x5xom
CHS50 32 H rod 1+100 15' staand
CHS50 50 F rod 1+50 7' 3x5xom

Legend:
- "3x5xom" stands for agitating three times for ~15 seconds;
- "staand" stands for no agitation
- exposure contrast is 'L' for low, 'H' for high and 'F' for direct flash (which I assume is very low)

 

[EmilGil]

It shouldn't be any difference, Rodinal keeps for ages. I read about some bloke testing a 70 year old bottle and found it gave thicker negs than new stock!

BTW, Rodinal is back in production, another German firm (A&O) took over the production and has been shipping for quite a while.

If you feel like it, it's pretty simple to mix your own Rodinal-like developer. There are quite a few guys over at APUG that made their own from paracetamol (from aspirin, they call it pa-Rodinal I think).

 

[John Bragg]

Hi, Vic.

A year and a half is nothing in the life of Rodinal. I have a 10 year old bottle that I used some of recently, and it was fine.. As long as it remains undiluted, it keeps for a very long time indeed !

 

[350D_user]

BTW, Rodinal is back in production, another German firm (A&O) took over the production and has been shipping for quite a while.

Good news. As well as that, there's ADOX who produce "APH09", which is reputed to be based on the classic pre-war Rodinal. A 1L bottle cost me £12, I only use 10ml at a time.

... it's a good job the stuff lasts. 😉

 

[Ronald M]

My tests show a slight decrease as it ages. Maybe 5%.

Dump some the new in with the old and continue with the blended solution. I always work that way and decant the new into smaller GLASS bottles to keep it like new.

Whatever you do, do not try to get the last remains off the bottom.

Consistency is the key to the whole thing. Always do it the same way as close as you can.