Steve M.
Veteran
I was just about to develop some Tri-X and discovered that the dilutions and times are quite different for those three developers, at least for the R09 Spezial. That bottle has 1:15 dilution on the label, and coincidentally, that's the ONLY dilution that the massive development chart shows for this developer, along with very short development times. Can that be right? 1:15 for everything?
Jerevan
Recycled User
Rodinal and R09 Spezial are, despite some similiarities in names two quite different developers.
Fomadon and Rodinal on the other hand are the "same" developer; that is modern derivates of the original Agfa R09 recipe, which came to be known as Rodinal.
Fomadon and Rodinal on the other hand are the "same" developer; that is modern derivates of the original Agfa R09 recipe, which came to be known as Rodinal.
sepiareverb
genius and moron
R09 Spezial is a very different animal, and yes, 1:15 is it (on all the documentation I've ever seen, including the old Agfa data sheets). My preferred developer for HP5+ at 400.
Ronald M
Veteran
Above all true.
Teest with fresh roll of similar subjects to real roll and get the time down so you are not here asking how to repair with reducer or intensify
Teest with fresh roll of similar subjects to real roll and get the time down so you are not here asking how to repair with reducer or intensify
Steve M.
Veteran
Thanks for the info. I just ordered a bottle of the Adox version from Freestyle. Should have bought it the first go around. I had naively assumed that the R09 Spezial was "like" Fomadon R09.
I've never even heard of reducers or intensifiers. You either mix the developer correctly or you don't. My development for Rodinal is in a sense like the R09 Spezial instructions.....I do everything at 1:25. Doesn't matter if it's 35mm or 120, it gets 1:25 and comes out beautifully grainy. The online scans of stand development w/ this developer mixed at 1:100 are impressive for their sharpness, but if I'm using Rodinal for a film it isn't about tones or sharpness, it's about that gorgeous grain (which largely disappears in wet prints).
I've never even heard of reducers or intensifiers. You either mix the developer correctly or you don't. My development for Rodinal is in a sense like the R09 Spezial instructions.....I do everything at 1:25. Doesn't matter if it's 35mm or 120, it gets 1:25 and comes out beautifully grainy. The online scans of stand development w/ this developer mixed at 1:100 are impressive for their sharpness, but if I'm using Rodinal for a film it isn't about tones or sharpness, it's about that gorgeous grain (which largely disappears in wet prints).
Argentia1
Established
"Rodinal Spezial" was in former times Refinal and Studional.
It has absolutely nothing to do with real Rodinal. Both are completely different developers with completely different formulas!
And yes, dilution of 1:15 is correct for "Rodinal Spezial".
Dan Daniel
Well-known
Reducers and intensifiers are chemical processes applied to a negative after development. A reducer is an acid which slowly dissolves the silver crystals in the film- reduces density. An intensifier does the opposite- chemically adds metal to existing silver clumps, thereby increasing density, intensifying contrast.
Rodinal grain disappears in wet prints?? Including using a condenser enlarger? Man, my memory is sure getting bad but I sure seem to remember grain in prints back in the day. It was one of the reasons to use Rodinal, to get grain to show.