Starting developing, is Rodinal a good choice?

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thegman

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Hi all,
I think I'd like to dabble in some developing. I doubt I'll do that much of it, and I may go months without doing any at all, so I think the longevity of the chemicals will be important. So I was thinking about starting off with Rodinal, I've read that it can be good for just about any film, from slow films like Pan F, or CHS 25 through mid-speed like APX400 or Tri-X, up to the likes of Delta 3200.

I do like to experiment with films, so an all round developer seems like a good idea. I understand Rodinal has high grain sharpness, and the grain is a relatively large, which is fine by me.

Before I go ahead, is there any reason I would not want Rodinal? Obviously I can try some other stuff too, but the long shelf life, all-round capabilities, and "bullet proof" reputation make me want to learn Rodinal as my regular developer. Any reason I should not?

Cheers

Garry
 
Yes, great choice. You can change it's characteristics by varying dilution, agitation as well as the speed/make of film.
 
Rodinal accentuates grain in 400 speed and faster films and causes a speed loss in them too. Its great for slow films, my favorite developer for Ilford Pan-F, Tmax 100, and FP-4, and it works great with EFKE 100 too. It gives a gritty look to Tri-X because of the grain accentuation and unique tonal rendering it gives, but expect to shoot Tri-X at EI-200 or 250 for good shadow detail. I use it sometimes, but for general purpose work, D-76 or Tmax DEveloper are both better for Tri-X.

I actually keep Rodinal, PMK, Tmax Developer, and D-76 on hand and choose the one that works best for the subject and film I'm shooting. That's a decision I have to make before I shoot, since developers affect film speed.

Here's some Rodinal in Tri-X shots:

dolls19.jpg


green-giant1.jpg


If you like the grain and tonality and don't mind the speed loss, you can certainly use Rodinal as your all around developer.
 
Forgot to add that I really think that Tmax Developer is the only good developer for Delta 3200 if you intend to shoot it at 3200. Ilford makes a very similar developer, I think its called DDX, that should be as good, but I've not tried it. Rodinal just doesn't give the speed that is the reason for using Delta 3200. Tmax Developer does:

mary-mora_8-15-11_1.jpg

Delta 3200, EI-3200 in Tmax Developer. Shot at 1/15 at f4 in dim indoor light.
 
Thanks for the info, I would like to shoot Delta 3200, so maybe I need to get some T-Max developer too.

Actually Chris, it's your work which I like the look of, that sharp, grainy look your photos tend to have.

Maybe I'll start with Rodinal, and just remember to perhaps shoot 400 ISO film at 250 or so.
 
rodinal is always a good choice.
It's also very practical - especially if u don't develop industrial quantities- shelf life is 8 (rotate the 8 by 90 degrees).
 
I think D76 is a great multi purpose developer. I just processes two rolls of Delta 3200 @3200 in stock D76 and they looked great. DDX probably would have been better but I surely would not have used Rodinal. I use Rodinal for Acros but nothing faster. You don't need to limit yourself to one but if you must then I recommend D76. You can play around with different dilutions to get the look you want. I really like the stuff.
 
Great choice, but one thing is very important: Always keep the temperature below 20°C. Otherwise you will get very grainy negs!

Thomas
 
thegman said:
I've read that it can be good for just about any film, from slow films like Pan F, or CHS 25 through mid-speed like APX400 or Tri-X, up to the likes of Delta 3200.
Click to expand...

Well, no. It is best with traditional mid speed film (FP4+, Plus-X, APX100 and the like), and that extends to the latest generation cubic crystal ISO 400 film with similarly well-behaved grain (e.g. current Tri-X).

But beyond that I tend to use it as a emergency developer with immense shelf life, and a wide range of manipulation so that it can be used to salvage mis-exposed film.

My results with low-speed fine grain film (like Pan F or CHS 25) and modern crystal-controlled film types (like Acros, Delta and Tmax), were rather mediocre, in the best case, it does not make as much use of their advantages as other developers, in the worst case the boosted acutance looks unpleasantly like digital sharpening artefacts - back in the days before digital we went for that effect, but today, it is rather silly to process film to look like a sloppy digital postprocessing...

It used to be a popular special effects developer for old-school ISO 400 class film, boosting acutance, increasing graininess and taming run-away contrast all at once. But these films are almost extinct - APX400, as soon as it comes back (or if you find any remains), is the last one, the others have either joined the mid-speed (new Tri-X, HP5+) or the flat crystal (Tmax and Delta 400) camp. On faster film (like Delta 3200) you don't really want to decrease contrast or add grain unless it brings you a speed benefit - a thing Rodinal isn't much good at.
 
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Can't go wrong with rodinal. Been using it since i started developing. Tried D76 for a while but the convenience of Rodinal is unbeatable........ it helps that I like the results too :)
 
Try finding your own times for Rodinal 1:50 at 18ºC: grain is sharp but not big. I like the look of photographs a lot more when grain is crisp as Rodinal makes it, than the more dissolved look most developers give. For 3200 films, TMax developer is better than Rodinal, and gives the same kind of grain exactly. I prefer the look of TMax P3200 in TMax developer to that of Delta3200 in DDX or any other developer, except if I need Delta's bigger grain.

Rodinal is my favorite developer not because of its long life but because of the tone and look it gives, apart from how well it respects film's grain. And it's really usable for lots of different looks... You can make scenes look very natural and delicate with rich exposure, or go for a middle point, or get pushed-looking scenes as Chris' examples with less exposure and longer development.

My times for Tri-X in Rodinal (1:50 at 18ºC, 30 seconds gentle inversions first, then 3 gentle inversions every next minute) are:

Direct sun, yellow filter, incident@50 (1/250 f/8.5), 16 minutes.
Overcast / shades, incident@200, 21 minutes.
Overcast / shades, incident@400, 24 minutes.
Overcast / shades, incident@800, 30 minutes. (Inversions every two minutes)
Overcast / shades, incident@1250, 60 minutes. (Inversions every four minutes)

And then, stand development for low light / interiors with great contrast control and acutance:

Incident@1600, 1+100, 18ºC, 1 hour, 30 seconds gentle inversions first, then just three gentle inversions at minute 30.
Incident@3200, 1+100, 18ºC, 2 hours, 30 seconds gentle inversions first, then just three gentle inversions at minute 60.

These times produce negatives with proper contrast to make whites look white on prints when base+fog reaches black.

Hope you enjoy Rodinal, Garry!

Cheers,

Juan
 
I've used Rodinal for a long time. I dilute it with distilled water rather than tap water as I believe it can be sensitive to minerals in tap water where I live. Good luck with your excellent choice of developer.
 
Pherdinand said:
rodinal is always a good choice.
It's also very practical - especially if u don't develop industrial quantities- shelf life is 8 (rotate the 8 by 90 degrees).
Click to expand...

Is that so? I read that shelflife is 6 months once the bottle's been open...

Also, I got R09, since original Rodinal is hard to come by now and R09 is supposedly the same exact formula.... but developing times listed are different... what gives?
 
^---- snicker.

If you're just starting out try Ilford DD-X. It does everything well. It maintains film speed like XTOL, it keeps the grain tight, and it's sold as a liquid stock so it's more convenient than a powdered developer like D-76 or XTOL.

I have used Rodinal with ISO 400 35mm films, and have been underwhelmed by the results vs. DD-X, D-76, or XTOL. Rodinal really comes into its own with medium format film, where big grain is less objectionable.
 
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I recommend Ilford DD-X as well. It's my standard developer. However, for certain films such as Fuji Acros 100, and Adox CHS 50 I normally use Rodinal. I love Acros 100 in Rodinal 1:100 stand develop for one hour. OTOH, do not do stand develop with Adox CHS film, rather follow the recommended times (or at least don't try it on a roll you really care about, the results are worth learning about).

Adox CHS 50 w/Rodinal 1:100 Stand Develop for one hour (and a lot of work when scanning to bring out detail):

Buskers at Saturday Market by Zane's Photography, on Flickr


Buskers #2 by Zane's Photography, on Flickr


Buskers #3 by Zane's Photography, on Flickr

I've not tried printing any of these shots in the darkroom yet.
 
Ive been using rodinal with neopan 400 but since Im probably going to switch over to delta 400 or tmax 400 I may go to tmax developer.
 
thegman, remember that Rodinal concentrate is dangerously caustic; dangerous to skin and to the eyes. If any kids around, you want to keep photo chemicals out of reach, and especially this one.

I suggest reading the Material Safety Data Sheet.

I have been experimenting with Rodinal stand development, and I like the results.
 
semilog said:
^---- snicker.
If you're just starting out try Ilford DD-X.
Click to expand...

+1. For starting out, I would recommend DD-X and FP4+ (after trying around much again my standard combination) and for higher ISO HP5+....very forgiving, nice results. I use HP5+ with HC-110, cause it pushes well (I shoot HP5+ at ISO 800) and is much cheaper than DD-X, but results with DD-X are good too.

(I used Rodinal before, great results with FP4+, APX 100 and Acros, but mixed feelings, stopped usage because of environmental reasons. This has been debated plenty elsewhere; each can have their own opinion, but I suggest looking into this aspect and form your own).
 
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