Tmax 400 Rodinal vs Tmax RS

[RdEoSg]

I am sure this has been discussed but I went back a few pages and couldn't find anything.

Normally I have my film processed at a lab across the street from me, but lately I have been unhappy with some scratching issues and some bad development issues. They tend to process in big tanks of 8 rolls or so. Think Jobo tanks! 😉 They do a decent job, but I have noticed on occasion that I get uneven development. I notice it going vertically through the images and it seems to have to do with the sprocket holes. It isn't always obvious, but when you have a nice even sky you can pick it out right away because it looks sorta rainbowy.

So I leave in a week and a half for three weeks in Europe and am taking about 30 rolls of Tmax 400 and about 10 rolls of Tmax 100. I am probably going to pick up some of that Foma film just for the hell of it too.

I've heard great things about Rodinal but have never used it. I used to work at said lab up above so I am very familiar with developing film using Tmax developer.

Any recommendations? Am I going to see a big difference by getting the Rodinal? Am I better off using the RS Tmax that is supposed to be designed for the T-grain?

My end result is that I am looking for the sharpest and finest grain available with out going crazy on development.

I thought Rodinal was supposed to be amazing for fine grain but I have also read that it actually produces larger grain, but that it creates sharpness as well.

Thoughts?

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I like Rodinal for Tmax 100 but prefer Tmax developer for the 400. i haven't used Tmax RS in many, many years so I can't comment on it. I know that Tmax 400 at EI 400 developed in Tmax Developer diluted 1+7 for 10 minutes at 75 deg. is gorgeous. I develop Tmax 100 in Rodinal 1+50 for 12 minutes at 68 deg. Tmax 100 is exposed at EI 50 when I develop in rodinal.

 

[Trius]

Chris: "Sharp" and "fine" grain are sorta at odds with each other. Rodinal is not a fine grain developer, but it produces sharpness and well-defined grain, plus the tonal scale is great. I have a roll of TMax 100 ready to go into Rodinal, though I will use it at 1:100/20 minutes rather than Chris Crawford's 1:50 recipe.

I've never used Tmax developers (that I can recall), so can't comment. One of the nice things about Rodinal is that the stock solutions lasts a long, long time, even when opened. I never worry about it losing its strength. Don't know how Tmax developer fares.

 

[RdEoSg]

I'd love to try the Rodinal. I think one of my hesitations though is that I am not sure how to rate the films. I'd hate to shoot all of my film from vacation and then try developing it only to find out I needed to over expose everything by a stop. Granted that film is quite lenient in that respect but still

 

[RHaroldP]

This is TMax 400 developed in Rodinal 1:50 for 11 min. Film was rated 320

 

[RdEoSg]

That looks great! I usually rate it at about 320 or 360 so that would be ok I guess. Maybe what I will do is shoot a few rolls of just around town stuff and experiment with that to see how it looks. It's been a good 5 years or more since I've developed anything anyways so I think a refresher course is in order so I don't botch some of my trip rolls on my first attempt!