XP2 in Rodinal: Explain This to Me

[L Collins]

I understand that C41 B&W can be processed with traditional silover halide chemicals such as Rodinal. I also understand, in a general way, that c41 films contain silver halide that is washed away when processing in c41 chemistry and the final image is dye based.

I 'assume' that processing in Rodinal develops the silver halide and does not involve a dye based final negative. Is this correct?

The reason I've used XP2 in the past was because of its ease of scanning and the ability to use ICE anti dust/scratch scanning software. If my assumptions about Rodinal development are correct, I'm 'assuming' as well that scanning XP2 developed in silver halide chemistry would negate the ability to use ICE when scanning the negatives.

Can someone more experienced than me enlighten me about all this? 😕

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

hi. as far as i know, there are no silver in XP2. it can be developed in Rodinal though.

raytoei

 

[Roger Hicks]

I understand that C41 B&W can be processed with traditional silover halide chemicals such as Rodinal. I also understand, in a general way, that c41 films contain silver halide that is washed away when processing in c41 chemistry and the final image is dye based.

I 'assume' that processing in Rodinal develops the silver halide and does not involve a dye based final negative. Is this correct?

The reason I've used XP2 in the past was because of its ease of scanning and the ability to use ICE anti dust/scratch scanning software. If my assumptions about Rodinal development are correct, I'm 'assuming' as well that scanning XP2 developed in silver halide chemistry would negate the ability to use ICE when scanning the negatives.

Can someone more experienced than me enlighten me about all this? 😕

You're right about all of it. In C41 chemistry a dye image is formed in proportion to the silver image, which is then bleached and washed out. Use Rodinal and you get a grainy silver image with dubious tonality and no hope of using ICE -- which may be what you want!

Cheers,

R.

 

[L Collins]

You're right about all of it. In C41 chemistry a dye image is formed in proportion to the silver image, which is then bleached and washed out. Use Rodinal and you get a grainy silver image with dubious tonality and no hope of using ICE -- which may be what you want!

Cheers,

R.

Thanks Roger. I knew you'd know. And yes, I've been gravitating to the gritty, grainy look when shooting film, as I think the primary reason I used to shoot XP2, its clean look, has been rendered moot by digital capture, so XP2 in Rodinal is how I'll be processing the 4 100x rolls I'm sitting on.

I 'assume' as well, that once processed in Rodinal i.e. silver based, the negatives will have the same archival life as traditional B&W film, no?

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

the negatives will have the same archival life as traditional B&W film, no?

Archival quality is down to fixing and washing. The fixing removes any silver halide not reduced by the developer, while the washing removes the fixer and its byproducts. I'm not aware of any longevity problems associated with the dyes used in monochrome films like XP2 but the place to ask would be the Ilford user forum: http://www.ilfordphoto.com/photocommunity/community.asp.

Edit: That URL may not work. just use http://www.ilfordphoto.com/ and navigate from there.

 

[pdh]

a grainy silver image with dubious tonality .

This is a scan of a straight print I made from an XP2 (120) negative developed in Rodinal. It's by no means a fine print but it's not grainy and I wouldn't say it had dubious tonality. Although the latter may be a matter of taste of course

Scan-130410-0004 by _loupe, on Flickr​

I'm not, by the way, recommending XP2 in Rodinal as a preferred method, but I had some "free" XP2 & didn't want to send it off for the expense of proper C41 processing. The few times I've done it have produced excellent results.

 

[L Collins]

Archival quality is down to fixing and washing. The fixing removes any silver halide not reduced by the developer, while the washing removes the fixer and its byproducts. I'm not aware of any longevity problems associated with the dyes used in monochrome films like XP2 but the place to ask would be the Ilford user forum: http://www.ilfordphoto.com/photocommunity/community.asp.

Edit: That URL may not work. just use http://www.ilfordphoto.com/ and navigate from there.

yes, i understand that. My question is more about the inherent archival quality of the finished XP2 negative developed in Rodinal, given the difference between inherent archival properties of silver halide film negatives versus the lesser archival stability of dye based medium. I guess my question is: will XP2 have the same inherent archival soundness as a traditional silver halide fim like Tri-X, or are we still looking at the lesser archival quality of a dye based negative even though we've used a silver halide process on it?

 

[gsgary]

This is a scan of a straight print I made from an XP2 (120) negative developed in Rodinal. It's by no means a fine print but it's not grainy and I wouldn't say it had dubious tonality. Although the latter may be a matter of taste of course

Scan-130410-0004 by _loupe, on Flickr​

I'm not, by the way, recommending XP2 in Rodinal as a preferred method, but I had some "free" XP2 & didn't want to send it off for the expense of proper C41 processing. The few times I've done it have produced excellent results.

I was given 10 rolls of XP2, i tried to arrange a visit to Ilfords Factory in Cheshire but was told they don't do them any more but sent me some XP2 i didn't want to send it away because i like to develope all my film
Here's a few developed in Rodinal 1+25 for 19 minutes

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

If you use Rodinal and conventional fixer, you're not invoking the dye process. The question is whether the dye precursors are likely to break down with time and cause a stain. Ilford can tell you that, if you go to the URL I supplied above.

 

[Rhodes]

Some of my last XP2 in rodinal 1:100 one hour stand

 

[Photo_Smith]

hi. as far as i know, there are no silver in XP2. it can be developed in Rodinal though.

raytoei

There certainly is silver in XP2, probably a similar amount to any other C41 film.
The difference being there are no colour couplers to form dye clouds around the silver grains in RGB layers.
If you develop in colour developer dye clouds form in mono developer the silver remains and insn't bleached out.