Dev time for Ilford delta 3200 in Rodinal 1:50

Laci Toth · Aug 23, 2020

Hi all,

I’ve looked up some infos about this combo but I couldn’t find adequate answers. The differences of the recommendations are quite significant, long minutes.
Can anyone tell me a developing time which has worked and ended in beautiful results?

pentaxuser · Aug 23, 2020

A quite search of Photrio turns up very little of use. Those who have used it and liked it have not given times or dilutions. Maybe a few can answer specifically. It might help if you were to say what EI you intend to use i.e full box speed, 1600, 1250, 1000. Assuming of course that this is not D3200 that you have already shot.

For what is is worth I have the original Agfa Rodinal development time sheet and it lists D3200 @3200 in Rodinal 1+25 and 1+50 but declares the times are guide only as they had not been tested.

The times listed are : 1+25 = 8 mins 1+50 = 18 mins

Looking at the Massive Development Chart it lists a time for 1+25 as 11 mins but as you may have discovered this is 3 mins more.

However it may be that at least we can be sure that this is user times given the difference and I'd be inclined to use 11 mins as opposed to Agfa's 8 mins D3200 is a low contrast film and is difficult to over- develop

Again you may know this but if it's 135 D3200 the grain will be large. On that point there did seem to be a degree of agreement

Best of luck

pentaxuser

Laci Toth · Aug 23, 2020

pentaxuser said:
A quite search of Photrio turns up very little of use. Those who have used it and liked it have not given times or dilutions. Maybe a few can answer specifically. It might help if you were to say what EI you intend to use i.e full box speed, 1600, 1250, 1000. Assuming of course that this is not D3200 that you have already shot.

For what is is worth I have the original Agfa Rodinal development time sheet and it lists D3200 @3200 in Rodinal 1+25 and 1+50 but declares the times are guide only as they had not been tested.

The times listed are : 1+25 = 8 mins 1+50 = 18 mins

Looking at the Massive Development Chart it lists a time for 1+25 as 11 mins but as you may have discovered this is 3 mins more.

However it may be that at least we can be sure that this is user times given the difference and I'd be inclined to use 11 mins as opposed to Agfa's 8 mins D3200 is a low contrast film and is difficult to over- develop

Again you may know this but if it's 135 D3200 the grain will be large. On that point there did seem to be a degree of agreement

Best of luck

pentaxuser

Thanks for your quick reponse!
I already use D3200 @1600 and Rodinal 1:25 and develop it as 3200. It produces beautiful results.
I shoot 6x7 and grain is not an issue at least not for me not even with this 1:25 ratio. But I’d like to use half of the amount of the developer. I’ve checked a few infos of photos on flickr and asked the photographers about the dev time where it wasn’t added and I got everything from 12min to 28min! All in 20 or 22 celsius degrees. Those which were already there were 18 minutes which is the same what you suggest.

Andrew O'Neill · Aug 23, 2020

Do what I do. Experiment.

koraks · Aug 23, 2020

In any case, err on the long side with delta3200.

awty · Aug 24, 2020

I think the difficulty with rodinal on fast films (apart from the extra grain) is the highlights blocking up before the shadows develop and lack of tonal range to avoid this.
Everything is a trade off. Why dont you want to stick with 1:25?
I use straight Microphen on d3200 and pushed hp5, expensive but gets good results

Lachlan Young · Aug 24, 2020

Simple answer: don't. Ilford have been pretty clear that it needs quite active developers for optimal results.

Use 1+25 & possibly the time for the next EI up from what you exposed at. No such thing as a 'blocked' highlight on regular film (litho film is a different matter), just one that's slow to print. Not that that's a problem on D3200 with its characteristic curve.

I was running D3200 in Rodinal about 10 days ago & it was in no way significantly troublesome.

Tom Kershaw · Aug 24, 2020

I've not used a huge amount of Delta 3200 but would simply run it in DD-X or Microphen (or similar) developer.

Laci Toth · Aug 25, 2020

So I made an experiment with my almost 90 years old folding camera and developed the negs 1:50 for 24 minutes. The results are nice though a bit faint (sorry that I only took a photo with my phone). Maybe it needs a few more minutes. I shot it at 1600 and developed it as 3200 as always.

Lachlan Young · Aug 25, 2020

Laci Toth said:
developed the negs 1:50 for 24 minutes.

With Rodinal, developing times deliver an almost exponential decline in returns once you go over 20 minutes - and are pretty pointless over 30 mins. I'm not really sure what is stopping you using 1+25...

pentaxuser · Aug 25, 2020

Laci, you must do what you must do but in what would appear to be a point that backs the one Lachlan makes is that when I looked at the MDC charts which are as far as I am aware actual user times and dilutions, none mention 1+50. My original Agfa sheet does mention 1+50 for D3200 but both times for 1+25 and 1+50 state that this is for guidance only. Agfa had not done any testing with D3200

pentaxuser

MattKing · Aug 25, 2020

Laci Toth said:
So I made an experiment with my almost 90 years old folding camera and developed the negs 1:50 for 24 minutes. The results are nice though a bit faint (sorry that I only took a photo with my phone). Maybe it needs a few more minutes. I shot it at 1600 and developed it as 3200 as always.

Those negatives look to be quite printable.

Lachlan Young · Aug 25, 2020

pentaxuser said:
Laci, you must do what you must do but in what would appear to be a point that backs the one Lachlan makes is that when I looked at the MDC charts which are as far as I am aware actual user times and dilutions, none mention 1+50. My original Agfa sheet does mention 1+50 for D3200 but both times for 1+25 and 1+50 state that this is for guidance only. Agfa had not done any testing with D3200

pentaxuser

See pg.7 of the attached document for what Agfa's latter recommendations were.

Patrick Robert James · Aug 25, 2020

My developing time back in the day for D3200 at an E.I. of 1250 was 12m/68º in Rodinal 1+25.

If you are using Rodinal at 1+50 you really need to be sure you have enough developer in the tank. If you are using only enough to cover the film you won't really get the results you might be expecting. My experience with Rodinal in different forms over the last almost 30 years leads me to believe that oxidation is the main issue, especially at higher dilutions, which of course leads to underdevelopment. If you extend the development time it won't help much because there isn't anything left to develop the film.

Lachlan Young · Aug 25, 2020

Patrick Robert James said:
My experience with Rodinal in different forms over the last almost 30 years leads me to believe that oxidation is the main issue

Very much so - it usually dies if mixed to working strength and left to sit for 20-30 mins before use.

Laci Toth · Aug 25, 2020

Many thanks for all the input from all of you! Much appreciated!
I just wanted to know if it works or not that’s why I tried it.
I still haven’t decided though if I’ll go with this as a stronger soup surely performs better as I myself also experienced when used a 1:25 ratio.

pentaxuser · Aug 25, 2020

Lachlan Young said:
See pg.7 of the attached document for what Agfa's latter recommendations were.

Thanks It is likely that users based their times which they gave to the MDC on what Agfa had then tried and the users found that this time was fine which is no surprise

pentaxuser

Dev time for Ilford delta 3200 in Rodinal 1:50

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