• Welcome to Photrio!
    Registration is fast and free. Join today to unlock search, see fewer ads, and access all forum features.
    Click here to sign up

Eeek! Did I hurt my Rodinal?

Sjixxxy

Member
Allowing Ads
Joined
Jul 12, 2004
Messages
432
Location
Zenith City,
Format
8x10 Format
So I managed to forget to cap a half full 500ml bottle of Rodinal and left it open for a a few days. Now when I rotate the bottle it sounds like there is sand in the bottom of it. Think I may have killed it, or reduced its performance somehow? Can I dissolve thes olidified chemicals by heating it back up and giving it a good shake?

Not that Rodinal is expensive or anything, I just hate to see a good bottle go if I don't have to.
 
Try it with a snip test. It may have lost enough water that some precipitated. It's not necessarilly ruined. Maybe you can use it to show an uninformed friend how you can develop film in tar. In any case, don't use it on something valuable without some kind of test.
 
I still have a 12 exposure short roll that I exposed when trying to find a proper developement time for Pyrocat that I ended up not needing to develop. Looks like it has a new fate now.
 
Why not add a little water and then warm up the Rodinal? Mix it to allow the precipitate to dissolve and see if this helps.
 
When Rodinal came in glass bottles, it could form crystals that would settle to the bottom. Agfa had a notice on the label to the effect that this did not diminish the performance of the developer and the crystals would dissolve on mixing. I have had the crystals to form and, sure enough, they dissolved and the developer worked fine even when it was nearly black.

Of course, that doesn't answer your question about whether or not the Rodinal is ruined. You can always buy another bottle of Rodinal so my philosophy is, if in doubt throw it out.
 
Dear Sjixxxy,

Why worry? Developer is cheap, buy a new bottle. Consider it an opportunity. You know that there is some film/paper/whatever you've been thinking about playing with, now you have an excuse to buy it (you know, offset the shipping charges or the gas to the local shop).

Neal Wydra
 
'Tis easy enough to do a snip test to see if it still works. I'm still betting it will work fine.

BTW, my last bottle had a few crystals in the bottom, and it worked fine.
 

I'll most likely just buy a new one to play it safe. I'm just really curious on seeing if this can defeat its legendary keeping properties.
 
I'm betting that it's still good. I don't use a lot of Rodinal, so a half full bottle sits on my shelf for a long time, and I've seen the crystals form in the solution. So far, knock wood, the stuff continues to work. Of course, what has worked for me may not for you. I'd suggest developing that short roll first to see what happens.
 
Reviving an old thread...

Took my less-than-half-full bottle of Rodinal yesterday to develop some Polypan-F. Shook it. Sure enough: crystals (or precipitate of another form, but anyway). Put the bottle in hot water for a few minutes while shaking it around. This did not dissolve the crystal. At least, not completely. Hard to tell, but I think it helped somewhat.

Took the plunge and developed my film with it regardless.

Result: Perfect!

So, there you go. Rodinal, does it ever go bad?...

As a side note: my first attempt at semi-stand development, as per recommendation of the Massive Dev Chart, 1+100, 40 minutes, inversions continuously for the first minute, then once every 5-10 minutes. The result is great (looking at the negatives; haven't printed yet). For me, this result is a reason to use Polypan-F and Rodinal more often.
 
My Rodinal always has the sand shaker thing going on towards the end. The crystals seem to stay in the bottom so they don't worry me.
 
I bragged in another post about testing a batch of homemade Rodinal at 1+25 late one night, pouring it back into the mixing pitcher, and leaving it open all night. I looked at it 12 hours later and it didn't look so bad, so I ran another test strip. Identical results. I had to mark the negatives to identify them. It still passed a snip test the next day, but I needed the pitcher for something else, so dumped it. This was working solution.
 
Snip test will only prove it has enough strength to develope a snip of film. When you try 36, you still might be suprised.

suggest you open you wallet and get a new bottle.

Crystals on the bottom are normal from the old days, but it has been reformulated.
 
The last bottle that I used was a test of sorts, I let it sit with about 20ml for a couple of years. It developed negatvies that were indistinguishable from negatives that I had developed with a fresh bottle. When I emptied it, there were huge flakes of precipitate in there, and the liquid was as dark as my morning tea, and just as potent apparently...

- Randy
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register