Foma 400 in Rodinal......probably not a good idea

gone · May 12, 2021

Finally developed the 1/2 roll of film I'd saved for developing in Rodinal. 1:50 for 11 minutes at 68 degrees, and apparently way too much agitation. These are scans, I'll print one or two and the grain should go down quite a bit. Maybe. In controlled low light, this is a good developer. I like the grain. The 1st one is the full negative, and the 2nd is a crop to see the grain better.

However, if the metering and light aren't watched closely, you get this. It was purposefully shot in bad, contrasty light. The film didn't like it, nor the developer. With D76, even this bad light may have been tamed. Rodinal just exaggerated the issues. You never know though, the print may not show all this stuff, so even though it's not a keeper, I want to see what a (small) print looks like.

Horatio · May 12, 2021

I'm interested to see your prints, and whether there's an effect on grain. My results with Foma/Edu 400 and Rodinal were... interesting, to say the least. Some look ok some look terrible. I've not printed any of mine (no darkroom yet), only scanned.

russell_w_b · May 13, 2021

I think Rodinal works fine on Foma 400. Well, it does in medium format, anyway. I can't comment on 35mm as I've never shot Foma 400 35mm. Here are three I took on Fomapan 400 Action and developed them in Adox Rodinal (about two-and-a-half years old) at 1+25. Just scans, I'm afraid, as I don't have a darkroom yet either.

RalphLambrecht · May 13, 2021

momus said:
Finally developed the 1/2 roll of film I'd saved for developing in Rodinal. 1:50 for 11 minutes at 68 degrees, and apparently way too much agitation. These are scans, I'll print one or two and the grain should go down quite a bit. Maybe. In controlled low light, this is a good developer. I like the grain. The 1st one is the full negative, and the 2nd is a crop to see the grain better.

However, if the metering and light aren't watched closely, you get this. It was purposefully shot in bad, contrasty light. The film didn't like it, nor the developer. With D76, even this bad light may have been tamed. Rodinal just exaggerated the issues. You never know though, the print may not show all this stuff, so even though it's not a keeper, I want to see what a (small) print looks like.

actually, I like the contrasty tonality;looks like a classic B&W

Donald Qualls · May 13, 2021

I've done a fair amount of (Arista rebranded) Foma 400 in Parodinal, mostly at 1:50. Even in 35mm, I didn't find it objectionable in anyway; I posted an image in the "Foma 400 is my go-to film" thread just the other day.

R.Gould · May 13, 2021

I agree with Donald, until recently I developed everything in Rodinal 1/50, and that was Fomapan, and never found it in any way objectional, either 35mm or 120

laingsoft · May 13, 2021

russell_w_b said:
I think Rodinal works fine on Foma 400. Well, it does in medium format, anyway. I can't comment on 35mm as I've never shot Foma 400 35mm. Here are three I took on Fomapan 400 Action and developed them in Adox Rodinal (about two-and-a-half years old) at 1+25. Just scans, I'm afraid, as I don't have a darkroom yet either.

Rodinal on medium format, Rodinal on 35mm, and Rodinal on 16mm so shockingly different it made me question if I was measuring out my developer properly.

One of my favorite combos is Rodinal and Holga 400, Which is either Orwo or Foma

Donald Qualls · May 13, 2021

laingsoft said:
Rodinal on medium format, Rodinal on 35mm, and Rodinal on 16mm so shockingly different it made me question if I was measuring out my developer properly.

This is just a case of magnification. Kiev 30 has half the dimension of a 35mm negative, which has about half the dimension of a 6x4.5. For each step down, you're doubling the size of the grain on a same-size print. So, grain that's just barely noticeable from the smallest of medium format negatives is multiplied 4x in the largest 16mm negative. A 4x magnification was enough for Gallieo to discover the moons of Jupiter.

Paul Howell · May 13, 2021

Yesterday I found an exposed roll of Ultrafine eXtreme 400 in a 120 roll that I had left in my Kowa super, must have been sitting in there for a years or more, have not shot with my Kowas during the lockdowns. I have been using Clayton F76+, could not find times, I do have Rodinal. Recalled that Edwal FG7 could be modified for fine gain by adding Sodium Sulfite, some additional vague memories about adding Sodium Sulfite to make Rodinal Special, I added 5 grams of Sodium Sulfite to the Rodinal 1:50 and developed for 6 minutes. The negatives are somewhat dense, next try will boost the ISO to 800 and maybe reduce the time by 60 seconds and try with a roll of Ultrafine 400 in 35mm. I also have bottle of Studional which is also called Rodinal Special, which seems to a different beast.

foc · May 13, 2021

laingsoft said:
One of my favorite combos is Rodinal and Holga 400, Which is either Orwo or Foma

Holga 400 is rebadged Foma 400.

subsole · May 13, 2021

Paul Howell said:
Yesterday I found an exposed roll of Ultrafine eXtreme 400 in a 120 roll that I had left in my Kowa super, must have been sitting in there for a years or more, have not shot with my Kowas during the lockdowns. I have been using Clayton F76+, could not find times, I do have Rodinal. Recalled that Edwal FG7 could be modified for fine gain by adding Sodium Sulfite, some additional vague memories about adding Sodium Sulfite to make Rodinal Special, I added 5 grams of Sodium Sulfite to the Rodinal 1:50 and developed for 6 minutes. The negatives are somewhat dense, next try will boost the ISO to 800 and maybe reduce the time by 60 seconds and try with a roll of Ultrafine 400 in 35mm. I also have bottle of Studional which is also called Rodinal Special, which seems to a different beast.

Studional is a fine grain developer. Should work well with Fomapan 400. Start with 7 minutes, 1+30 dilution at 20°C.

Paul Howell · May 13, 2021

Should have started a new threat, the film I was developing was not Foma, it was Ultrafine, a house brand film sold here in the U.S, did not have times for Studional. Currently Foma 200 is my film of choice 35mm, MF, and 4X5 along with a box of 400 in 4X5. I develop Foma 200 and 400 in Clayton F76+, in the recent past MCM 100.

Pat Erson · May 14, 2021

@ momus :

fwiw I got a very similar result with Bergger Panchro400 developped in (homemade) D-76 at 1+1 for 17 minutes : very grainy, very contrasty "harsh" look.

Not bad in itself but I much prefer the silky look of Hp5!

titrisol · May 14, 2021

Nothing wrong with those pictures!
Nice tonality, and honest grain like a good old film should have.
I like 1+50 with low agitation (once very 2-3 minutes) for ~12 minutes

Foma 400 in Rodinal......probably not a good idea

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