Has my Rodinal gone bad?

[jim appleyard]

I had Rodinal fail once. It was the last 10ml in the bottle. Other than that, never a problem, but I make sure I toss the remaining few mls.

 

[Xmas]

I had Rodinal fail once. It was the last 10ml in the bottle. Other than that, never a problem, but I make sure I toss the remaining few mls.

You omitted the time interval information.
I had dregs in a Azol (Rodinal clone) last ten years.
The Rodinal patent was 1891.

 

[pentaxuser]

In my long search for the Original RODINAL, back in 2008, the conclusion was that it was traded under the name Adonal (adox) or Blazinal for the Canadian market.
R09 was AGFA's developer prior to Rodinal. In general, it is differentiated from Rodinal by its 1:20 and 1:40 dilution recomendations.

Back in 2008/09, there was a huge confusion with the Rodinal iterations. R09 was traded as "R09 New", and it was different than R09.

But you know what? listen to xmas, he seems to care a lot. I don't care as much. I use ADONAL and now RODINAL ADOX and I know it is the original Rodinal.

If your stuff goes bad, then it is not Rodinal.

And I recomend Ilfosol-3 if you like Rodinal.

Thank you for that. Just to clarify Adonal, now called Rodinal Adox is the original rodinal and is OK but R09 for two years (2008/2009) was traded as "R09 new" and wasn't in fact R09.

If I have got this correct then just a couple of questions if I may.

What happened to "R09 new" and are you in fact basing your bad experience on a bottle of R09 new? It sounds as if during your search for Rodinal you bought "R09 new" but thought you were buying Rodinal(R09) which you were not and it want bad on you.

Can you say how long it was before it went bad, how you discovered that it was "R09 new" and what you did about being sold a product that wasn't R09?

I wonder if whomsoever sold "R09 new" withdrew it from the market place, maybe as a result of your complaint and has since substituted the proper R09.

In case whoever sold you the "R09 new" is still doing this but is calling it R09 when it isn't then it would be helpful if you could say who that was?

A lot of questions I know and I am still slightly confused but it is important that those such as yourself with knowledge of products that are not what they say they are, help the rest of us avoid them.

Thanks

pentaxuser

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Define "original Rodinal." Agfa never divulged the formula. The closest thing to an authentic recipe is that obtained from the Wolfen plant as war reparations after WWII. Even that contained an undisclosed anti-foggant. (If anyone is interested an making a tank car full of Rodinal, I have the recipe.) Before the advent of MSDS's little was known of the many variations to the formula. Agfa added ingredients and then removed them during the history of the developer.

Rodinal is a highly concentrated solution. Exposure to low temperatures will cause crystals to form which can be very hard to get back into solution. Exposure to aerial carbon dioxide also causes the precipitation of potassium carbonate. Unfortunately some manufacturers ship a product in polyethylene bottles which are permeable to both oxygen and carbon dioxide. It is best to move the developer to several full glass bottles. The last Rodinal produced by Agfa was shipped in white composite bottles. I assume that the composite was better at blocking gas exchange than other plastics.

 

[removed account4]

i don't know what rodinal might be jerry
it seems to be as confusing as when ilford, foma, forte, kodak, lucky, shanghai and fuji
were all rebranding their film and no one had any idea what film they were shooting

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[Gerald C Koch]

I would limit the term Rodinal to that produced by Agfa and not any copycat versions as made by other manufacturers. When made correctly Rodinais a thick, violet to purple liquid. It is not the black, tarry stuff sold by some companies who do not go to the additional stage of purifying their p-aminophenol. I have been using Rodinal since the 60's and can attest to the color of a freshly opened glass bottle.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

Recently bought 2 500ML NOS bottles of Agfa Rodinal. It's a dark tea color and has some precipitate crystal. Looking forward to using it for a long time. Yeah I prob'ly paid too much,oh well.

 

[Xmas]

Recently bought 2 500ML NOS bottles of Agfa Rodinal. It's a dark tea color and has some precipitate crystal. Looking forward to using it for a long time. Yeah I prob'ly paid too much,oh well.

Stick some pain killer in lye the next time.

Pa- Rodinal

 

[robinal]

Recently bought 2 500ML NOS bottles of Agfa Rodinal. It's a dark tea color and has some precipitate crystal. Looking forward to using it for a long time. Yeah I prob'ly paid too much,oh well.

would you mind to share some photos of those please?

 

[MartinCrabtree]

Sure. Check yer inbox.

 

[Gunfleet]

A clip test of a scrap of film leader in a small amount of diluted developer will tell us a lot. Mix up 50ml or thereabouts of working solution and place a small piece of film leader in it and 'develop' for the appropriate time. This can be done in daylight.

Fix the film scrap and inspect. It should be very dark and this will indicate the condition of you Rodinal concentrate.

Yes but why use a scientific approach when you can guess![emoji15]

 

[removed account4]

Yes but why use a scientific approach when you can guess![emoji15]

i'd be careful saying that outloud

 

[tokam]

Yes but why use a scientific approach when you can guess![emoji15]

He, He. No offense taken. I'm currently about 10% through a 500ml bottle of Adox Adonal which I always top off with Protectan spray after use. It is getting to the colour of moderately brewed tea. I only use it for slower films which tended to be rather infrequently. I have recently snared bulk rolls of Rollei Retro 80s and Pan F so I will be testing it before use on these films.

I hope my bottle goes the distance as developer availability in Sydney took a big hit when one of our larger photo stores closed shop. From what I can see of buying Rodinal in the US it is involves Hazmat restrictions. Shipping liquids is also expensive weight wise. Never mind, I still have 2 x 500ml bottles of HC-110 which are still straw to light honey colour and reputedly has a half-life of several human generations. (Look for it on the Antiques Roadshow in 2115). :confused:

 

[Xmas]

He, He. No offense taken. I'm currently about 10% through a 500ml bottle of Adox Adonal which I always top off with Protectan spray after use. It is getting to the colour of moderately brewed tea. I only use it for slower films which tended to be rather infrequently. I have recently snared bulk rolls of Rollei Retro 80s and Pan F so I will be testing it before use on these films.

I hope my bottle goes the distance as developer availability in Sydney took a big hit when one of our larger photo stores closed shop. From what I can see of buying Rodinal in the US it is involves Hazmat restrictions. Shipping liquids is also expensive weight wise. Never mind, I still have 2 x 500ml bottles of HC-110 which are still straw to light honey colour and reputedly has a half-life of several human generations. (Look for it on the Antiques Roadshow in 2115). :confused:

You can make up a substitute at home with safety googles lye painkiller and local chemicals.

Keeps ok.

Dead Link Removed

Jay is a member here but is not about often.

 

[Xmas]

I would limit the term Rodinal to that produced by Agfa and not any copycat versions as made by other manufacturers. When made correctly Rodinais a thick, violet to purple liquid. It is not the black, tarry stuff sold by some companies who do not go to the additional stage of purifying their p-aminophenol. I have been using Rodinal since the 60's and can attest to the color of a freshly opened glass bottle.

All the proprietary bottles I've had have been like water & gin clear on opening but black tea the next day/use.

Azol circa 63
Agfa Rodinal circa 89
R09 paraaminophenol (lots more rescently)

All the suppliers cloned Rodinal when the 1891(?) patent expired & you can use the hydrochloride which is available reagent pure.

If you have safety googles and can handle drain cleaner it is simple to make up at home?

 

[Gerald C Koch]

I hope my bottle goes the distance as developer availability in Sydney took a big hit when one of our larger photo stores closed shop. From what I can see of buying Rodinal in the US it is involves Hazmat restrictions.

Hazmat restrictions vary. As is often the case they depend on the quantity. For many things quantities of 1/2 to 1 liter are exempted from additional charges.

 

[Xuco Martin]

Comes out as economic Pa-Rodinal prepare at home, if I see too dark dearrollar use it to paper. and I make fresher and it's fun

CAS: 103-90-2 25€ 1 kilo gramo https://www.flickr.com/photos/felixucomartin/16642649214

 

[zehner21]

I developed a short strip, just to be sure. Came out faint.
So I guess it's time to migrate to other developers. Thanks guys

 

[Mark Antony]

Very strange I've used Rodinal in various guises for over 30 years and although it can go off it doesn't suffer from sudden death, normally it loses activity very slowly.
I'm guessing here but it's possible that your Rodinal might have suffered from cross contamination with fix or stop bath, if so it will smell of ammonia.
Does your bottle look like the one on the left?

If so this developer, now over ten years old looks like Coke™ and still works

 

[zehner21]

Very strange I've used Rodinal in various guises for over 30 years and although it can go off it doesn't suffer from sudden death, normally it loses activity very slowly.
I'm guessing here but it's possible that your Rodinal might have suffered from cross contamination with fix or stop bath, if so it will smell of ammonia.
Does your bottle look like the one on the left?

If so this developer, now over ten years old looks like Coke™ and still works

Extremely unlikely. I mix up the working solution having nothing on the table except the Rodinal bottle, a jug and a siringe. I also avoid cross contamination with water because first I put the dev, close the bottle and then fill up the jug with water.

Mine looks like Coke and it's in a bottle like this
Dead Link Removed

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Extremely unlikely. I mix up the working solution having nothing on the table except the Rodinal bottle, a jug and a siringe. I also avoid cross contamination with water because first I put the dev, close the bottle and then fill up the jug with water.

Mine looks like Coke and it's in a bottle like this
Dead Link Removed

If it looks like Coke then it has definitely oxidized. By itself, under normal conditions, it should be still ok (I used some that was over 10 years old from a 3/4 consumed bottle and it worked just fine). But if yours is very dark, and it is exhibiting very poor response, I'd replace it with a fresh bottle.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

Here's my eBay score.

 

[Ronald Moravec]

I ran a test from 1898 to 2008. New Rodinal was decanted from white plastic to brown glass bottle as new. I did a test strip exposed under studio lights for uniformity every six months. Strips were identical for ten years when they started to lighten slightly.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

Man how old are you???

 

[Xmas]

I ran a test from 1898 to 2008. New Rodinal was decanted from white plastic to brown glass bottle as new. I did a test strip exposed under studio lights for uniformity every six months. Strips were identical for ten years when they started to lighten slightly.

Not a meaningful test suggest you should have left it in the original container like everyone else.

I've had it last intact from

1963 to 1975 1/4 full bottle Azol
1978 to 2005 1/4 full bottle Agfa Rodinal

No detectable difference when used to last dregs.

Last week I left the top cross threaded so there was no seal for 8 days did a test strip first but no detectable difference again. So just did six 135 with lots of burnt highlights which my scanner won't proof properly.