I had a total Rodinal failure today . . .

. . . I got this partial bottle in a box of old darkroom stuff for free out of a garage in Albany NY about 10 years ago. It was old then. The labels were in German, it was ADOX with a small print in English "Identical with the product in Europe under the Adenol name". I used it about 6 or 7 years ago and it was fine. Did two 35mm rolls today of tri x 400 with Rodinal at 50 to 1. Almost a total failure The negatives came out solid medium gray with a negative image on the emulsion side.

I was surprised because I have read that Rodinal is pretty much immortal. LOL . . . the bottle had sediment on the bottom so i gave it a good shake. I noticed when I poured it into the tank that the sediment was still separated . . . Oh Well . . live and learn.

No big loss because these were test rolls for some 35 mm cameras I was going to sell . . .

Helpful information ... perhaps the Rodinal was just a little too old.

Ozark Wolverine said:

The negatives came out solid medium gray with a negative image on the emulsion side.

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Can you explain this in more detail?

film4Me said:

Helpful information ... perhaps the Rodinal was just a little too old.



Can you explain this in more detail?

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I will post pics tomorrow I have no idea how old it was . . I thought it was immortal

Ozark Wolverine said:

I will post pics tomorrow I have no idea how old it was . . I thought it was immortal

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And the film you shot -- was it fresh or "not so fresh"? Could the film be at some fault (out of date, poorly stored, x-rayed too many times)...

Ozark Wolverine said:

The negatives came out solid medium gray with a negative image on the emulsion side.

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Well, if you develop TriX, you'd expect a negative image. "Solid medium gray" I interpret as significantly darker than the clear base of TriX. In this case, the problem would not be the developer, since it apparently was capable of developing a heavy layer of fog. It suggests there may be a different problem going on - such as your film having been passed through an airport CT scanner, or the film being expired and stored under adverse conditions.