35mm Fomapan 100, ID62 paper developer; scan from negative.
View attachment 368028
I could have developed a print from this negative in the same developer, since I developed this strip of film during a printing session by sloshing it around in the print developer tray for a couple of minutes. Well, if not for the fact the film had to dry first and it's unlikely I'd spend time printing an image like this one.
I'm puzzled by all these complaints on Rodinal producing grainy or 'harsh' results.
Except ID-62 is a Universal developer and used to be recommended for films.
Harsh, not necessarily so, but grainy - yes. Of course, grain is primarily a function of the film used. But I find rodinal to give more visible, pronounced grain than e.g. XTOL or Pyrocat. It's not necessarily unpleasant, though.
All true, but I think perceived grain is also a function of print size, or scanned dpi+screen size most commonly used to evaluate the impact of that grain.
A 20x30cm print from a 35mm Foma 100 negative developed in Rodinal 1:50 will show stronger grain than a 20x30cm print from a 6x9 Foma 100 negative developed in Rodinal 1:50.
it's similar with Tmax
That's a format issue though rather than film/developer combination.
Yup, rodinal gives a crispness to TMX it very much lacks in other developers.
Diafine and its newer clones are pretty foolproof. Diafine itself has gotten very expensive. But clones are more reasonable.
Although not a Diafine fan, it is universal. Panthermic, it can be at the same time in temperatures from the 60s to the 90s, different films can be developed at the same time, 3 mints in A and 3 mints in B, no need for a stop bath, very fined gained, low contrast, can be used shooting scenes with very high SBR. Can be replenished, last a very long time. Folks have posted that they can push a stop by washing after part B, a long then back into part A. The caution is although T grained films can developed along with traditional films the fixing times of course are different.
What's your favorite film with caffenol?
Non-staining: XTol
Staining: Pyrocat-HD
Non-staining: XTol
Staining: Pyrocat-HD
Yes, imho.I fully understand that this is a very subjective question, but is there anything close to a universal developer that satisfies most needs ?
D76 is not good for paper though.Yes, imho.
And it's Kodak d76 (or Ilford id-11).
Thanks for your observations Ian. My issues with Rodinal were that I liked its tonality, but not its tendency to coarse grain with my chosen film (which was Tri-X at the time). I have since switched to HP5+ so another test may be in order. I like grain, but was not enamoured with that combination aesthetically.
Rodinal was the developer I used with T-Max 100 and Agfa 100 ISO film back in the late '80's onward, and I was printing hundreds of quality negatives of "Product" and fashion model's in commercial product clothing, etc., for pro studio work, as well as my own, mostly model stuff.
Chosing the dilution, development time and consistency of processing, ie,
the mechanics and temperatures of 35m and 6x6 cm roll films or 4"x5" sheet stuff, really does matter a lot in how these films and developer get on.
I did not care for it with Tri-x either and I can't remember ever doing HP-5 with it.
Try shooting extra very short rolls or sheets of the films you want to try, in each dilution, and index them in Rodinal and close in on the images you like and gives you the look you want.
Hopefully you'll find the correct combination for you, and like it.
Cheers.
D76 is not good for paper though.
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