Rodinal 100ccm glass bottle

I was given a Rodinal 100 ccm glass bottle today. Any idea how old it could be?

It's about 80 ccm left in the bottle. When I have time I will try to develop a roll in it, but I'm not sure wich dilution and time I need, same as R09?

I was also given 4 packets of Tetenal express fixer salt. Is it worth trying or just garbage? It's about the same age as the Rodinal bottle.

And I got a bunch of other darkroom equipent. Opemus 4 enlarger (looks like it almost brand new), trays, bulkloader, developing tanks etc.

When I bought my first Rodinal in 1972, it already was a brown plastic bottle. The shelf life of Rodinal is legendary even if it is dark brown. If the bags of the fixer are well closed, the should be o.k. Most people take a dilution of 1:50, some take even 1:100. A minimum volume of 5 ml for each film is sufficient even if Agfa said 10 ml. The formula is almost identical to R 09. The Opemus 4 is a very sturdy and reliable enlarger, the Czech 6-element lenses (Meogon) were very good.

The Rodinal is OK. I've been using it for over 50 years (not the same bottle) with great results.

I don't know what film you're using. The 1:50 dilution works well for most films.

The minimum amount of concentrate is 10ml per 35mm 36-exposure roll or per four 4"x5" or one 8"x10" sheet films.


- Leigh

I can just remember my Dad using Rodinal , and I think that the change to plastic bottles came in the late 1960's....I can remember him grumbling that "they weren't proper bottles"!

For some reason I remember that the content of the glass bottle was labelled "1/10 of a litre".... which seemed an odd way of saying 100 cc.!

Picture of the Rodinal bottle and some strange Agfa Neutol bottles. Don't know if the neutol is unopened or what. Funny to see that the Rodinal had a price of 9,80 NOK, about $2.


This tool was also in one of the boxes, some kind of doding tool?


And I also got a few hundred sheets of Agfra Brovira and some old Ilford Ilfospeed paper, guess they will be fun to test for lith developing or something. But probably heavy fogging.

The metal bar looks like a mixing paddle. Put it in a drill and use at low speed to dissolve powders?

I've had opened bottles for over 10 years that I used with no issue. Bought one on ebay not long ago (old yellowing white plastic bottle) that was taped shut and only had 2/3rds left, no idea how old it was, where it was stored (person selling found it at a garage sale) or how it was stored, and it worked fine. Just got a hold of this one lately (attached), it's unopened and looks REALLY old. Will try it soon (but I figure there's no hurry at this point!)

As far of dilution and times I use 1:50 most often and develop at times seen on the Massive Development Chart at www.digitaltruth.com minus about 10-20% in time depending on the general lighting contrast in the subject matter shot (I scan most of my film and find slightly less development makes for a better scan).

Some people have claimed issues with old Rodinal. I've never had any.

My glass bottle dates from about 1967 or so; possibly the change to plastic occurred sooner in places where the turnover was high. I assume that it is still good...

(I used it with Isopan FF and Adox KB-14, 1:100 dilution with the concentrate removed from the bottle by hypodermic syringe.)

Grainy said:

Picture of the Rodinal bottle and some strange Agfa Neutol bottles. Don't know if the neutol is unopened or what.

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These Neutol bottles look like drinking bottles from the 70's. Once open they are not possible to close again. Probably one portion 125ml to be filled up with water to make 1l.

Grainy said:

Picture of the Rodinal bottle

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Yes, that is how the first bottle of the stuff I ever bought looked, late 60's early 70 time frame. Has a rubber stopper under the cap.

Tonight I printed some pictures on the Ilford Ilfospeed 3.1M paper from an unopened box. They are drying now, but so far it looks really great! I read 58 E 07 02 on the box, could the box be as old as from 1958? If so I'm really surprised of how good it still looks.

I love the graphic design of that label; minimalist color blocks against that "Agfa" in script.

cmacd123 said:

Yes, that is how the first bottle of the stuff I ever bought looked, late 60's early 70 time frame. Has a rubber stopper under the cap.

Click to expand...

Remembered today that the box came with a small clear plastic measuring cup of up to 30cc to make it easy to use.