Rodinal and the Patterson Orbital Processor

Krzys · Feb 25, 2010

Afga says that the minimum solution of Rodinal should be no less than 10ml, however I hear reports of 5-6 ml working fine. I plan to use 200ml at 1+25, around 8ml of Rodinal, in an orbital processor. Thoughts?

Kevin Caulfield · Feb 25, 2010

I think you'll be fine. Where did you get the processor?

Krzys · Feb 25, 2010

I was going to get the processor from a classified till the postage costs and times (4-6 weeks) were calculated. Ridiculous.....I'll have to pass.

RobertV · Feb 25, 2010

Well Rodinal is not suitable at all for full preformance in a rotary development where acutance and sharpness will be gone for an important part of it.
Inverse development or even stand development is the way to go with this Para-Amino Phenol developer.
5-6ml concentrate for each 135-36 or 120 roll film is the practical minimum for this Agfa developer.

Usagi · Feb 26, 2010

I have used rodinal 1+50 and 1+100 with Orbital. Works fine. Althought have to say that in sheet films I am not seeking acutance effects so I don't know how that side works.

I use 250ml in orbital and develop 1 to 3 sheets at once. So amount of rodinal is belong the level that is suggested by Agfa. Still seems to work fine. Remember that Agfa didn't suggest 1+100 dilution during last years although it worked always fine.
For one 135mm roll in ordinary tank, it would be 3ml rodinal with 1+100 and 1.5ml with 1+200 and these are proven bulletproof.

There's always big safety margin in the data given by manufactor.

RobertV · Feb 26, 2010

Indeed a safety margin but not 1,5ml instead of the official 10ml which is advised by Agfa:
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According a product specialist from Agfa (in 2001) they explained me under 5ml the result is depending on the amount black and white within the negative in the surface area. So not a practical and proven method for your film development.
Going into dilutions 1+100 you simply need a larger volume developing tank.

When doing 3ml within 1+100 for one 135-36 or 120 roll film you're depending on a bit luck of your exposed film. Ferrytales of 0,5ml are also on the internet. Well you will get a negative but how?

calceman · Feb 26, 2010

I use 200ml water and 4ml rodinal. Get good contrast (develop for 1-2 mn more than the recomanded 10mn from the massive dev. chart depending on the negative).
If I need to develop at 1:100, I just double the water.

P C Headland · Feb 28, 2010

I've used Rodinal 1+50 in the Orbital a couple of times without problems, using about 200ml of developer solution to develop up to four sheets.

Philippe-Georges · Feb 28, 2010

I process 7 rolls of 35 mm Tri-X 400 @1000 ASA in 2 L, and 10 rolls of Tri-X/120 400 @ 1000 ASA in 2,5 L, of 1+25 Rodinal for 20 min at 20°C in the Colenta.
I do this for a few professional press photographers. They sometimes call by satellite phone to discuss when I can develop for them.
The negatives are then scanned, by an experienced scanner operator, for publishing and printing. Great results!

Philippe

Rodinal and the Patterson Orbital Processor

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