Rodinal And...

[zenrhino]

Since my shooting revolves around cheap film, I end up shooting a lot of whatever Freestyle sells and using cheap developer (Ilfosol S or Sprint).

I was using Sprint developer with arista.edu 400 (ilford) and arista pro 50 (again, ilford) but have run out of both the dev and the 400 speed.

Now I have a bulk loader full of arista.edu 400 (foma) and a nearly full half liter bottle of Rodinal sitting on the counter.

What do people think of the Fomapan 400/Rodinal combo, and if you think it's going to accentuate the grain/sharpness too much, can you reccomend a dev that would be better for Fomapan 400 and 100 (ie, what Freestyle sells cheap)?

Thanks!

 

[srs5694]

Regarding Fomapan 400 in Rodinal, I can't comment, since I've not tried that combination. I'd worry about the grain size -- but OTOH, I did once try Tri-X in Rodinal and didn't find the grain as huge as I was expecting, based on all the horror stories about grain size from Rodinal and fast films. I'd say to just give it a try and if you're not pleased with the grain size, try something else. As to "something else...."

I've been using Arista.EDU Ultra (Fomapan) 400 with XTOL and PC-Glycol with good results. My cost spreadsheet says that XTOL 1:1 costs $0.27/roll, while PC-Glycol 1:1:48 costs $0.10/roll ($0.04/roll if you use propylene glycol antifreeze rather than the technical grade propylene glycol). Both figures assume a 250ml tank, which is typical of stainless steel tanks; costs will be a bit higher with most plastic tanks. PC-Glycol is a mix-it-yourself forrmula, so it'll take more up-front investment in a stock of chemicals and perhaps a scale. For comparison, Rodinal 1:50 is $0.37/roll and Ilfosol S 1:14 is $0.24/roll. (All of these price comparisons are based on assumptions about developer package size, shipping, etc.; your costs might be significantly different.) Overall, if you want to stick with commercial developers, XTOL seems like a reasonable choice. It's not the cheapest available, but it's far from the most expensive, and it works well with Fomapan 400, IMHO.

FWIW, I performed the speed tests described here (part 2 is here) and found that Fomapan 400 clocked in at ISO 320-400 with PC-Glycol 1:1:48 for 10:00 at 20C. (My test camera gave me the same shutter speeds and apertures for both ISO 320 and ISO 400, so I couldn't distinguish the two.) Of course, as always, YMMV, so if you mix up some PC-Glycol, take this information as a starting point only. I've not done these test with XTOL. I've seen comments on the Web that Fomapan 400 is closer to a true ISO 200 or 250 film. I don't know if I erred, if my camera's meter or shutter was off, or if PC-Glycol just gets more of the film's rated speed than most developers.

 

[wildbill]

arista. edu 400 isn't ilford. it's fortepan. They've said they'll have it back in stock oct 25th. The arista pro 400 was ilford hp5+
Personally i use .edu 400 in rodinal at 1:50 for the recommended "massive development chart" time but that's in 120 format. It may get too grainy for you though. Give it a go or try tmax developer also. Freestyle isn't cheap for most stuff.

 

[pauldc]

Fomapan 400 rated at EI 250 in Paterson Aculux2 for 9 minutes at 20 degrees C works beautifully for me. A very creamy combination with lovely tonality and yet surprisingly sharp too.