Persuaded by the Proselytizers for Rodinal (hereinafter referred to as the PFR) I bought a kit from Photgrapher's Formulary to try it out.
Never before have I encountered so many things that can kill you in the same small package. I mean, I've read about such things, but to actually hold them in your hands is quite a different manner. A substance that can burn you without you feeling it burning you has to be respected. Never before have I had to worry about keeping some ice handy to slow a chemical reaction, and then be told the leave the room and don't come back until the vapors are gone if the ice doesn't work. Scary.
Nevertheless I forged on. I got to the part where you add Solution B to Solution A in an effort to dissolve the percipitate that will form when B is added to A by adding more B to A. I must admit, it all made sense at the time. I was doing a 500ml kit, and I added the B to the A and got the precipitate, but it never seemed to reach a point at which the precipitate wasn't continuing to form and was instead dissolving. The instructions recommended 90 ml of B. I got to 180 without any loss of precipitate before I gave it up and decided something was wrong. The stuff basically looked like a melted orange push-up. I tried filtering it into a brown jar, but the filter kept clogging.
So, is there any way to save this? Is it actually OK? Does the PFR really think that it is "OK" to use a developer that must contain some precipitate to keep the solution alkaline? And how do they keep that precipitate in the solution while using a funnel with a filter in it? If you don't filter the preciptate out, what kind of things might it do in the developing process? I mean, after all, a precipitate is a hard little scratchy thing. Wouldn't it tend to do bad things to the film? Like, er, scratch it?
Seriously, what went wrong? I couldn't get the precipitate to go away no matter how much I stirred and how much acid I put in. Something too hot? Too cold? Not mixed right?
Thanks,
Will
Never before have I encountered so many things that can kill you in the same small package. I mean, I've read about such things, but to actually hold them in your hands is quite a different manner. A substance that can burn you without you feeling it burning you has to be respected. Never before have I had to worry about keeping some ice handy to slow a chemical reaction, and then be told the leave the room and don't come back until the vapors are gone if the ice doesn't work. Scary.
Nevertheless I forged on. I got to the part where you add Solution B to Solution A in an effort to dissolve the percipitate that will form when B is added to A by adding more B to A. I must admit, it all made sense at the time. I was doing a 500ml kit, and I added the B to the A and got the precipitate, but it never seemed to reach a point at which the precipitate wasn't continuing to form and was instead dissolving. The instructions recommended 90 ml of B. I got to 180 without any loss of precipitate before I gave it up and decided something was wrong. The stuff basically looked like a melted orange push-up. I tried filtering it into a brown jar, but the filter kept clogging.
So, is there any way to save this? Is it actually OK? Does the PFR really think that it is "OK" to use a developer that must contain some precipitate to keep the solution alkaline? And how do they keep that precipitate in the solution while using a funnel with a filter in it? If you don't filter the preciptate out, what kind of things might it do in the developing process? I mean, after all, a precipitate is a hard little scratchy thing. Wouldn't it tend to do bad things to the film? Like, er, scratch it?
Seriously, what went wrong? I couldn't get the precipitate to go away no matter how much I stirred and how much acid I put in. Something too hot? Too cold? Not mixed right?
Thanks,
Will