Rodinal discontinued???

[spb854]

I was looking around the internet for comparison of Xtol and Fomadon Excel information.

I ran across this website and the first paragraph caught my eye. It's at Tanguay Photo Mag (tanguayphotomag.biz) website.

(I actually found the webpage on www.covingtoninnovations.com looking for Kodal Xtol Developer. The link is at the very bottom highlighted as "MYTOL", it pulls up the page I'm talking about dated 09-01-2023.). I tried to copy the link but can't do it.

It reads:

In Memoriam One very unfortunate consequence of the digital revolution is the passing of one of my favorite developers, Agfa's Rodinal. Rodinal was actually the oldest commercially produced developer in the world and the developer of choice for photographers looking for the sharpest grain and most film speed and contrast when shooting at night. T-Max developer at 75 degrees is a good alternative for pushing films. The venerable Rodinal will be greatly missed.

Any truth in it? This is the first I've heard of it.

 

[mshchem]

The Agfa Rodinal formulation has been sold by Adox for years. Alive and well.

 

[madNbad]

I’m working my way through one 500ml bottle of Adox and there’s another in the cabinet. Adox has had some supply chain and shipping delays but should be in stock by the end of October.

 

[lamerko]

Adox inherits the patents and formulas of Agfa and ORWO. They currently provide two products - Rodinal and Adonal. In fact, both are the same thing - Agfa Rodinal, but due to brand disputes - in some markets they ship under a slightly changed name.

 

[Craig]

Agfa went bankrupt and ceased to exist in 2005, so technically, Agfa Rodinal was also discontuned then. However, the same product is still made by others today.

 

[spb854]

Well, that's what I've read but this was rather deceptive to me especially seeing most suppliers being out of stock for Rodinal. I can't conceive not having Rodinal around being that many still use it. It's a wonderful developer. I like it and HC-110 but looking at using a couple of others, Diafine and Xtol (looking at Fomadon Excel for 1 qt size).

 

[Frank53]

Michael Covington's Daily Notebook

don’t know how old the announcement you found is, but it’s good to see that the same website announces that its being manufactured again (25 april 2008 LOL)

 

[reddesert]

Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead ...

 

[Steven Lee]

Since we have a fresh Rodinal thread... Simple question: is this normal for ADOX Rodinal to start forming crystals at the bottom? My bottle is approaching 2 years and it's about half full. The color now is dark red/brown, and I can hear something rolling at the bottom when I pour. Works fine, but I wonder if anyone else experiences this?

 

[Ajven]

The color now is dark red/brown, and I can hear something rolling at the bottom when I pour. Works fine, but I wonder if anyone else experiences this?

I remember this experience many years ago with the ORWO R09. As long as I was sure that no crystals could fall onto the measuring cylinder while pouring, I used it. I have Adonal now and no crystals yet. But they will probably come

 

[koraks]

is this normal for ADOX Rodinal to start forming crystals at the bottom?

Yes. Last time I had any around, it did this, too. I didn't notice any ill effects from it. I think I ended up discarding the last bit along with the bottle; maybe 5% or so.

For those who worry about rodinal becoming unavailable (which I don't think it will, really), there's always paracetamol, lye and sulfite. Those will remain available until our present society collapses.

 

[Alex Benjamin]

As Craig said, Rodinal was (temporarily) discontinued in 2005. The fact that the "announcement" mentions Agfa and not Adox tells me you ran into an old, archived post (I went through the September 1st posts of Tanguay photo mag and saw nothing about Rodinal). Nobody says "Agfa's Rodinal" anymore.

That said, we can strongly suspect that the person who wrote that post knows very little about film developers. Describing Rodinal as "the developer of choice for photographers looking for the sharpest grain and most film speed and contrast when shooting at night" is totally bonkers.

 

[guangong]

When Agfa announced Rodinal was discontinued I bought a bunch of bottles. Still have some left. Have never noticed any change in results.

 

[Craig]

That said, we can strongly suspect that the person who wrote that post knows very little about film developers. Describing Rodinal as "the developer of choice for photographers looking for the sharpest grain and most film speed and contrast when shooting at night" is totally bonkers.

Indeed, since Rodinal decreases film speed compared to other developers like D76.

 

[juan]

IIRC, back when Pat Gainer was working on Rodinal substitutes, he added one chemical (sodium hydroxide?) Until he got a few grains in the bottom. No problems.

 

[koraks]

he added one chemical (sodium hydroxide?)

Probably sodium sulfite.
Some of it may crystallize out due to temperature fluctuations etc.

 

[pentaxuser]

Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead ...

pentaxuser

 

[pentaxuser]

As Craig said, Rodinal was (temporarily) discontinued in 2005. The fact that the "announcement" mentions Agfa and not Adox tells me you ran into an old, archived post (I went through the September 1st posts of Tanguay photo mag and saw nothing about Rodinal). Nobody says "Agfa's Rodinal" anymore.

That said, we can strongly suspect that the person who wrote that post knows very little about film developers. Describing Rodinal as "the developer of choice for photographers looking for the sharpest grain and most film speed and contrast when shooting at night" is totally bonkers.

An AI bot?

pentaxuser

 

[Alex Benjamin]

An AI bot?

pentaxuser

Don't get me started...

 

[Alex Benjamin]

Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead ...

Paul McCartney died in 1966, and look at him go now.

 

[john_s]

Since we have a fresh Rodinal thread... Simple question: is this normal for ADOX Rodinal to start forming crystals at the bottom? My bottle is approaching 2 years and it's about half full. The color now is dark red/brown, and I can hear something rolling at the bottom when I pour. Works fine, but I wonder if anyone else experiences this?

There have been some variations in Rodinal over the years, even from Agfa themselves. I remember decades ago it was said that the crystals were essential for the One True Rodinal.

And if one day you need to make something like Rodinal yourself, p-aminophenol is cheap and readily available if you don't want to grind up tablets.

 

[Roger Cole]

I've tried Rodinal several times, maybe once a decade or so since the 70s, and never been able to get results I liked. Even more odd, I cant' get results that look like other people get from it. I really don't know why Rodinal and I just don't seem to get along.