Rodinal version with best shelf life

[dcy]

Last year I found a bottle of ORWO R09 (the East German equivalent) from the 80s among my dad's old photo things. It sat in the attic for over 30 years, under an uninsulated roof which means it got cold in the winter and hot in the summer which I'd expect would be more likely to kill it than just the passage of time. But it works perfectly fine. It's very dark but doesn't even have any crystals or sediment on the bottom. Indestructible stuff.

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I am convinced that there are only three things that will survive the nuclear apocalypse: cockroaches, 1960s refrigerators, and Rodinal.

 

[baachitraka]

They have a long shelf life, so I will be developing using the last bottle that was opened 7 years ago.

 

[Pseudodionizy]

Thank you all again for your replies, I appreciate them a lot! I also wanted to ask, do you have any ideas what kind of creative things I could do with that exhausted/semi-exhausted Rodinal? It would be a shame to just get rid of it, perhaps there's something experimental I could use it for? I know I could try to develop prints in it, but currently I don't make prints.

 

[dcy]

Thank you all again for your replies, I appreciate them a lot! I also wanted to ask, do you have any ideas what kind of creative things I could do with that exhausted/semi-exhausted Rodinal? It would be a shame to just get rid of it, perhaps there's something experimental I could use it for? I know I could try to develop prints in it, but currently I don't make prints.

My own experience with exhausted developers is that they are a world of frustration and pain. In my case it was an exhausted paper developer. I don't know to what extent my experience applies to film, but here it is:

I kept getting horrible muddy prints. As I've moved to better, commercial and fresh developers, my time in the darkroom has only gotten easier. A bad developer will just not develop properly, meaning that the shadows won't get as dark as they're supposed to. If you try to compensate by developing longer, you just make the highlights darker without making the shadows darker and the whole thing becomes muddy. Nothing really creative about that. Your time and energy is worth more than the $14 it takes to buy a new bottle of Adox Rodinal.

 

[thinkbrown]

I am convinced that there are only three things that will survive the nuclear apocalypse: cockroaches, 1960s refrigerators, and Rodinal.

Don't forget the Volvo 240

 

[thinkbrown]

Fwiw, I recently purchased a sealed glass bottle of rodinal on eBay with a date from 1976 written on the box. Works exactly like my modern bottle of R09.

Rodinal is vulnerable to oxidation if stored in partially empty bottles, but sealed the shelf life seems to be indefinite

 

[Model71]

Is there a method for testing chemicals for validity prior to using the chemicals? The idea of loosing film roll(s) during development due to "stale" chemicals sounds like russian roulette to me. Am I missing something obvious?

 

[dcy]

Is there a method for testing chemicals for validity prior to using the chemicals? The idea of loosing film roll(s) during development due to "stale" chemicals sounds like russian roulette to me. Am I missing something obvious?

You can test whether or not the developer is completely dead by grabbing a piece of film leader (so it's been fully exposed to room light), developing it, and then fixing it. If the developer worked, the fixer should not clear the image.

But this test will not tell you if the developer is partially dead. For that, the only test that I can think of is to designate a sacrificial roll of film and develop it properly: Grab a roll of film, put it in your camera, and spend all 36 shots on the exact same test scene. Then store that somewhere safe. When you want to test a developer, go to a dark room or use a dark bag, grab about 2 inches of film, put it in your Patterson or Jobo tank, and develop it normally. If the developer is still good, you will see your test scene. For extra points, develop the scene when you first open the developer and save it so you have a stable point of comparison.

EDIT:

For what it's worth, I don't do any of this myself. I have three film developers: Two that have long shelf lives (PC-TEA and Rodinal) and one that I make myself in small batches that I know I will use quickly (D-23).

I believe most developers will "warn" you when they're going bad because the Dmax decreases gradually. But that's not true for all developers. XTOL is infamous for its "sudden death syndrome".

 

[MattKing]

Many of us who do their own developing also use bulk film, so short, test rolls are available and perfect for the task.

 

[koraks]

what kind of creative things I could do with that exhausted/semi-exhausted Rodinal?

You could unclog a very small drain with it.