Rodinal vs Xtol for Tri-X

[Fintan]

Xtol is my choice developer for Tri-X. There are so many Rodinal fans on the board here i'm thinking of trying it.

Can anyone say what difference to expect with Rodinal?

 

[bmac]

Stronger, Sharper grain for one.

 

[photomc]

Check unblinkingeye.com for a good article on using both Xtol and Rodinal together..maybe the best of both worlds. Have not tried it myself so can not say, but have been hoping to try the combo. A small bottle of Rodinal is pretty cheap.

 

[lpacilio]

Rodinal/XTOL/Tri-X

Let me suggest XTOL 1:1 for 14 min at 68°F. Agitate 30 sec the 1st minute then 10 sec every third minute thereafter.

This will give you exceptional sharpness with XTOL without the grain problems produced by Rodinal.

Try EI 320 as a starting point for this development approach. You might have to back off to 250 or so.

Another developer you might consider is Photographer's Formulary TFX-2. VERY nice stuff.

 

[david b]

I must disagree with the above recommendation of xtol 1:1 for 14@68.

THAT IS WAY TOO LONG.

I've been doing a lot of tri-x lately in xtol 1:1 for 8 minutes. I rate the film at 400 and they come out great.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Alex Hawley]

Check unblinkingeye.com for a good article on using both Xtol and Rodinal together..maybe the best of both worlds. Have not tried it myself so can not say, but have been hoping to try the combo. A small bottle of Rodinal is pretty cheap.

I used this combo and loved it for 35mm and medium format. Best of both worlds is right. Excellent acutance and definition. If I hadn't jumped into LF, I would still be using it. I will see if I still have a scan and post it in the Technical Gallery.

 

[Neil Souch]

I use a lot of 35mm TRI X and switched from Rodinal to XTOL some time ago. Each developer works well with TRI X but I prefer my TRI X in neat XTOL. I usually dev for 7.5 mins @ 20C (rated at 400 ISO) and only do six films through one litre then throw it away. Great negs and easy to print. Interestly HP5 + also goes well in XTOL at 8 mins. I mainly keep Rodinal for the Konica infraded and Kodak infrared films.

If any one has experiece / times for Neopan 400 in XTOL I would be interested to hear about these.

Summary: XTOL / Rodinal are both excellent developers but after quite a bit of use of each I prefer XTOL for my work (mainly landscapes).

Give them a go - Rodinal is cheap and will last for ages.

Neil.

 

[modafoto]

Tri-X and Rodinal is a very nice combo, but when I use it I rate the film 250-320 and develop for 11-12 minutes in Rodinal 1+50 (30 sec agit. in the beginning and 5 inversions every minute.)
Sharp and grainy (but it's the beautiful Tri-X grain )

 

[Alex Hawley]

I will see if I still have a scan and post it in the Technical Gallery.

I posted a scan in the Tech Gallery, but its not Tri-X. Very similar though in what I was trying to illustrate.

 

[lpacilio]

XTOL & Tri-X

If you had taken the time to actually read the post you would note that the agitation pattern calls for agitation only every third minute.

This amplifies edge effects/acutance but mandates an extra 50% of development time.