Rodinal - What films have you used it on?

[Jorge]

Well Jorge, he landed on mine two days ago..Does make a thread more interesting though.. LOL

I just updated my list, it is wonderfully neat now...

 

[Aggie]

He is going to be the first on mine. I can take a lot of crap but he is over the edge.

 

[Jorge]

He is going to be the first on mine. I can take a lot of crap but he is over the edge.

Just do it!!!

 

[VoidoidRamone]

Ahhhh, much better now. -Grant

 

[modafoto]

All,

With the recent thread about "Rodinal" being so "evil" I am curious what films you have used it on. Back in the days I did darkroom work, I used Rodinal and HP5 (I memory serves me). I've recently started shooting B&W again, but haven't develped any. Would you recommend this developer for Delta 100 or Efke PL100, or are there better choices?

Thanks,

Delta 100 and Rodinal 1+50 is a GREAT combo! For the Efke, I do not know.

 

[modafoto]

My favourites:

Pan F+ in 1+50 = GREAT and very fine grain
Delta 100 in 1+50 = Perfect for my portraits
Tri-X in 1+25 = Best contrast for my pictures of wooden houses and other wooden stuff
Tri-X in 1+50 = Shines thorugh in my nature work

I have also done the following films in Rodinal:

Delta 400, Delta 3200, APX 100, APX 400, FP4, HP5, all T-Max films and Fuji Acros.

The only stuff I NEVER use Rodinal with is the Delta 3200. It becomes dull. For this I use HC-110 and overdevelop to bring the contrast up.

 

[TPPhotog]

Jeanette you are certainly a poet and I hopes you know it LOL

Mmmm I have used it and like it with:

Ilford Pan F; FP4+; HP5+; Delta 100 and Delta 3200
Kodak Tmax 100 and P3200
Elke KB-14.

Those I can remember off the top of my heaq. Happy to use it with films from ISO 25 to 3200, including pulling and pushing some films.

OK so I'm a Rodinal Addict and I luuuuuuuuv the look

 

[modafoto]

OK so I'm a Rodinal Addict and I luuuuuuuuv the look

Me too! Please join me in the RA (Rodinaholics Anonymous).

 

[modafoto]

Tony and Morten waxed poetic
the results, they said, were quite aesthetic!
So off I went to buy the stuff...
a little bottle was quite enough.

Just like whiskies, a little bottle is never enough...thanks for including me in your poetry!

 

[FrankB]

I did an extensive test with Delta 100, Rodinal and DD-X in various dilutions (1:25, 1:50, 1:100), speeds (50 / 100) and agitations (Agfa, Ilford, hybrid and semi-stand) a few months back. For 135 I found I liked Delta 100 at ISO 100 in Rodinal 1:25 agitated as per Agfa's recommendations. YMMV.

All the best,

Frank

 

[fschifano]

While Rodinal is not my first choice of developers, I do keep some around and find that it is useful mainly for slow to medium speed films in sizes larger than 35mm. I use it at 1+50. My opinions follow:

PanF+ - Very nice with this film, but you have to be careful. Contrast can get a bit out of control with this film under the best of circumstances. Otherwise it is very fine grained and very sharp. This is a good combination in both 35mm and 120 formats.

FP4+ - Another good combination in small and medium formats. It is outstanding in 4x5.

TMX (TMax100) - I like this film and it does work well with Rodinal. You can get adequate, but not great, shadow detail if you rate the film at box speed. Still, I don't see the point in using this combination. TMX is extremely fine grained and has very high resolving power and Rodinal does not fully exploit these characteristics. This film works very well with dilute XTOL which will give you better shadow detail at box speed than Rodinal and will yield very sharp 10x prints with no discernable grain.

TMY (TMax 400) - Nasty! Ugly grain, jarring tonality. Best to avoid this combination in 35mm though you might get some decent results in larger formats. I wouldn't bother. XTOL is better.

Tri-X - Not bad, and a lot better than TMY, since you get a much nicer range of tones than the TMY/Rodinal combination. The grain pattern is pleasant and much easier on the eye than the grain pattern of TMY, but still too much for a 10x enlargement. This pretty much rules out an 8x10 from 35mm, but you can do very nice things with larger formats. Tri-X 320 in 4x5 is just beautiful, but then again, Tri-X 320 in 4x5 is beautiful no matter what.

HP5+ - See my response for TMY. The grain pattern is different, but still ugly. Works ok for moderate enlargements from larger formats. D-76 or ID-11 is much better. XTOL works well with this film as well.

 

[hansbeckert]

While Rodinal is not my first choice of developers, I do keep some around and find that it is useful mainly for slow to medium speed films in sizes larger than 35mm. I use it at 1+50. My opinions follow:

PanF+ - Very nice with this film, but you have to be careful. Contrast can get a bit out of control with this film under the best of circumstances. Otherwise it is very fine grained and very sharp. This is a good combination in both 35mm and 120 formats.

FP4+ - Another good combination in small and medium formats. It is outstanding in 4x5.

TMX (TMax100) - I like this film and it does work well with Rodinal. You can get adequate, but not great, shadow detail if you rate the film at box speed. Still, I don't see the point in using this combination. TMX is extremely fine grained and has very high resolving power and Rodinal does not fully exploit these characteristics. This film works very well with dilute XTOL which will give you better shadow detail at box speed than Rodinal and will yield very sharp 10x prints with no discernable grain.

TMY (TMax 400) - Nasty! Ugly grain, jarring tonality. Best to avoid this combination in 35mm though you might get some decent results in larger formats. I wouldn't bother. XTOL is better.

Tri-X - Not bad, and a lot better than TMY, since you get a much nicer range of tones than the TMY/Rodinal combination. The grain pattern is pleasant and much easier on the eye than the grain pattern of TMY, but still too much for a 10x enlargement. This pretty much rules out an 8x10 from 35mm, but you can do very nice things with larger formats. Tri-X 320 in 4x5 is just beautiful, but then again, Tri-X 320 in 4x5 is beautiful no matter what.

HP5+ - See my response for TMY. The grain pattern is different, but still ugly. Works ok for moderate enlargements from larger formats. D-76 or ID-11 is much better. XTOL works well with this film as well.

Thanks for the details!

 

[Adrian Twiss]

Iv'e not had a lot of success with Rodinal but this is due to my lack of prior research before trying it. I used it with FP4 and APX 400. The grain on the APX was unpleasantly obtrusive and the grain with FP4 not what I expect from this film. All my Rodinal developed negatives have been a pig to print. As I said more my fault than the developer's.

 

[AndrewH]

Adrian:

It works well with FP4+, one of my favourites. From my experience, APX400 isn't the best with Rodinal. The trick for me, as is the case with many of developer/ film combos was to pull back on development until I got the thinnest negative possible with detail in the shadows (35mm especially, and to some extent 120). I forget the time I found in fp$+, but before I pulled back on time, I was way too contrasty to print without a lot of work. The times that Agfa recommends on the Rodinal developer are, IMHO, WAY too long in most cases.

 

[titrisol]

I agree AGFA's times are way too long... they go for gamma=0.65
If I'm not mistaken for condensor enlargers gamma=0.6 is a lot

 

[rjr]

Morten,

Rodinal works nicely on all Efke films - like any acutance developer will do it with them. Think of Neofin Blau... Beutler designed it for the Adox emulsions.

My fav is APX100 in Rodinal 1+50 (can´t remember my time, haven´t used it for a while) and Efke R50 in 1+50 (rated at 50ASA 9min, Agfa agitation, 20°C, 1min presoak) - the Efke is _really_ nice in terms of sharpness and tonality.

 

[Ed Sukach]

One of the best combinations I've found was the old Kodak Plus-X in Rodinal.

Kind of interesting ... I have some 2 1/4 negatives, APX400, developed in Rodinal !:50 and I don't find the grain to be obtrusive. I wonder if Rotary processing (JOBO CPP-2 ) could have anything to do with it? "Schwarzwald" in the Aesthetics sub-thread was done that way.

I currently am being "hooked" by APX 100 in Rodinal 1:50.

Let me think ... Iford HP4 and HP5, Fuji Neopan 400 ...

 

[clogz]

Ed, ever tried Acutol?

 

[Ed Sukach]

Ed, ever tried Acutol?

No. I do have a can of UFG - Irving Penn's favorite. Someday ... when my curiosity gets the best of me...

 

[Removed Account2]

Anyone tried Rodinal with Kodak Gold 200? I find outdated 200 everywhere and have developed some of it i Cafenol-C......

BTW why don't you guys include time/temperature data? That is the only interesting bit of info when one discusses this.

 

[Removed Account2]

Rodinal + Lucky 100 (35mm) from China, 11 minutes @ 20C (69F)

Rodinal + Shanghai GP3 (120) from China 12 minutes @ 20C

Looks beutiful to me.

Chinese film can be bought cheaply from Hongkong via the net, they charge you one fixed price postage included on 10 film packs, excellent quality as far as I'm concerned

 

[clayne]

Yes buy Chinese film and undercut the true innovators of film. Bad idea unless it's all you have access to. Cheapness has a price - both short and long term.

Rodinal works fine with most films and great with slower emulsions I've found. However, I even use it 1+25 with TMZ - but I'm not hung up on grain.

 

[JCJackson]

Rodinal is wonderfully convenient, and the shelf life is hard to believe. That said, it also can yield beautiful results with subtle gradations in tonality and some degree of compensation at 1+50 and higher dilutions. I have used it with APX 100 and I am delighted. Less delighted with APX 400. Also seems to do a good job with Pan F 50+ and Acros 100, both done at 1+50 in 120 format, where the grain issue is diminished. I did one roll of Efke 25 in Rodinal, and I will be coming back for more. "To grain, or not to grain?" is ultimately a subjective and personal choice. I have done some Plus-X with Microdol, and I didn't like the "softness" compared to the crisp edges that Rodinal gives. As long as somebody keeps making the stuff, I'll probably keep using it.

 

[BetterSense]

I've been using Rodinal with Neopan 400 in 35mm. It gives nice, medium grain and a good 'look'. I didn't like it with TMY in 35mm; it gave large, unpleasant grain.

 

[mablo]

Neopan 400@250 in Rodinal 1:25 for 6:30min is my receipt for the dull flat light that we so often have here. In strong and contrasty light I like to shoot APX100@50 and soup it in Rodinal 1:50 for 8:30min.