TMX & Rodinal examples

[GraemeMitchell]

I guess I have to drive all the way to New York to get some Rodinal :rolleyes:------their website says they can't ship it, it has to be purchased in the store.

Where are people getting their Rodinal?

Freestlye.

I actually don't think anyone in NYC sells it...or not that I'm aware of (but that doesn't mean much fwiw). I usually order 6 bottles at a time from Freestlyle so I can do it and not think about it again for a year.

 

[jim appleyard]

Where are people getting their Rodinal?

Yup, Freestyle, or Photo Formulary; in a slightly different version than the Agfa.

Adorama used to have it, but it hasn't been on their website since Agfa Chem was bought out. It might be worth a check, tho'. They will ship anything.

 

[Paul Verizzo]

Or try at almost no cost Parodinal. Home brew Rodinal using Tylenol and lye. I did a thread on it here recently about making it. I've not tried it yet, but it sure has that Rodinal brown!

 

[jim appleyard]

Or try at almost no cost Parodinal. Home brew Rodinal using Tylenol and lye. I did a thread on it here recently about making it. I've not tried it yet, but it sure has that Rodinal brown!

Where are you to get the lye? IIRC, Formulary and maybe Artcraft have it, but Red Devil was taken off the shelves of grocery and hardware stores becuase it's, again IIRC, a componant of meth.

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

Powdered Drano is Sodium Hydroxide, might work for making Rodinal assuming it hasnt got any other ingredients. It used to be pure Sodium Hydroxide (lye) but it may not be anymore. I'm talking about the powdred version, not liquid Drano. I personally would just buy the chems I need from a company like Photographer's Formulary since you know exactly what you're getting that way.

 

[Paul Verizzo]

Powdered Drano is Sodium Hydroxide, might work for making Rodinal assuming it hasnt got any other ingredients. It used to be pure Sodium Hydroxide (lye) but it may not be anymore. I'm talking about the powdred version, not liquid Drano. I personally would just buy the chems I need from a company like Photographer's Formulary since you know exactly what you're getting that way.

Crystal Drano has bits of metal in it, I presume to make it fizz a lot. Also some blue coloring.

BTW, Chris, love that shot of the chairs. The texture in the backs almost disappears, yet it is there, and the chairs stand out from the background. Masterful.

 

[Bruce Osgood]

Patrick Gainer offers two home brew recipes in the Articles section / non staining developers.

One is called "Rodinal-like developer from Metol" and the other is "EZ Rodinal" or something like that. I have tried his EZ Rodinal with Ilford Pan F+ and it is really good.

 

[df cardwell]

Since REAL Rodinal is so expensive and truly hard to find, short - lived and easy to make, there is NO reason to buy it.

Nah. Can't even be snarky about it. Just buy it.

 

[Shawn Dougherty]

Here's a few examples of my work with TMX and Rodinal...

The first two are 35mm night time photographs made using semi-stand development (1:200 for half an hour) and printed on Ilford MGIV FB.

The third is a 4x5 daylight photograph developed in a slosher tray at 1:50 and printed on Kentmere Kentona Graded FB.

The only negative thing I can say is TMX is the only film which I've found to produce Newton's Rings in my contact printing frame. I was able to remedy the rings simply by using anti-glare glass found in a frame shop so it wasn't a big deal.

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

Since REAL Rodinal is so expensive and truly hard to find, short - lived and easy to make, there is NO reason to buy it.

Nah. Can't even be snarky about it. Just buy it.

LOL. I just bought another 500ml bottle from Freestyle after my old bottle ran out last week. I had bought the old bottle well over a year ago, when I was still living in Santa Fe. It lasts forever and you get a huge amount of film developed from that one little bottle. I usually dilute 1+50 so 500ml makes 25L or almost 7 gallons of working developer!

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

Crystal Drano has bits of metal in it, I presume to make it fizz a lot. Also some blue coloring.

BTW, Chris, love that shot of the chairs. The texture in the backs almost disappears, yet it is there, and the chairs stand out from the background. Masterful.

Thanks Paul! You should see the prints. I have printed it in the darkroom, and I also scanned the neg and have printed it by Inkjet. The two versions are nearly identical...the way it holds the tone and texture while still looking so bright is really nice. I did that photo for my graduation project from art school back in 1998. I still remember the day I shot it....a decade ago. Damn, time flies.

I didn't realize that Drano had metal bits and other nasty stuff in it...yuck. Oh well, better to buy it from the Formulary.

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

Here's a few examples of my work with TMX and Rodinal...

The first two are 35mm night time photographs made using semi-stand development (1:200 for half an hour) and printed on Ilford MGIV FB.

The third is a 4x5 daylight photograph developed in a slosher tray at 1:50 and printed on Kentmere Kentona Graded FB.

The only negative thing I can say is TMX is the only film which I've found to produce Newton's Rings in my contact printing frame. I was able to remedy the rings simply by using anti-glare glass found in a frame shop so it wasn't a big deal.

Shawn,

Those night photos are great! Have you ever tried Fuji Acros for low light work? The stuff has virtually no reciprocity failure even with exposures lasting several minutes. To stay on topic...the Fuji film also looks great in Rodinal! I've been using it a lot lately. I shot 4 rolls of it in my hasselblad this afternoon in an old abandoned farmhouse. Exposures averaged 12 seconds at f16. Thats straight from the meter, no reciprcity comp.

 

[Paul Verizzo]

Some of us are just incorrigible experimenters. I do understand what you say, though.

 

[Carter john]

I have to say this is the most important thread I have read on the InterNet. Mr. Cardwell has changed my developing life. I agitate way less and I get better negatives than I ever did with stand, two bath and high dilution. And from a film that from which never got a good negative (thank you Mr. Cardwell):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/carter3john/3508363739/

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

The difference between Cardwell and most others is that he firmly understands the whole photographic process through a very long time as a working photographer, documenting his findings, and he bases his comments on real world experience, data that is backed up with actually doing the testing. Over and over again. He has had a huge impact on my photography life as well, and I will be forever grateful. I wish more people would pay attention and listen. The man is absolutely brilliant (in the true sense of the word) and one of the best BS detectors I've come to know.