Daniel Hewes Photography, web development and the occasional rant…

An introduction to… Rodinal B&W film developer

Something I wrote for the first issue of the Photographique magazine...

You can view the PDF version with example images here: An introduction to Rodinal.

Patented by Dr. Momme Andresen in 1891, Rodinal was the first product produced by Agfa and the oldest continuously-produced developer formula in the world. Formally manufactured by Agfa, Rodinal was sold to Connect Chemicals (Ratingen, Germany.) in 2008.

It’s a one shot liquid developer usually used in high dilutions of 1+25, 1+50, 1+100, 1+200.
My faroite dilution/film combination being 1+100 using stand development (no agitation) for 50 minutes.

It has a very long storage life, Mine’s over 2 year’s old and producing great negatives.

Rodinal is ususaly suited to low film speeds based on the high acutance properties and the coarse grain this devloper produces. A solvent (such as sodium sulfite) can be aded to soften the granularity. However I find Fuji Neopand 1600 and Kodak Tri-X (rated at 16000 iso) looks beautiful.

Rodinal is a must try for anyone development black and white film and a great starting devloper for anyone thinking of developing their own film.

It’s readily avaliable to buy in the UK with an adverage price of £12.

Order online:
http://www.thedarkroom.co.uk
http://www.silverprint.co.uk

Further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodinal
http://unblinkingeye.com/Articles/Rodinal/rodinal.html

Fact sheet:
http://www.silverprint.co.uk/pdf/Rodinal_Leaflet.pdf

Make your own:
http://www.digitaltruth.com/techdata/rodinal.php

Examples:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/rodinal
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=rodinal&w=58165461%40N00

Neopan 1600 35mm
1+50 - 8.5 minutes

Illford Pan F+ 50 35mm
1+50 - 11 minutes

Illford Pan F+ 50 35mm
1+50 - 11 minutes

Fuji Acros 100 - 35mm
1+100 - 50 minutes

Illford FP4 35mm
1+25

Illford FP4 35mm
1+25

Fuji Acros 100 35mm
1+100 - 50 minutes