Alternatives to "Rodinal"???

The standard sensiometric developer is a plain MQ developer:

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Metol 2g<BR>

Sodium Sulfite sicc. 50g<BR>

Hydroquionone 4g<BR>

Soda sicc. 6g<BR>

Potassium Bromide 0.75g<BR>

dilute to 1 liter<BR>

process film @20+-0.5 C for 4 min.

I just tried this formula That Zimmerman posted:Scientific Sensiometric Developer for Arial Photography (8th International Luftbild Congress, Desden 1931)

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p-Aminophenol 7.2g

Sodium Sulfite sicc. 50g

Soda sicc. 50g

Water to make 1 Litre.

 

With modern films it should be diluted if you don't want the film developed before you can jerk it out of the tank. (I exagerate slightly.) I found that with a 1+3 dilution, whatever the latest Arista II 100 film is gives a very nice negative at 6 minutes, 70 F. I think this dilution puts the p-aminophenol content at about wht Rodinal gives at 1+50.

 

P-aminophenol can also be used without sulfite if you hurry up. I found I could get about a 5% solution in propylene glycol and got some promising results using the same potassium carbonate solution that Sandy King specifies for Pyrocat HD. 1 part p-aminophenol solution + 1 part K2CO3 solution + 50 part of water. This may be another way to make a long lasting substitute for Rodinal. It needs more work before I tell any more about it.

 

All of my tests so far have shown that p-aminophenol alone can be a very powerful agent, but we already knew that, did we not?

A 5% solution of P-aminophenol (not the hydrochloride) in hot triethanolamine (TEA) is a good stock. I tested it at 1 + 25 in water and got good negatives for scanning, but thin, developing 8 min. at 72 F. Adding sulfite, but not more than 30 g/l, helped without changing grain appreciably. 4 teaspoons of sodium sulfite are close enough to 30 grams for this purpose. The public Rodinal formula doesn't have that much sulfite at 1 + 25, but it has (probably) a higher pH than my concoction.

 

I still can't see the grain very well with my grain focusser at 12X enlargemnt. As to whether it looks like Rodinal results, I can't tell. I'm not only out of Agfa Rodinal, but I'm out of the ingredients to make the usual homebrew equivalent. The gradations and film speed are quite good by my standards.

Rodinal can also be made with sodium salts. Use 130 grams of sodium bisulfite. Use 70 grams of sodium hydroxide (Red Devil lye is fine and can be had at most supermarkets.) Use 50 grams of p-aminophenol.HCl. Mix the ingredients in enough water to make a liter and don't worry about leaving a few crystals undissolved. I tried it at both 1+25 and 1+50 on Arista II 100, which is said to be APX 100 or equal. The times for APX 100 that you find on the AGFA Rodinal bottle worked very well at the nominal film speed. I wish I could show you the prints, but I could only send a jpeg that would not let you see the grain or sharpness, and not much of the gradations.

 

My p-aminophenol.HCl is so old it is as black as the West Virginia dirt that some people burn. The solution looks like 100 year-old Rodinal, but it works. Even at 1+50 I can't see through it.

Here is yet another variation. Sodium salts, p-aminophenol, sodium sulfite, sodium hydroxide. It avoids the irritating vapors of the bisulfite.

 

To about 750 ml of water at room temperature, add

p-aminophenol...............38 grams

sodium sulfite (anh)........160 grams

sodium hydroxide............23 grams

Add water to make 1 liter.

 

There is no danger of this mixture boiling when the hydroxide is added, although it's a good idea not to add it very rapidly. Never add water to hydroxide.

 

Using the base p-aminophenol instead of the hydrochloride and the sulfite instead of the bisulfite reduces the amount of hydroxide and eliminates the chloride that results in the "original" formula. My resulting solution was clear with a slight yellow tint. There is again no need in mixing to worry about leaving an undetermined few crystals undissolved.

 

Arista II 100 at 1+50 required only 8 minutes at 70 F. The reduced time over the previous version may have been due to the fresher agent or to a miscalculation of the amount of hydroxide. Either way, I like it. A 12X enlargement at normal viewing distance shows no graininess and all the other characteristics that have kept Rodinal in use for 125 years.

 

Notice that a liter of working solution at the 1+50 dilution has 0.76 grams of p-aminophenol, 3.2 grams of sodium sulfite and 0.46 grams of sodium hydroxide. If there were no sulfite, the pH would be about 12. I don't have a pH meter, so cannot tell the actual value. It certainly qualifies as a classical compensating acutance developer. More important to me is that looking at my negatives and prints convinces me that it is what theory says it should be. Now all I have to do is to wait 10 years to see if it will have the staying power of good old Rodinal. That will give me an excuse to live to 88 years of age.

>Lowell Huff , nov 01, 2005; 11:27 a.m.

 

>Maybe it is time to come into the 21st century. Explore the latest technology in

chemistry. Film and paper technology has changed, why not the chemicals to process

these new films? You may be pleasantly surprised by the results. Lowell Huff Clayton

Chemical Co.

 

I though blatant advertising wasn't allowed on the forums... Especially from this guy that

refuses to answer any of the negative questions posted about his products.

 

Just got a 500ml bottle of Rodinal this week... great stuff.

Could someone fill me in on what "sicc." stands for or means? thanks

I don't know that word or abbreviation, but I'm sure it stands for "anhydrous" or "dessicated", meaning "without water of crystallization".

I said:

To about 750 ml of water at room temperature, add p-aminophenol...............38 grams

 

sodium sulfite (anh)........160 grams

 

sodium hydroxide............23 grams

 

Add water to make 1 liter.

 

Actually, 23 grams of the hydroxide is too much. It should be 14. It works with 23, but its pretty hot.

> I don't know that word or abbreviation, but I'm sure it stands for<BR>

> "anhydrous" or "dessicated"...<P>

 

As in des<B>sicc</B>ated.<P>

 

Of course!<P>

 

Or should I have said "I see"?<P>