First Experience with Stand Development

A few weeks ago, I mixed up a batch of Rodinal using one of the online published acetaminophen formulas. I'd intended to allow it to stand for a few days to allow for complete hydrolysis of the amide bond in acetaminophen, but of course work and life got in the way.

So, yesterday I cracked it open and was rewarded with a slightly viscous amber liquid. Initially, I diluted a small amount 1:10 and tried a film scrap just to make sure it would work.

Then, it was on to the real work. I loaded up two 35mm rolls of Tri-X-neither of which I particularly cared about-then just dumped in a 1:100 dilution with a few taps on the tank to get rid of the bubbles.

I'd intended to let it stand for an hour, but an hour turned into an hour and a half. After fixing, I was rewarded with two beautiful strips of negatives. I haven't looked at them under a loupe yet, but I like what I see.

I don't see this replacing D76 completely in my arsenal(and now TMAX for the few times I shoot T-grain films) but it's certainly a nice tool to have. I love the fact that, especially if I have a bunch to process, I can load different emulsions and different EIs in the same tank.

Also, as I said the negatives look great! I understand that they will probably be a bit more grainy than D76, but then I also don't shoot 35mm if I'm worried about grain. There again, Tri-X plus D76 gives me nice, comfortable grain.

Even at 1:100, an hour and a half seems a bit excessive. At what temperature was that Ben?

Rodinal exhausts fairly easily, and needs around 3ml of concentrate per film, regardless of dilution. It may be that it developed to finality after 20 mins or so and simply spent the rest of the time "stewing".

I know from experience that the acetaminophen version can't be easily made to the same concentration as Agfa's original Rodinal formula. So I suspect you need somewhere in the region of 4ml of concentrate per film minimum.