Rodinal vs D76

I've tried searching the forum for any info on this, but I have yet

to find exactly what I'm looking for, so sorry if someone alrady has

answered this.

 

I am planing on doing a project using APX100 with a variety of medium

format cameras (all using 120 rollfilm). I have used this film before

and developed it using D76 1:1 with good results, but I'd like to

start experimenting with other developers. I've read a lot or

positive remarks regarding APX100 and Rodinal either @ 1:1 or 1:5.

 

I'm curious what the different characteristics of this developer are,

especially when compared to D76. Does it create finer grain, better

tonality, etc.?

 

Thanks for your help,

Kyle

Rodinal 1:1 is a bit strong. Try 1:50, 1:75, or 1:100. The higher the dilution the lower the contrast. These should work fine for 120, but for 35mm, slighty lower dilutions usually work better because their is typically less solution in the tank.

Rodinal is a high-acutance developer so you will tend to get higher grain but increased sharpness.

 

D-76 is a "fine grain" developer so you will get finer grain due to the use of a silver solvent in the chemistry. The price of this is slightly lower perceived sharpness.

 

Either is good; it depends what you're looking for.

 

To some degree, D-76 functions more like Rodinal with higher dilution. D-76 1:3 is a completely different developer from undiluted D-76.

<i>These should work fine for 120, but for 35mm, slighty lower dilutions usually work better because their is typically less solution in the tank.</i><B><b>

Kyle...I'm not sure what Mark meant here. If you use APX 100 with Rodinal @ 1+100 in Paterson plastic tanks you use 3 mls of Rodinal to 300 mls of water for each roll of 35mm. If you are developing 120 you use 5mls of Rodinal to 500mls of water. Both are the same dilution 1+100. The reason your using more solution for 120 is because Paterson requires you to use at least 300mls for a roll of 35mm or 500mls for a roll of 120 film...that much solution is needed to cover the reel of film in the container. In closing Rodinal @1+100 & APX 100 are a very nice combination.

It's funny because the main two developers I use are Rodinal and D-76. Rodinal can get grainy with some films, but is always very sharp. Agfa, Tmax, and Delta work very well in it (Tri-X looks very nice and clean in it, but grainy at 8x10). D-76 works well with Tri-X, HP5, as well as Delta. I think you'll have to try both to see what you like.

There is a different ABSOLUTE amount of Rodinal in 300 ml and 500 ml of 1:100 solution. Since you're still developing the same 80 square inches of film, the developer will exaust more quickly when you process the 35mm roll than when you develop the 120 roll.

Kyle,

 

I'm assuming that you mistyped the Rodinal ratios. You can use it at dilutions of 1:25, 1:50, 1:75, and 1:100 or anything in between. There are published times for your film at http://www.digitaltruth.com/. Click on "The Massive Dev Chart," find your film or developer and read on from there.

 

Generally speaking for almost all commonly used film developers, you lower the contrast ratio of the negative as you raise the dilution levels of your developer solution. So what you might want to do is use higher dilutions for film exposed on bright sunny days where you have hard shadows and bright highligts, and lower dilutions for film exposed on days when the sunlight is less harsh. Another fairly accurate generalization says that apparent grain and sharpness are accentuated with more highly diluted developers. One notable exception, and this is especially pertinent to your question, is Rodinal. Full strength D-76 acts as a fine grain developer, since the concentration of sodium sulfite in stock solution is quite high. This has effect of dissolving away the edges of the grain, thereby reducing both the apparent grain and also the sharpness of the image. At higher dilutions the concentration of sodium sulfite drops to a point where it is no longer an effective silver solvent, so apparent grain and sharpness go up. Rodinal has very little, if any, sodium sulfite; so the solvent effect is not present. It is precisely for this reason that Rodinal is considered a high acutance developer.

 

One important consideration is to always use enough developer. Mixing up only enough developer to cover the film in the tank is not a good idea if you are using 35mm film. Remember that 1 135-36 and 1 120 roll are both about 80 sq. in. of film and need the same amount of chemistry to fully develop the silver. This is especially true if you are using highly dilute developers.

 

I personally have used Rodinal at 1:100 as a "stand" developer on Ilford's FP4+ and have gotten some quite interesting results. My technique is to fill the tank as full as possible with solution, agitate for 1 minute and then walk away for the next 59 minutes. The results were rather contrasty, but with lots of apparent sharpness. I'm still experimenting to find the right time/temp combination to control the contrast a bit, without backing off the development time so much that I get thin negatives.

Al...I see where you're coming from BUT from my Very unscientific tests I must disagree with you. I believe your saying the Rodinal exausts itself if you are using 3mls where it does not if using 5mls (both in 1+100 solutions). Several summers ago I started to experiment with Rodinal dilutions. On several 12 roll plus weekends I would process half my film in 1+100 dilutions of 3mls Rodinal to 300mls water. The other half of the rolls were processed in 1+100 dilutions of 5mls of Rodinal to 500 mls of water. I could not tell the difference in any of the 50 or so rolls I shot & developed this way. Now I'm very careful how I measure my Rodinal & I'm gifted with good water so everything works for me as it should...please email if I can be of any help...jim

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I've also heard it said that APX gives better results with APX 100.

 

As far as concentration, why not use the Agfa's suggestions, at least as a starting point? The bottle of Rodinal says either (1+25) for 8 min. or (1+50) for 17 min. at 68F.

bold</b> off.

I've used both Rodinal and D-76 with Plus-X extensively.

Usually, I use Rodinal 1:50, and I use D-76 1:1, both as

one-shot developers.

<p>

Rodinal is definitely sharper and grainier. I believe the

sharpness comes both from the absence of solvent effects

already mentioned, plus the edge effects of using a dilute

developer with "still time" between agitation (I agitate

10 seconds per minute).

<p>

I usually prefer the look of Rodinal, but it's at least partially

a matter of taste. The softer grain of D-76 can sometimes

be nice. With faster films in smaller formats,

Rodinal's grain can be excessive, but APX100 in medium

format is likely to be fine-grained enough that the

increased sharpness is worth the increased graininess.

<p>

You can just about develop in Rodinal and slightly

defocus your enlarger to get an approximation of D-76.