Fomadon R09

I just picked up a bottle of fomadon R09 from prophot in paris as a rodinal substitute (i know its back in

production, but they didn't seem to keen on ordering it for me and i don't know anyone else around that

sells it).

Anyway, I started fishing around for some starting times for my tri x and have become quite confused,

Prophot gave me two seperate information sheets, one labeled 'fomadon R09' (in czech/english) and the

other, 'Gebrauchsanweisung R09' (in german). This would be great, but they don't always agree. I think

the fomadon sheet might be a bit outdated (it lists a 15 minute time for 'tri x-pan'... thats the old version

of trix, no? with the german listing 10-12 minutes for 'Tri X.') Those times, like all R09 times it seems, are

for 1:40. The Fomadon sheet specifies you to use "distilled, demineralized or RO(?) water.

Anyone been using fomadon on Trix out there?

Douglas-

I haven't used it myself, but I believe the biggest difference is in the dilution-

Rodinal 1:50= RO-9 1:40-

times for J&C classic 400 (Fomapan 400?) should be close-

http://www.jandcphoto.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=2

for more info:

http://www.foma.cz/Upload/foma/prilohy/broz_a.pdf

Rodinal 1+50 is indeed Fomadon R09 1+40 for most films.

RO is Reverse Osmose water, used for chemical applications in R&D.

The distribution of A&O (back in production but for how long?) is a disaster for also the Netherlands. We did some tests with R09/Rodinal and Fomapan 100 and APX100/Rollei Retro 100. Both para-amino phenol developers and the differences are in fact neglectible. TriX we have not tested.

J&C 400 in RO9 = 15

Foma�s RO9 time for Fomapan 400 = 9-10

German R09 time for Fomapan 400 = 14

Rodinal for old trix? (1:50) = 13

I am wary of a direct comparison of R09 1:40 to Rodinal 1:50 after browsing through

charts such as this one:

http://www.f295.org/Pinholeforum/forum/Blah.pl/Blah.pl?m-1147033036/

Robert, I checked out the foma site and they don�t give information related to their

developers on third party films.

Some of the times on my sheets are the same (though foma has different times for their

own films, tri x, and delta 400, they agree on hp5, fp4, and Tmax 100), which lead me to

suspect that a change in tri x might have been the reason for cutting the time by 30%. I

never used tri x-pan, so I have no reference (besides all the conflicting internet opinions)

on how different it is from the newer emulsion,

I�m tempted to go halfway and try 13, but wary as I will not be able to test print for quite

some time. Might just play with a pair of rolls and eyeball it, but probably will stick with

good old d76 for the time being.

Hopefully A&O can get their act together and get someone to sell their product!

J&C 400 in RO9 = 15

Foma�s RO9 time for Fomapan 400 = 9-10

German R09 time for Fomapan 400 = 14

Rodinal for old trix? (1:50) = 13

You have to watch out now:

R09 Calbe is from the former Eastern European Calbe factory in Germany, OrWo related.

Fomadon R09 is from Foma, Czech Republic, Hradec Kralove.

Two different manufacturers but indeed both para-amino phenol developers. We just tested Fomadon R09 against Rodinal from Agfa Photo.

Our development table for Fomapan films:

http://www.fotohuisrovo.nl/documentatie/Ontwikkeltijden.pdf

For Rodinal we are giving only the Fomapan 100 time of 7,5 Min.

Fomapan 200 and 400 we can not recommend in Rodinal, that's why we have not published it.

If you're looking at the Foma catalogue the Fomadon R09 1+40 for Fomapan 100 is 6-7 Min. We found 7 Min. for the same density as in the Rodinal developer.

Another popular combination was APX100 and Rodinal 1+50. We tested the Rollei Retro 100/APX 100 films. In Fomadon R09 1+40 almost the same density.

Again: For other combinations we do not know and indeed Foma is not giving much info about their Fomadon R09 and other B&W films. But I can ask them.

Best regards,

Robert