Rodinal vs. Rodinal Special

I've hooked for a while on Rodinal Special and APX. In fact, I think I'm in love

with Agfa. I'll been a fan of Agfa papers for a while, now I'm exclusively on

APX after a long flirt with FP4+. The fact that a roll of APX sells for about 60%

less that Tmx, Neopan or FP4 works for me as well. First time I tried the combo

I've been blown away (both on scan and printed)... I don't have the vocabulary

to describe it in terms of tonality & co., but I love it and I find that my work

suddenly got a very distinctive look compared to what I did before (I print in

Ilford Multigrade paper dev).

 

Another thing I love about Rodinal Special is that recommended specs are 4

minutes of dev. It's just plain cool to develop, it goes fast, less boring :) So

basically I'm just saying to any of you... if you're the kind of developer who's

always looking to experiment, put that on that list. It's worth trying.

 

Now, I have some questions about what I'm doing. I've been looking for this

on the web and I came to the conclusion that Rodinal Special doesn't seem to

be something used a lot. I really wonder why. Is it true that it has absolutely

nothing to do with Rodinal (chemically speaking) ? Agfa basically uses the

trademark name for both? Can someone tell me what Rodinal Special is?

Perhaps by giving me some examples of other developers which are close

chemical cousins of it which will make me better understand why I like it? Do

you know any combination implying Rodinal Special that you like it for some

reason and are worth trying? Any different dilution or film which works great

with it? In fact, if you use Rodinal Special and discovered something

interesting, I'd like to hear it as I believe I'll stick with it for a long while if not

perhaps forever.

 

Again, as it's always the case with my question, I don't care about what "great"

or "nice looking" means to you. If you will, simply share with me the recipes of

results that have been satisfactory for you, I'm always willing to experiment.

Hi Mac</p>

<p>You can take a look on a <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=006EdD">thread</a>

I posted last year.<br>

There is a formula taken from a 1910 Agfa Book, may be you can find it useful.<br>

I always use Rodinal Special in 1+32 dilution and I find it particularly good with Apx 100, while I'm not very satisfied with Delta 400</p>

The only potential problem I can see is that very short development times with rollfilm (assuming a conventional tank and reel is used) can result in uneven development.

 

But if you're satisfied with the results, that's all that matters.

 

FWIW, when I was a photojournalist I used HC110 with Tri-X (EI 800) for the short development times because I was always in a hurry and, yeh, 5 minutes in HC110 vs. 10 minutes in D-76 *did* make a difference when we were on deadline. And worse than the short development times, I often guessed at the syrup to water ratio, using a film cannister, coffee scoop measure, whatever was handy. Occasionally the negs were just a wee bit over or underdeveloped but I never had a problem with uneven development. Probably because I agitated 3-5 times at 30 second intervals just to be safe. I wasn't after perfect negs, just printable ones.

 

Sorry, don't know a thing about Rodinal Special. Never seen it, never used it, never seen a list of ingredients giving a hint about what kind of developer it is (acutance vs. solvent, etc.).

I contacted Agfa about finding a retailer who sold Rodinal Special, they quickly replied that it is sold only in foreign territories, not in the U.S.; however, I think it is sold in Canada. Thus explains its lack of popularity here in the U.S.

If I am not mistaken: Agfa Rodinal Special is branded under Agfa Studional in the US.

Marc Leest wrote: "If I am not mistaken: Agfa Rodinal Special is branded under Agfa Studional in the US."

 

I was about to reply that they are different because their data are listed separately in the Agfa film development pdf. But I had a quick look and the entries for the two developers seem to be identical.

 

The wonders of Agfa marketing will never cease to amaze!

 

I too am very fond of Agfa products, and will try Rodinal Special, since from time to time there is a great rave from someone about it.

"Marco Ringhio , apr 08, 2004; 07:18 p.m.

Hi Mac

 

You can take a look on a thread I posted last year.

There is a formula taken from a 1910 Agfa Book, may be you can find it useful.

I always use Rodinal Special in 1+32 dilution and I find it particularly good with Apx 100, while I'm not very satisfied with Delta 400"

 

Have you tried those formulas?

They seem interesting and would like to see how they compare to Ridnal-Vitamin C by Patrick Gainer

Also, where can Studional be purchased?

I searched in Adorama, B&H, Freestyle and it's not listed

Yep, Rodinal Special and Studional are listed as two different products in that

products catalog .pdf.

 

However, in the document C-SW16 which deals with all the technicalities,

both have the same prescribed time for all the films listed, both have the same

yield and all the temperature correction curves are identical between the two.

Agfa lists them as the same it says rodinal special/ studional liquid

so I assume they are identical.....

 

Where can sutdional be purchased?

Macman,

 

If you are a big Agfa fan, you should try out Neutol WA for your Paper developer. I am a

big Rodinal Fan and find that Neutol WA kind of hits me in the same way that Rodinal

does.

 

I have a bottle of "Classic" Rodinal that I think is the same as "Special". It was given to me

and I haven't tried it yet. The writing on the bottle is all in German....

 

jmp

I'm surprised I can't find it myself on american on-line stores, nor do the

canadians henrys.com and canada camera have it. My local store in Montreal

has it, so if anyone can't find it and wants it, I can gladly ship it. (Rodinal

Special, that is, I don' t know if they also have Studional which has the

advantage of coming in larger formats).

Agfa Rodinal Special and Agfa Studional are tehe same developers with differents names.- I usually develops my negatives with the special.- It`s a fine grain developer (very good resolution) but also gives great results in terms of gradation and acutance.- The big problem with the special is that certaly it isn`t a good choice for certain films.- In my experince the great results with Rodinal Special are achive in developing the following films: Agfa APX 100 and 400, Kodak TMAX 100/400/3200 and Ilford FP4.- Not as well with the Kodak Tri-x, and the Ilford Delta series and a totally mess with Ilford HP5 (unless you like the grain, I mean the very very big one).- I use the recomended 1:15 dilution.- For the short development times, well it is matter of opinion, I think that short times are ok for me, since the variation in the temperature during the process is a less important item.- However if you a have a system that keeps constant the temperature of the developer, the short time secuence isn`t very important.- I would take also in account other members suggestions about others dilution ratios.- Try it with no doubt, is a very good developers.- Be careful in don´t follow the manufacter recomedations about the numbers of rolls you can develops with a used solution, I think those guys are overconfident in the rodinal special capabilities.- Anyway look at the colour of the used developer, if it is still pristine then use it, if it is yellow or seems heavy like oil, the discard it.- Good luck.-

I use Agfa Rodinal Special at dilution 1+60 for Agfa APX, at 1+80

dilution for Kodak Technical Pan.<P>

 

I am a great fan of Rodinal Speical. When Agfa closed its doors and

no more Rodinal Special can be found, I tried various developer, including 1+100, 1+200 Rodinal, or Rodinal +sulphite, Clayton F76+ etc, but none provided me with the same fine grain as Rodinal Special. Then on last year, A&O which brought out Agfa's chemical division started to re market Rodinal Special again. <P>

 

Rodinal Special is no sold in the US still, but can be purchased from

Germany from http://www.lumiere-shop.de

<p>I live in canada and have access to several bottles of Rodinal Special and other Agfa products. i can sell if interested, as I probably will not go through all of the chemicals in my lifetime.<br>

I know this thread is old, but I just signed up!<br>

let me know.</p>

<p>Albert</p>