Rodinal

[david_hedley]

Fresh Rodinal is a pale colour. A few days after opening the bottle, it begins to darken (even with the bottle tightly closed), and after two or three weeks it is quite dark. I have just discarded about half a bottle, three weeks after it was first opened, because of the colour change, as I was processing some important negatives. In fact, is the change normal? Agfa say that an opened bottle remains OK for six months - is this right?

[john_hicks]

The stuff actually lasts for years, no matter how nasty it looks.

[greg_rust]

David,

 

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From my experience, the type of bottle makes a big difference.It will

keep best in glass. It also keeps well in the bottle it is sold in.

To avoid the discoloration, I fill several smaller bottles that

remain closed untill needed.

 

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Greg

[ed b.]

I keep my Rodinal in the refrigerator and continue to use it until it

turns quite dark.

[john_rountree]

You can use Rodinal long after the color begins to darken. However,

after using Rodinal as my exclusive film developer for more than 20

years I have realized that the something in the formula has changed

(and not for the better.) It used to be that as Rodinal aged it

would darken, but if you looked closely in good light you coulad see

little rod-like "crystals" floating in the developer. Now, those

crystals are gone. Also, it used to be that old Rodinal worked as

well as new Rodinal, but now I have seen a pronounced fogging

(density increase) of the film base when using Rodinal that is more

than six months old but less than a year old. Rodinal is a great

developer but I am just not too sure that today's Rodinal is exactly

the same as it used to be.

[Bill Bowes]

Hello David. If you want the ultimate in storage for the opened

Rodinal (or any other liquid chemical), purchase a small tank of

nitrogen and purge the air space above the liquid with this gas.

Practice with a bottle of water to get the hang of it and wear safety

equipement appropriate for the chemicals. As to the Rodinal, I've

used opened bottle more than 3 years old with great results.

Enjoy, Bill