R09 exhaustion issues

[traveler_101]

<p>I just need some advice about when I should throw away my now 40% used up bottle of Fomadon R09. Heck, I only just recently stumbled on a thread from a different forum alerting me that unlike Rodinal, R09 has a short shelf life. Ugh. I thought I had a developer that I could sit on.<br>

I bought the R09 bottle 1.5 years ago and the expiration date is June 30, 2013. I just took chance with it a week ago and it is still active. I got good results. I like it with Tri-X 400 despite the grain.<br>

What should I do with it now? Throw it away--kind of goes against my grain, you know? In the long run I face the choice of (a) giving up on Rodinal type developers; (b) replacing R09 every year or so or © paying an arm and a leg for Rodinal, which I guess will keep. I don't know how frequently i will use it sine D76 is my standard developer. If anyone reading this and is in the Oslo area and knows how to get Rodinal, please let me know.</p>

[SCL]

<p>I picked upsome Rodinal a couple of years ago on Ebay. The seller threw in several unopened bottles of Rodinal Special, for free, which I have yet to try.</p>

[traveler_101]

<p>Yes, but the problem is that Rodinal is classified as a "ORMD. Due to shipping regulations these items can only be shipped via Ground in the Continental United States." Consequently I cannot bring it back here by plane when I visit the States. Powdered developers are no problem so I have quite a bit of D-76.</p>

[peterbcarter]

<p>I would guess those rumors are a little exaggerated. Perhaps they were spawned by taking a "best before" date to heart. I have a bottle of at least 5 years and running to prove otherwise.</p>

<p>Now I do have issues with getting the cap off, but that is another story.</p>

<p>If you don't trust it, keep it and buy another anyway. Just keep testing the old one over time. That will give you the truth, no matter what anyone says.</p>

<p> </p>

[chris_waller]

<p>I have several bottles of R09 in storage awaiting use. I have seen a thread somewhere that said that R09 was exactly the same as Rodinal re. longevity.</p>

[traveler_101]

 

 

<p><strong>I have several bottles of R09 in storage awaiting use. I have seen a thread somewhere that said that R09 was exactly the same as Rodinal re. longevity.</strong></p>

Would that it be true . . . because I am very happy with R09. Although I haven't been able to find (at least not yet) the source of the rumours I stumbled upon recently, I did find this from back in 2005:

 

 

<p>"Rodinal is bottled under inert gas atmosphere, wich means it doesn't start ageing (e.g.: change color) till you open it. R09 is pitch black bought new. . . .That's a simple reason why Rodinal is said to last longer than R09: Less contact with oxygen means longer shelf life. When Rodinal is stored unopend there's _no_ oxygen to react with. While there is enough to turn R09 black."<br>

Could it all be a matter of packaging? </p>

[chris_waller]

<p>Some years ago I found a part-used bottle of original Agfa Rodinal in the back of one of the cupboards in my darkroom. It was four years-old and had about 1 1/2" of Rodinal in it. I tried it out and it worked perfectly. Currrently I am using my pernultimate bottle of genuine Agfa Rodinal (2005 vintage) and have one left of the same vintage. I might keep that for posterity like a fine Dom Perignon. Then I move on to my a&o Rodinal then to my R09. I shall run a test when I open each bottle just to establish its activity.</p>

[User_502260]

<p>I had some R09 which seemed to lose its potency over not very long. In the old days you could buy a nice 16 oz. bottle of Edwal FG-7. It came in a dark brown glass bottle with a good cap. It was concentrated and lasted a very long time. Eventually the packaging was changed to plastic bottles and its shelf life was drastically reduced. For a while I bought it and split it up into smaller brown glass bottles. I also did this with Clayton F60 with success. Other long lasting developers include HC-110 and PC-TEA and its variants. When it looked like Rodinal might disappear I stocked up so if that stuff is all still good I can develop a lot of film in it.</p>

[Fotohuis RoVo]

<p>Foma changed from R09 Calbe to CPP&S Rodinal/R09 around 2008/2009. So the new bottles Fomadon R09 are 1:1 Rodinal/R09 identical.<br>

The Calbe material has a more limited life span while the Rodinal/R09 CPP&S (former Agfa plant Vaihingen-Enz., Germany) has an almost unlimited life span. The last one is also filled under Nitrogen so its color is not dark Brown when buying it like the Calbe R09 stuff.</p>

<p>From the new Foma website:</p>

<blockquote>

<p>One-part liquid concentrate to prepare fine-grain, normal-working developer, intended for of all types of black and white negative films. <strong>Fomadon R09 is equivalent to former developer Agfa Rodinal.</strong> The concentrate is available in PE-bottles of 250 ml, and for use is diluted with water in a ratio from 1 + 25 to 1 + 50 according to the purpose of application.<br /></p>

</blockquote>

<p>Best regards,</p>

<p>Robert (from the Fotohuis RoVo company), Foma distributor for the Netherlands.</p>

<p> </p>

[traveler_101]

<p>Thank you, Robert! It seems then that the designation "R09" can mean different substances; thus it is merely a label rather than a specific chemical formulation.<br>

I went to Foma's site and looked at the specifications for their new R09. The recommended standard dilutions are 1:25 and 1:50, just the same as recommended for Rodinal and UNLIKE the Foma R09 old formula which recommends 1: 20 and 1:40. Obviously the bottle I have is the old formula and subject to the much talked about "sudden death" syndrome. I am ordering the new formula Fomadon R09 right away.</p>

[Fotohuis RoVo]

Yes, the old formule was 1+20, 1+40, 1+80. R09 is the old original name for Rodinal.