Mixing Rodinal

[will_muir]

I just tried to mix up some Rodinal that I got from the Photographers

Formulary. I followed the instructions up to the point of adding the

Postassium hydroxide to the solution A. The instructions said to add

small amounts of solution B to solution A until most of the

perception had dissolved. When I tried this the mix turned a solid

cloudy milky white color. Know matter how much of the two solutions

that I added together it never seemed to make any difference. When I

reached 250ml I threw the rest of the hydroxide out. I waited a few

hours and it looked like the milky solution was taking up about 80%

of the mix floating on a clear solution. I went ahead and developed

a roll of TMX 100 and the results were like the film was never even

exposed. The only part that even showed a hint of exposure was the

leader that was exposed when I loaded the film in the camera.<p>

At this point after reading in the instructions and here about how

dangerous this stuff is I think I will just order Rodinal Premixed

and not bother with this. How ever I am curious about what happened

here. I appreciate any comments about this.<p>

Will

[ed b.]

I really couldn't speculate on what happened, but I would suggest that 250 ml of potassium hydroxide was too much. Most people use the commercial Rodinal because it is cheap and reliable. The usual formula for Rodinal is 3 parts potassium metabisulfite to 1 part paraminophenol, dissolved in 10 parts hot distilled water, to which is added, drop by drop, only enough of a saturated solution of sodium hydroxide to clear the precipitate which forms. Did you use distilled water?

[ann_clancy3]

Not meaning to sound mean sprited, why not call them. I have always found them to be helpful if I had a problem with one of their products.

[jim_stewart]

I have mixed Rodinal using the formula in Anchell's book and encountered the same cloudiness. Starting with 200 ml of his solution A, slowly add small amounts of solution B (the Hydroxide). The solution immediately turns cloudy. After about 50ml of the hydroxide has been added the solution finally starts to get clear spots in it. Keep adding the hydroxide a ml or two at a time until it just stays cleared. I usually add 60-80 ml of the hydroxide to the 200 ml of solution A.

 

You didn't say what size kit you mixed up. The 1 liter kit could take over 300ml of the hydroxide. It sounds like you may not have added enough hydroxide.

 

I second the above suggestion to call the Formulary. The folks back there are all knowledgable and very helpfull.

 

Jim Stewart

[frank_j._schifano]

I really don't know why you'd want to "home brew" Rodinal whether from a kit or raw chemistry. The stuff is so cheap and lasts so long that there really doesn't seem to be much point to the exercise, save the satisfaction of doing it yourself. My advice would be to just buy a bottle of the stuff and decant it into smaller glass bottles. I have some still lying around and after two years it's still good. The stuff looks horrible (almost black) but works just fine. I just finished developing some 4x5 sheets of HP5+ with it and the negatives are just fine. I would not recommend this developer for 35mm negatives though. The grain structure is, to my eye, unpleasant. For medium and large format conventional B&W films (not Ilford's Delta or Kodak T-Max) the stuff is wonderful.