The past revisted

[rodeo_joe1]

<p>@Arthur. Thanks for the feedback Arthur. The times I got with my recipe were slightly longer than the published Rodinal times (as packed with the original Agfa Rodinal developer). I put this down to the fact that I couldn't easily get Potassium metabisulphite and used the Sodium salt which is less soluble. Hence I had to make a slightly more dilute stock solution than the commercial product. The activity could probably be increased by slightly increasing the weight of Sodium Hydroxide used, but I didn't experiment with that at all. Increasing the amount of NaOH runs the risk of increased grain size - but then Rodinal is never going to be a fine-grain developer!</p>

<p>I'm also a bit dubious about using dilutions much in excess of 1+25, because the pH of the solution will then be quite dependent on your water supply. Many UK domestic supplies are "contaminated" by the addition of hypochlorite, fluorine salts and phosphates, as well as pH buffer agents and any natural minerals. This means that at high dilutions, the Sodium hydroxide alkali in any Rodinal concoction is likely to be overpowered by whatever the local water supply pH happens to be. The alternative is to use distilled water to dilute your developer.</p>

<p>If you're into home-brew developers, you might like to try this ID-11/D76 alternative:<br>

Ascorbic Acid ................ 10 gm (i.e Vitamin C from Health food stores)<br>

Penidone ...................... 0.25 gm - no common substitute for this I'm afraid<br>

Sodium hydroxide ......... <strike>10.5</strike> gm<br>

Sodium metabisulphite ... 40 gm<br>

Borax ........................... 2 gm<br>

Water to make .............. 1 litre<br>

Developing times and results are pretty much identical to ID-11/D76. It's a re-usable formula good for around 6 films/litre with time extended by 10% per film.<br>

<strong>Caution!</strong> <strong>Do not add the metabisulphite to the ascorbic acid solution before adding the sodium hydroxide.</strong> Doing so will release sulphur dioxide which could bring on an asthma attack, even if you don't normally suffer from asthma.</p>

<p>BTW, I know that Sodium hydroxide isn't an ingredient in D76. It's there to convert the sodium metabisulphite into sulphite, and to convert the Ascorbic acid into sodium ascorbate. It's a marvellously versatile chemical!</p>

[rodeo_joe1]

<p><strong>Oooops!</strong> The quantity of Sodium hydroxide in my Phenidone-Ascorbate developer formula above should be 19 gm, not 10.5. Sorry! It just won't work otherwise, and I was too late to edit the post.</p>

<p>I lost my original formula in a laptop crash and had to recalculate the quantities, missing out a factor of two to neutralise the metabisulphite. Apologies again.</p>

[arthur_smith1]

<p>I have an F2S, and many other Nikon F bodies. To me, digital never "replaced" film. Nor was it ever an "either/or" proposition. Different tools for different purposes. And yes, I do shoot digitally as well, with a D300. Very much a love/hate relationship with it. But the F2? Pure love. </p>

[ShunCheung]

<blockquote>

<p><strong>Oooops!</strong> The quantity of Sodium hydroxide in my Phenidone-Ascorbate developer formula above should be 19 gm, not 10.5.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Oh no, Rodeo Joe's incorrect chemical formula is now responsible for a bunch of ruined precious images. :-)</p>

[Andrew Garrard]

<p>Well, I shot one (120) roll of Velvia, but general nerves about the cost, along with not being able to find my normal lens, dissuaded me from shooting more than that with my 645. The D810 took more images. Scarily, because I was trying to keep the D810 at ISO 64, and because the Velvia I have these days is the 100 variety, I was more worried about the light for my DSLR than for the film one. Hopping between lenses was also annoying. Maybe I really should have just put something on my F5 and taken that along as well - but I already nearly throttled myself with multiple camera straps, and I know I've gone a funny colour in the past with that trick. Even at current prices, at least for E6 film, I'm not going to risk developing it myself. Maybe if I get the 5x4 and shoot more black and white...<br />

<br />

RJ, does the filler in analgesics not cause a problem? I've no idea what they put in, but I doubt everyone uses the same filler, and the only requirement for human consumption is that it isn't poisonous. Although you can't do much worse than paracetemol anyway - I've still not forgiven Scrubs for suggesting that a medical student "throw Tylenol at the patient and see what sticks". It takes alarmingly little to kill you (and a lot less to kill a cat...) which is why in the UK you can only generally buy 8g of paracetemol in one shopping trip. Which is a bit pointless given that you can give yourself terminal liver damage with 3g, but I'm still glad that your recipe doesn't need much!<br />

<br />

Digital is much better. Unless you get the arsenic on you...</p>