FP4+ in Rodinal + Sodium Ascorbate

[lyle_gordon]

I posted this by mistake in the general forum so now I am moving it here.

 

I was wondering if anyone's tried this and if they have any scans? Is

it a good combo, what about other ~100asa bw films + developer combos

for all aroung shooting?

 

Thanks, Lyle Gordon

[conrad_hoffman]

I haven't played with this in a while, but it was a definite improvement over straight Rodinal (IMHO). Expect slightly finer grain with the same overall look. Watch out on the developing time, as the sodium ascorbate makes the developer much more active. In the last development tests I did, the difference between D-76, Rodinal, and FX-2 was far smaller than I would have expected. Unless you shoot the same subjects under the same conditions, and compare side by side, it's tough to tell which is which. Pick whatever developer you like and concentrate on getting the EI and time right. My personal favorite is FP4+ in FX-2, but you have to get the chems or the kit from Photographers Formulary. If your main goal is scans, t-grain films will probably be better. I've always gotten some grain enlargement with conventional films, but prefer that to working with t-grains.

[nicholas_t.]

Methinks 'twill be fine...<p/>

What happened to Atomal?

[scott_eaton]

I liked Atomal.

 

Similiar to Microdol and Perceptol.

[barry_kenstler]

Wow, you guys started out with sharp, edge effect inducing developers and ended with physical developers. If you like the physical developers and are pining for Atomal, you should definitely give Calbe A49 a try. It definitely contains Hydroquinone and apparently some para-phenylenediamine type derivative if you believe what you read on the WEB. The bottom line is that it produces very fine grain and when diluted, pretty decent sharpness. I have recently tried it with the current Ilford Delta 400 film and the grain is noticeably finer and more even than with Xtol 1:1. As another example, Delta 400 in A49 in also more even and fine grained than APX 100 in Diafine.

The datasheet for this developer is available in PDF format from the Calbe WEB site. Unfortunately, it's only in German, but most english speakers should be able to use a translator and get the scoop. The developer is available from JandCPhoto.

[nicholas_t.]

This thread is going all over the place... my fault.<p/>

To answer your question, I don't know if you've seen this or not, it's a comparison of a 400 film (apx 400) in different developers and down the thread I used the Rodinal + ascorbate - <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=004r8U">here<a/>. I have done a similar test in apx 100 but it differcult to show online because the grain is fairly minimal and my enlarger head doesn't go that high (12x16in)...<p/>

Regarding Atomal, for some reason (I have checked my sources and cannot find anything to back me up), I seem to remember Atomal as having catechol as one of the ingredients or perhaps a pyro-like substance. Maybe it is like the A49 and 'diamine based.<p/>

Regarding good developer combo's, I really like Agfa Apx 100 in the Gainer Phenidone Vitamin C developer, full speed and excellent grain with, what seems to be, a resonable amount of accutance.

[jordan_w.]

I'm not sure that a small resized JPEG of a scanned image that has been worked with in Photoshop is an accurate representation of what the combination is capable of, but here goes... This shot is from FP4 Plus in Rodinal 1+50 with 1 tsp Vitamin C (from the health-food store) and 1 tsp sodium carbonate (Photographer's Formulary) per litre. 15 min at 20C.

[jordan_w.]

... and here's a full-resolution section at the maximum resolution of my scanner (Scan Dual II). I applied a bit of Unsharp Mask in Photoshop along with Levels and Curves. I'm very much a novice at scanning so others could likely do much better than me. Hope someone finds these useful.