Rodinal dilution

greenspun.com : LUSENET : B&W Photo - Film & Processing : One Thread

Can someone tell me how different Rodinal dilutions (1/25, 1/50, 1/100) affect grain, sharpness, and tonal scale?

Thanks in advance,

Paul

-- Paul Perron (paperron@clic.net), March 31, 2000

Answers

Minimally in my experience (not dramatically, anyways...). 1/25=lower grain/lower sharpness; 1/100=higher grain/higher sharpness; 1/50 in the middle. Scale is pretty much the same to my eye; I think exposure is going to affect the scale more than dilution.

-- shawn gibson (SeeInsideForever@yahoo.com), April 01, 2000.

Although...I developed some TMY at 1:10 the other day, and I ended up with a really cool affect: higher values were obviously blown out (even at 5 minutes of development), but the lower values had a wonderful, contrasty separation that I found quite pleasing...wierd

-- shawn gibson (SeeInsideForever@yahoo.com), April 01, 2000.

Higher dilutions of rodinal increase the compensating effect and edge effects, but lower effective film speed. I have my times and dilutions for Rodinal on my site at http://unblinkingeye.com--they will give you a place to start with the higher dilutions. I personally think it is a waste of time using Rodinal at 1:25. If you need speed, try a different developer, but if you want acutance and fine gradation, try Rodinal at 1:50, 1:75, or 1:100.

-- (edbuffaloe@unblinkingeye.com), April 03, 2000.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ