P-Aminophenol (Rodinal like) Film Developer


Making Rodinal

EZ Rodinal formula by Pat Gainer.


This is very similar to the original Rodinal formula, just simplified by Gainer. It makes a very good Rodinal albeit with a loss in film speed.

Mixing the stock solution:

Water 24C 200ml
Sodium sulphite Anhyd. 42.5g
P-Aminophenol base 20g
Sodium hydroxide* 6.9g
Or
Potassium hydroxide* 9.6g

Additional hydroxide to add. See below.


* Warning.. Strong Alkali - read below for special mixing instructions

Mixing:

• To the 200ml water add and dissolve the sodium sulphite.
• In a well ventilated area (preferably outside) add the p-aminophenol. This will not dissolve.
• Slowly add the hydroxide, stirring, until it's all dissolved.
• If there are crystals of the p-aminophenol remaining add very small amounts of hydroxide until almost all the crystals have dissolved.
• Make up to 250ml with water.
• Bottle in HDPE.

Usage:

This versatile developer can be used in a variety of ways and adapts to very slow, fine grain films or to fast ISO 400 films. It develops modern tabular grain films very well too. Agitation is normally 10 seconds per minute but can be extended to 10 seconds every 2 or 3 minutes with slight increase in development time; this increases acutance. Bromide drag across your negatives is not a problem with this developer at the higher dilutions.

Film speed

The home made developer above is more like the original Rodinal than the present version sold. This means your will lose about 2/3 to 1 stop of film speed using this version. E.g. Ilford FP4+ 64EI to 80EI.


Stand development

For Stand Development dilute 1:100 or 1+200, develop for 1 hour. 1+200 can be developed for up to 2 hours and can give you a 1 stop speed increase!

Agitate for the first minute and leave to stand for the remainder of the time. Maintain 18-20C in a water bath. Do not move the tank or film during this time. Any film or film speed will do but try it on something unimportant first!

Normal Usage chart:

All timings 20C. Home made Rodinal can be 'hotter' than the modern version and so test for your development times as they will probably be quicker.

Here's some good generic times for starting points followed by some specific timings offered by Bob Schwalberg and Walter Johnson in Popular Photography December 1979:


Slow Films ISO 50 - Dilute 1:50 and develop for 10-12 minutes.

Medium speed Films ISO 125
Low Contrast Scenes (developer increases contrast) - 1:75 12-15 mins
Medium Contrast Scenes - 1:100 12-15 mins
High Contrast Scenes (developer lowers contrast) 1:100 8-12 mins

Fast Films ISO 400
Low Contrast Scenes (developer increases contrast) 1:50 12-15 mins
Medium Contrast 1:75 12 mins
High Contrast Scenes (developer lowers contrast) 1:100 12-15 mins


Schwalberg and Johnson - minutes at 20C - * = their favourites

FP4
1+50 7-9 minutes
1+75 8-11 minutes
1+100 10-13 minutes*


PanF
1+50 5-6 minutes
1+75 7-9 minutes
1+100 9-11 minutes*

HP5
1+50 9-11 minutes
1+75 13-15 minutes*
1+100 N/A

Note: These were the older film before the Ilford Plus range but still offer good starting points


As always test, test, test!

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