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hello,

I used Rodinal on a 35mm Ilford delta 400 film and the results were very grainy. I used 1:100 dilution for 36min as per the massive dev chart. Anyone had any success with this combo?

That grany-ness is a trait of rodinal. I like grains and simplicity of rodinal which is why I use it. If you want smoother results you'll need to change chemicals.

Grain gets worse as film speed gets higher, try developing a slow speed like iso 100 and see if you like the results.


edit:

Pretty similar results by me, you can see all the grains! Delta 400 with Rodinal 1+25. I do 1+25 to cut dev time.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/madelica/3540693533/" title="i_want_slr_system_too by madelica, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3381/3540693533_76f715148b_b.jpg" width="1024" height="655" alt="i_want_slr_system_too"></a>

Thanks! I'll try a TMax 100 film next.

Based on your experience, which films produce less grain when developed on Rodinal?

Pretty similar results by me, you can see all the grains! Delta 400 with Rodinal 1+25. I do 1+25 to cut dev time.


Does changing dev time/dilution ratio affect contrast or shadows, etc ?

I think this was Rollei Retro 100, but since it is medium format kinda hard to compare with 35mm. I also remember trying those really cheap Lucky brand films from China (100 ISO) and they turned out much less grainy than delta 400.

I'm not sure about time/ratio affecting image since I always use the most amount of chemicals I can for the given film to cut time.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/madelica/4784197873/" title="kensington_wall by madelica, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4075/4784197873_f38193245a.jpg" width="500" height="500" alt="kensington_wall"></a>

Higher ratio finer grain lower contrast, longer times more agitation all increase grain. Rodinal is a sharp developer not a fine grain developer. Loads on the internet.

I tried stand development at 100:1 which mixed results. Now I do not push it past 50:1 and the results are surprising in terms of both tonality and over all sharpness

I tried stand development with Rodinal at 100:1 which mixed results. Now I do not push it past 50:1 and the results are surprising in terms of both tonality and over all sharpness

Tri X and APX 400 at 1:25 or 1:50 never looked that grainy but this happens at high dilutions. Drop down some and you'll like the results better.

Rodinal is a high acutance developer (no silver solvents to soften the silver grain) when used with a tabular grain film (such as Tmax or Delta) you accentuate the granularity.

If using Rodinal, best to use it with an older panchromatic type film such as HP5+, FP4+ or TriX or PlusX.

To maximize the intended performance (smooth tonality, minimal grainof Delta, Tmax and other T-grain films match with Tmax or Ilfosol.

Thanks for the info guys.

I cut down the agitation and the dev time with lower iso.

M4 21/3.4 400Tx iso 250 Rodinal 1+50 12min 20℃


Xpan 45/4.0 Kodak 5222 iso 200 Rodinal 1+50 11min 20℃