Looking into trying Rodinal and have a few questions.

[Ornello]

I have some experience with research methodology. Sample used in that research was statistically invalid. Nor any real data on resolution was revealed. Just opinions. But maybe this is close to reality. I will not enlarge small frame 22 or more times 13 is good enough for me. At this magnification and use of slower films Rodinal even in this research looks like on par with anything else. Plus it may introduce a distinctive look if used skilfully. Like Ralph Gibson did it.
To clear things up I am not using Rodinal for long time now, but this is for totally different reasons than those pointed by you.

As they said, they could not try every film with every developer...they would still be going! It was a survey of the common developers at that time, which really have not changed that much.

It is not the number of films and developers, that could be 3 only. One slow, one medium and one fast in three developers. It is the number of repetitions of test needed to statistically eliminate variances inherently embedded in every scientific tests. With film, as we know it, each batch might be different. Same with developers. This is why in the past photographers were buying large quantities of film with same emulsion number and developers from same batch. First five or so rolls was sacrificed usually for testing before commercial work could be comenced with any measure of confidence.

None of that is relevant here. The developers generally performed the same with all the films. Microdol-X gave less speed and fine grain. Acufine and Microphen produced more speed. Rodinal produced less speed, more grain, and poorer sharpness. What else is there to know?

Acufine, D-76, and Rodinal were matched with all the films, and the characteristics were consistent. Rodinal always gave the least speed, worst grain, etc.

The procedures were very rigorous, and described in the article.

And as I already mentioned, very slow films are so sharp and fine-grained that it's really hard to get bad results from them.

Now you are discrediting regular scientific methods just to prove your point. And the point is you don't like Rodinal. That's fine, everyone is entitled to have own little world in which he feels safe. Don Quixote did.

Huh? I tried it a long time ago, when it was all the rage (and it was part of the fad to print on Agfa Brovia grade 4). The results were not very good. I found Neofin Red, and then Acutol. Acutol was a great developer. Now, we have FX-39, which is so far superior to Rodinal that it's laughable. I was using Adox KB 14 (ASA 20) and Tetenal Neofin Blue for a while, but then I got tired of the limitations of such slow films. FP4 in Acutol and Tri-X in UFG were the best combinations I could find in the early-mid 1970s. I worked in a camera shop, and had access to a great many products to try. I was always testing.

Funniest quote from a customer:

"Can you help me? I shoved my ASA."

 

[timor]

It is not, that I doubt your experience, it is the way you try to convey it on us. You stepped into a bunch of enthusiasts of photography who see photography as very flexible field. There is no such a thing as the best or the worst. All is relative, we do pictorial photography, not task specific applications. It is not about technical perfection seen under microscope, it is about what the picture is doing for us emotionally. Gary is developing his 30 years old films in Rodinal inside the fridge, I am mixing my own formulas, people are using Holgas, Brownies and whatever else and we have fun. It is the post-modernists era, everyone is looking for own form of expression. Modernists became boring, technically correct they all look much alike.
And look, what is doing digital folks. Total fantasy. But fun.
With the time maybe you show us some of your pictures and believe me, mostly we will be interested in emotional part, not in looking for grain clumps.

 

[gsgary]

26 years out of dat Tri X and Rodinal

HP5 and Rodinal

Orwo UN54 and Rodinal

Kodak Kodalith Ortho and Rodinal

XP2 (C41 film) and Rodinal

 

[timor]

O ! I didn't see the can yet. Nice !

 

[Ornello]

It is not, that I doubt your experience, it is the way you try to convey it on us. You stepped into a bunch of enthusiasts of photography who see photography as very flexible field. There is no such a thing as the best or the worst. All is relative, we do pictorial photography, not task specific applications. It is not about technical perfection seen under microscope, it is about what the picture is doing for us emotionally. Gary is developing his 30 years old films in Rodinal inside the fridge, I am mixing my own formulas, people are using Holgas, Brownies and whatever else and we have fun. It is the post-modernists era, everyone is looking for own form of expression. Modernists became boring, technically correct they all look much alike.
And look, what is doing digital folks. Total fantasy. But fun.
With the time maybe you show us some of your pictures and believe me, mostly we will be interested in emotional part, not in looking for grain clumps.

I have been injured for five years with some back issues, but feeling better. I can't wait to get back in the darkroom. I have a whole box full of chemicals and books full of formulas (I usually mix my own paper developers from scratch unless I am in a hurry). The decision by Paterson to drop chemistry was really hard to accept. FX-39 was resurrected, but I want Acutol and Acuspecial too.

Photographers who have little insight or nothing much to contribute often pursue 'technique' for its own sake. Photography suffers from an over-abundance of this sort of nonsense. Photographs are almost always most effective when they are direct and clear. One can look back over the decades at the various fads in photography, and chuckle. Remember posterization (B&W and color), soft focus (David Hamilton), tilted cameras (we are still suffering from that one), fashion photography with extreme wide-angle lenses?

Avedon with his damned soft-box light on everything (even B&W????!!!!)



Blow Up - Michelangelo Antonioni (1966)

http://www.designboom.com/wp-conten...p-yokohama-by-numen-for-use-designboom-04.jpg

 

[timor]

Sorry to hear about your back, wish you speedy recovery.
I can see, that you are taking the whole demise of film photography hard. Well, we have to accept it.

 

[Ornello]

Sorry to hear about your back, wish you speedy recovery.
I can see, that you are taking the whole demise of film photography hard. Well, we have to accept it.

It's nice to see young people showing an interest in film, but unfortunately many of them are just playing with various techniques rather than showing any real insight.

Where are today's Eugene Smiths?

7 Lessons W. Eugene Smith Has Taught Me About Street Photography

 

[gsgary]

Sorry to hear about your back, wish you speedy recovery.
I can see, that you are taking the whole demise of film photography hard. Well, we have to accept it.

It's nice to see young people showing an interest in film, but unfortunately many of them are just playing with various techniques rather than showing any real insight.

Where are today's Eugene Smiths?

7 Lessons W. Eugene Smith Has Taught Me About Street Photography

I take everything Eric Kim says with a pinch of salt only good thing about him is he likes Leica

 

[gsgary]

Sorry to hear about your back, wish you speedy recovery.
I can see, that you are taking the whole demise of film photography hard. Well, we have to accept it.

It's nice to see young people showing an interest in film, but unfortunately many of them are just playing with various techniques rather than showing any real insight.

Where are today's Eugene Smiths?

7 Lessons W. Eugene Smith Has Taught Me About Street Photography

I take everything Eric Kim says with a pinch of salt only good thing about him is he likes Leica

Who is Eric Kim?

Well you posted a like to one of his articles (7 things ) above

 

[Ornello]

Sorry to hear about your back, wish you speedy recovery.
I can see, that you are taking the whole demise of film photography hard. Well, we have to accept it.

It's nice to see young people showing an interest in film, but unfortunately many of them are just playing with various techniques rather than showing any real insight.

Where are today's Eugene Smiths?

7 Lessons W. Eugene Smith Has Taught Me About Street Photography

I take everything Eric Kim says with a pinch of salt only good thing about him is he likes Leica

Who is Eric Kim?

Well you posted a like to one of his articles (7 things ) above

That was just a link to an article about Smith, showing some of his images.

 

[gsgary]

Sorry to hear about your back, wish you speedy recovery.
I can see, that you are taking the whole demise of film photography hard. Well, we have to accept it.

It's nice to see young people showing an interest in film, but unfortunately many of them are just playing with various techniques rather than showing any real insight.

Where are today's Eugene Smiths?

7 Lessons W. Eugene Smith Has Taught Me About Street Photography

I take everything Eric Kim says with a pinch of salt only good thing about him is he likes Leica

Who is Eric Kim?

Well you posted a like to one of his articles (7 things ) above

That was just a link to an article about Smith, showing some of his images.

Eric Kim wrote it

 

[Ornello]

Sorry to hear about your back, wish you speedy recovery.
I can see, that you are taking the whole demise of film photography hard. Well, we have to accept it.

It's nice to see young people showing an interest in film, but unfortunately many of them are just playing with various techniques rather than showing any real insight.

Where are today's Eugene Smiths?

7 Lessons W. Eugene Smith Has Taught Me About Street Photography

I take everything Eric Kim says with a pinch of salt only good thing about him is he likes Leica

Who is Eric Kim?

Well you posted a like to one of his articles (7 things ) above

That was just a link to an article about Smith, showing some of his images.

Eric Kim wrote it

OK, I don't know anything about him.

 

[gsgary]

It's nice to see young people showing an interest in film, but unfortunately many of them are just playing with various techniques rather than showing any real insight.

Where are today's Eugene Smiths?

7 Lessons W. Eugene Smith Has Taught Me About Street Photography

I take everything Eric Kim says with a pinch of salt only good thing about him is he likes Leica

Who is Eric Kim?

Well you posted a like to one of his articles (7 things ) above

That was just a link to an article about Smith, showing some of his images.

Eric Kim wrote it

OK, I don't know anything about him.

Go on you tube, Don McCullin is as good as Eugene Smith there's also Philip Jones Griffiths who shot with Eugene Smith

 

[timor]

Did you know its super easy taking of darkness from balck and white negatives by using potassium cyanide? i just learned that and ordered 100g from [email protected] it came in after three days from north carolina, charlotte. its really cool after i saw the effects.

As far as I know potassium cyanide has nothing to do with photography. It is a deadly poison and 100g would be enough to kill at least 200 people. Are you trying to sell this to us ? And what that is supposed to do ? Take darkness from the balck negatives ? Something tells me, that you are just another spammer
Potassium Cyanide, Delhi - India
This time one without a clue...

 

[timor]

One spammer down. Thanks mods.