I’ve always been a bit nervous about Rodinal in its 1+25 dilution. It doesn’t seem like it is warranted, but somewhere along the way, I came to believe that 1+25 would get me big grain and big contrast, which are qualities I don’t seek.

Seeing the sun (yay!) on Thursday, I decided to take a little post-work loop around Bank so I could pick up some cat food and go to the grocery store that has the cartons of vegan egg and cheese I use to make my workday breakfast sandwiches.

I decided to load the last of my Astrum rolls into the Nikon EM (or “Lady Nikon” as I call it with some irony due to its design history) and head out after work to enjoy the last of the day’s sun. For the first time in months, I swear, I could feel its warmth. What a treat!

Since it has become abundantly clear that regardless of the dilution I use, these films with HC-110 always seem to be a little more extra than I’d like, I decided to try the only other chemistry on my shelf with times in the Massive Dev Chart and that are one-shot.¹

That left Rodinal 1+25.

…and you know what?

I like how it turned out! These films in the bright winter sun are going to be quite contrasty, but with Rodinal, the scanning was straightforward, easy, and I did not have to do extra work to gain control over wayward highlights.

It looks like I will be using these films a little more, which is nice since they are quite affordable. More importantly, however, is that I understand that I was (probably) all wrong about Rodinal 1+25 and will have to give it a try with more films.

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1. With the exception of colour chemistry and D-96, I dislike using developers in their stock form. Too fussy, too much management, and, at least for me, too much guesswork and adjustment. I like the certainty of one-shot dilutions. ↩︎