My current B/W combo is Tri-X in HC-110 and I love the results - however, recent reports seem to indicate that the new TMX Readyloads work very well in the Fuji Quickload holders and the lure of being able to use TMX in my Quickload holder is tempting. Rodinal is said to give good edge effects to TMX, one of the features I like with Tri-X in HC-110, which was missing in my results with TMX in developers such as D-76. I've got a little bottle of Rodinal around and will probably try the TMX/Rodinal anyway, but I'd appreciate any feedback on this combination, regardless of film format. Thanks!

-- Andy (akkup@mindspring.com), August 09, 2001

Answers

For 35mm, Rodinal was the only developer I liked with TMX. The grain was excessive and I decided there was no real advantage over a conventional film. At the time I thought it might be a super combination in 4x5, so go for it and tell us what you find.

-- Conrad Hoffman (choffman@rpa.net), August 09, 2001.

I rate TMX at 50 and develop for 10 minutes in Rodinal (1:75) at 68 degrees--this is for tray development with agitation for 10 seconds every minute. You will have to tweak the times for your own use, as it is very sensitive to time changes.

-- Ed Buffaloe (edb@unblinkingeye.com), August 09, 2001.

I know a gentleman who considers TMC and Rodinal the most beautiful film/dev combination in the known universe. He shoots with Leicas. He has a few crackpot ideas about photography, but I think this is a nice combo.

I use it 1:50 continuous agitation, 10 to 12 minutes at 20 degress C. Rate the film at about 50.

-- mike rosenlof (mike_rosenlof@yahoo.com), August 11, 2001.

I can highly recommend switching from AGFA Rodinal to Calbe R09 (also sold as Fomatol R09 and Classic F09), the original Rodinal formula no longer used by Agfa. R09 is superior in most respects: it provides finer grain and higher acutance. As a starting point I can recommend a dilution of 1:100. TMX has quite high contrast and this dilution may be right. I have used R09 with TMX in 35mm and it improved tonality and especially acutance dramatically, although I have to admit that TMX is not one of my favored films due to its low acutance and mediocre tonality. Since I needed high contrast for that specific purpose (copy work) I remember using a dilution of 1:40 (the standard dilution) at that time. I would also recommend using half the stated speed as a starting point.

-- Volker Schier (Volker.Schier@fen-net.de), August 27, 2001.