Response to Acutol & Neofin Red

First I cannot agree at all that Rodinal compresses midtone tonality, just the contrary. Acutol is a proprietary formulation by Geoff Crawley for Paterson improving FX2. Neofin Red is a more active high acutance developer by Tetenal, more active in comparison than Neofin Blue, which is based on the Beutler formulation. As with all high accutance developers you will lose highligh separation, not midtone separation. They usually build up shadow contrast nicely, which gives a nice speed rating. They are no fine grain developers, since the amount of sodium sulfite is very low. Neofin Red is formulated for higher speed film (ISO 200 and up) which would not get enough contrast with Neofin Blue, which is formulated for lower speed films. I have used Neofin and the acutance is impressive, although I now much more favor the incredible tonality of R09 (classic Rodinal) which comes in combination with very high acutance.

[ Previous | Next ]