Response to Rodinal w/sodium ascorbate

I heartfully agree with Mr. Hicks. Rodinal (im my case: 1/50) and Sodium ascorbate make a great developer. Everybody who likes HP5 and Rodinal (a lot of people, I think), but who has sometimes problems with grain and E.I, should try this combination. But don't expect an revolution, it's more of an evolution. However, development time has to be modified. I process HP5plus (120) as follows: Jobo rotary Processor 270 ml Rodinal 1:50 with 1g Sodium ascorbate 20° C, 11 min (normal contrast). EI = 400

"Vitamin C" can mean free acid or sodium ascorbate, which is the sodium salt. Both come as powder and should act similiar, but may affect the pH of the solution in a different way, so the effect won't be the same. Also, the molecular weight won't be the same, so you would have to use less ascorbic acid in grams (I don't have the correct numbers). There is no easy "home-brew" way to convert the free acid into pure sodium ascorbate. But sodium ascorbate is cheap and easily available, so don't start experimenting. Regards Georg

[ Previous | Next ]