Ten year old, unopened Rodinal?

[L. M. Tu]

I usually stick with Ilford chemicals, but I'm just curious because I've found a bottle of Rodinal that I packed away ten years ago when I moved across country. I would develop a test roll in any case, but has anyone used this stuff when it's ten or more years old?

[john_s]

Folklore would have it that it still has half a century of life ahead of it. I would test carefully before committing valuable work to it.

Edit: it probably depends on the packaging, since the formula was altered (1991?) which might have been when they started using plastic instead of glass. There is a thread at the moment in which Robert of Fotohuis might reply with some further information.

[L. M. Tu]

Thanks, I'll try it. Oops - sorry, I meant to post this in the film & developing section.

[Fotohuis]

10 years old Rodinal (2001) means a Rodinal bottle from Agfa in the standard Silar (H.D.-Polyethylene) 125ml or 500ml bottles.
It will be dark in color and maybe already a few crystals in the bottom. Just shake it and let it stay for some hours then. It will work without any doubt.

The change from glass to Silar was done somewhere at the end of the 70's. I started using Rodinal in 1967, a few years after Agfa merged Gevaert in 1964 and was called: Agfa - Gevaert. In 1964 Agfa - Gevaert also paid Agfa DDR a large sum of DM. to change their name to ORWO (ORginal WOlfen) in that time located in Wolfen former East - Germany. Their chemical factory still exists under Calbe and they are still making old type Rodinal, Calbe R09. But this version of Para-Amino Phenol you can only keep a few years.

Greetz,

Robert