Atomal advice sort

[Susie]

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I am considering trying Atomal for developing Ilford FP4+, and also, when I get round to using it, 300' of out of date Kodak Plus-X.  Would anyone who has used Atomal give me the benefit of their experience, such as speed rating, dilution etc.  I'll be using Patterson developing tanks.

Thanks in advance.

[M.Hilo]

Can't help with Atomal, but have developed FP4 and FP4+ in Rodinal since 40+ years. Beautiful!

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[adan]

For the record, Atomal isn't much like Rodinal. It is an extra-fine grain, compensating developer.

"Extra-fine grain" (and the name Atomal) means it probably has some grain-dissolving component (likely Sodium Sulfide) - which will reduce grain size, but also soften the hard edges of the finest details (low acutance).

"Compensating" means it will "get used up" in the highlights between agitations sooner than it loses effectiveness in the shadows, giving the shadows more development and thus "compensating" for high contrast scenes.

And probably not a good candidate for "stand development" - it will need some agitation at least every 60 seconds or so to produce its intended results.

Which in some ways makes it the opposite of Rodinal.

It can be used "stock" - or diluted 1:1 or 1:2.

It should work fine with FP4+, although FP4+ already has a long tonal range.

It should work fine with Plus-X, but you'll have to experiment a bit since 1) your film is outdated anyway, and 2) there is not a lot of data on times with that long-departed film. Personally I would shoot the test roll at ISO 125, and develop at the normal Plus-X times for D-76 for ISO 125 - and then make adjustments if the test roll is too thin or too dense or too contrasty.

https://www.digitaltruth.com/products/product.php?brand=adox&link=atomal

https://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php?Film=&Developer=Atomal+49&mdc=Search&TempUnits=C' target='_self

Edited October 9, 2021 by adan