Developing Delta 3200 with Atomal 49

[baachitraka]

One of my friend asked me to develop this film but I have only Atomal 49 and Rodinal as developers.

Adox.de recommends 12-14 mins with stock Atomal 49 solution, but I have no experience with this combo. Any help.

[Michael R 1974]

I'd recommend you use Rodinal. Atomal-type developers are ultra fine grain formulas. Since Delta 3200 has prominent grain, I'd personally rather see the grain look relatively sharp, which is what you'll get with Rodinal. If you use Atomal, the grain in Delta 3200 will still be very visible, but will look softer or "mushy". This is why generally I don't think it is a good idea to try and minimize the graininess of fast films by using ultra fine grain developers.

[MaximusM3]

Great advice there from Michael. Delta3200 looks great with Rodinal and the way it should. You'll have grain but its Delta3200.

[baachitraka]

I like Rodinal too, but I have no idea about how it was shot. Nevertheless, I will go with ILFord's recommendations of 11mins @3200.

Also, wondering for kind of films I use Ultra-fine grain developers.

[Tom Stanworth]

Hmmm, I'm not so sure. D3200 has crisp grain but it is fairly enormous with Rodinal and 35mm will be rough as coarse sandpaper. I have done 120 in rodinal and thought it pretty nasty. 35mm I would not even contemplate in Rodinal unless I wanted that look specifically.

I have done lots of D3200 in Xtol 1+1 and think it looks very nice and suspect A49 will be similar in some regards. I was under the impression that Salgado used to have his TriX320 developed in this brew and I have no complaints of those prints.

[Michael R 1974]

Delta 3200 is indeed grainy, but trying to minimize large grain with a highly solvent developer just makes it look like oatmeal. Rodinal wouldn't be my choice either if there were other options, but OP says he has Rodinal and Atomal to choose from. If it was an open choice I'd have recommended DDX.

A49 is more similar in its image characteristics (although not its formulation) to Microdol/Perceptol-type developers than XTOL 1+1. Utra-fine grain developers are all better used with slower films in my opinion, which are already fine grained, so that the loss of edge sharpness is less noticeable.

[baachitraka]

Well, I did one silly thing this evening. Mixed 300ml of Atomal 49 + 2ml of Rodinal. Developed for 12mins with 3 inversions on every second minute expect continuous agitation on the first minute. Negs look okay with obvious grain. I will try to scan and post some here soon.

[baachitraka]

I have a print scanned. It was developed with Atomal 49 stock + 2ml of Rodinal for 16 mins with three inversions at every second minute.

I have no idea, whether Rodinal had any influence on the development.

[pentaxuser]

Looks pretty good. What EI did you use, was this MF or 35mm and how does the grain look on the print?

Thanks

pentaxuser

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Delta 3200 + Rodinal = bliss

Makes for wonderful prints! I'm currently working on a series of 16x20" prints from 35mm Delta 3200 / Rodinal. I don't expect it to be done for a couple of years yet, but the prints look very nice. There's a really surprising amount of detail in them.

- Thomas