[Leica] Cure headaches with Rodinal

[clzeni at mindspring.com (Craig Zeni)]

Well, not really...but I ran across this info on the rangefinder forum. 
  Mike Durling process with PC-Tea; other process with Tylenol :)

> Originally Posted by DonaldQualls
> 30 tablets @ 500 mg generic acetaminophen (crushed -- I used an 8 
> ounce hammer with the tablets in a postal envelope)
> 50 g sodium sulfite
> 20 g sodium hydroxide
> water to make 250 ml
>
> Start with about 150 ml room temp water. Stir in the acetaminophen and 
> sulfite (I used sodium sulfite stock solution I already had); solution 
> will be nearly opaque and white. Don't worry about the little rags and 
> tags of tableting material; they don't seem to affect anything. Add 
> the sodium hydroxide, stir, seal, and let stand for at least 24 hours; 
> activity may continue increasing (as the reaction converting 
> acetaminophen to p-aminophenol proceeds) for up to 48 hours from 
> mixing. If the solution isn't as dark as weak tea with milk, at a 
> minimum, it needs to stand longer.
>
> As solution ages, you may note a layer of less opaque, darker colored 
> solution floating on the denser, chalky looking portion; stir this 
> together before using. After about a week, clear needle-like crystals 
> will precipitate; leave these in the solution and stir before drawing 
> off concentrate for use. Color will continue to darken from tan, to 
> pink, to brown; as with Rodinal, this does no harm.
>
> Dilute like Rodinal, use Rodinal times, though use of the sodium salts 
> instead of corresponding potassium compounds in formulation is said to 
> result in "softer working" developer, so if you're already a Rodinal 
> user you might find you need to adjust times slightly to keep the same 
> contrast. Don't attempt to use 1:100 until the solution is at least 
> pink.
>
> This formula originally comes from a discussion thread on 
> rec.photo.darkroom newsgroup about two years ago, BTW, though the 
> poster then cited another worker whose work I haven't seen. I'm sold; 
> if you buy the acetaminophen at Costco, use Red Devil brand lye, pay 
> $5/lb for your sulfite, and buy distilled water at 97 cents a gallon, 
> this developer costs about 55 cents for the above quantity, which will 
> develop about 50 rolls at 1:50 (35 mm or 2x120 on a 220 reel). Use of 
> distilled water for dilution will, of course, increase cost per roll 
> for the working solution, but it's still around 25 cents a roll; I 
> usually factor out the distilled water, since it's essentially a 
> constant for a given amount of film. Fomapan 100 gives *excellent* 
> results in this soup; TX and Classic 400 in 120 are pretty nice, too, 
> though the grain might be objectionable in 35 mm. I've been using it 
> at 1:50 with reduced agitation, adding 50% to published Rodinal 1:50 
> times to account for agitating every 3rd minute.