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C-41 Processing

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Chronos

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Mar 3, 2002, 6:24:59 AM3/3/02
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I don't have any problems developing B&W negs at home. What I am
wondering is if the C-41 Processing of negs can be done at home without
to much trouble.

Thanks
Mike

Mike King

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Mar 3, 2002, 12:18:45 PM3/3/02
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Not too bad but the chemicals are spendy if you don't use them up--so save
your film up until you get enough to do a complete run.

I've processed in SS two roll tanks in a water bath (ok if you have a good
tank with a leak-proof tank--I recommend the Kindermann tank with Hewes
reels), used a rotary drum processor (Unicolor with their plastic
reels--very economical for low volume users--six 35mm rolls in 20 oz.) and
used to run film in 64 oz ss tanks at a newspaper (that was the best if you
have the volume) I had a three bath setup with a washer to the side. In
the dark-presoak in washer, then into developer, lid on and then light on to
inversion agitate, then lights off, into the bleach, lid on and lights back
on, agitate for the required time, then lights off and transfer to the
fixer, I'd usually just agitate up and down for the first minute in the
fixer then turn the lights on to complete the process. Capacity in 64 oz
was 48 rolls with a 15% increase after the first 16 and an additional
increase after the second 16 rolls. It was cheap and it worked well--easy
to push process as well. We used the Unicolor Rapid Scan chemicals, scanned
negatives for publication but the negatives printed well on the occasions
the public ordered reprints.

darkroommike

"Chronos" <michaelrin...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
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Colin DeWolfe

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Mar 3, 2002, 4:52:57 PM3/3/02
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It doesn't have to be spendy. Agfa makes 500ml kits for about
$7 that do 6 rolls of film. The Unicolor stuff is grossly
overpriced in my opinion.

Colin

Mike King

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Mar 4, 2002, 9:46:25 AM3/4/02
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Right and like I said if you process only two rolls in that 500ml kit your
price just tripled, I wouldn't recommend the Agfa kit without using it I
only suggested Unicolor because that is what I have used and can personally
recommend. We bought the 5 liter size and mixed what we needed from
concentrate and processed over 100 rolls a week so we got good mileage from
our mini sink line.

And as you suggested the Agfa, Tetenal, etc. 500 ml kits are much more
suited for home use. And practice first before committing any of your once
in a lifetime shots to your home processing.

darkroommike

"Colin DeWolfe" <c...@glinx.com> wrote in message
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Colin DeWolfe

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Mar 4, 2002, 11:22:05 AM3/4/02
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Still not as expensive as the $35 quart (~500ml) kits from Unicolor.
That makes it 5 times as expensive as the Agfa, and they only do 4
rolls.

It really depends on how much colour your shoot. Whenever I shoot
35 colour I tend to do it in fits and starts. I can go for a month and
not shoot any, then I'll shoot 4-6 rolls at a sporting event or on
a trip. In 120 I may go through 1 a week, then I'll be patient and
process a month's worth of film at once.

If you're only shooting 1 roll a week consistently and absolutely
*have* to have the pics as soon as possible after you shoot it, then
*no* self processed colour is feasible. But then again, if you do
have to have negs for scanning that night (for example, having sports
events ready for next day's paper or on a weekend when the labs are
closed), the cheaper $7 Agfa kits make alot more sense than the
$35 Unicolor kits for the same volume.

I agree, if you do process enough film (lots), then you might
want to consider the Kodak/Agfa/Fuji-Hunt lab sized
kits and only mix it when you need it. You just have to make
sure than you go through it before the partially used
chemicals oxidize and die. With these brands you also
will be almost guaranteed to have fresh chemistry. My experience
with Unicolor is that they make a batch once a year to sell
throughout the year, while Kodak/Agfa/Fuji-Hunt are pretty much
running non-stop. Much better consistency.

I can't comment on the Tetanal kits because I have never seen
pricing on them.

The most important thing you can do is to sacrifice one kit
and run control strips to calibrate your thermometer and
agitation.

Colin

Francis A. Miniter

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Mar 4, 2002, 1:19:32 PM3/4/02
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A quart is 946 ml.

Francis A. Miniter


Colin DeWolfe wrote:

> Still not as expensive as the $35 quart (~500ml) kits <snip>

Leo

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Mar 4, 2002, 4:10:02 PM3/4/02
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The answer to the question is yes. It CAN be done almost just like B&W negs
at home. The process has 3 main steps: develop (3 min 15 sec), bleach and fix
(6 min each). Add washing in between steps. There is supposed to be an additional
step, stabilization, at the end but I never did it. Only the development need to
be done with some form of temperature control. With Kodak chemical the development
needs to be at 100+/- 0.5 degree F. Water bath starting at 101 degree and ends
at 99 degree in my batch room sink always work fine with me. The bleach and fix
do no need temperature control. They can be done at 6 or longer minutes. I always
did bleach and fix around 8 minutes. There is no harm to the image or film even
if you triple or longer the time for bleach and fix.

Isn't this nearly as simple as B&W negs? Remember, time and temperature will be
critical for the development step. Other than that the rest is just piece of cake.
I have done many many C-41 at home. The whole process has become a very simple
routine. I use a stainless Steel tank, 2 1000cc plastic cup and 3 500cc chemical
(brown) bottles and a darkroom dial thermometer. Well, I also use a 3 liter plastic
bottle with large opening at the top. I pre heat water to 120-130 degree F and
use the 3 liter bottle to pre heat my developer for 5 minutes. Then the pre heated
water is poured into my sink and adjust the temperature to 101 degree as the water
bath for my development tank. At this point I set my timer to 3 min and 10 sec.
And the process begins...

I am sure someone can add comments to this. Hope this helps.

Leo

Joe Schimpanzi

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Mar 5, 2002, 5:05:16 AM3/5/02
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Mike,

I exclusively use Tetenal chemicals for my color processing here (I live in
Germany, so they're cheaper and readily available, also no one had any
comments about Tetenal, so I thought I'd share). Using a water bath set-up
and water tight tanks would be no big deal. I started this way. Tetenal
prices are average. For instance, the Tetenal C-41 5 Liter Liquid kit sells
at B&H for $49.95, or about $10.00 a liter. A liter will process 12 rolls.
The chemicals are liquid so you can make up smaller quantities. Just
remember to store the liquids in a better (brown glass) bottle and fill with
an air displacement spray (you can buy one of the special products or cheat
like I do and buy Butane Lighter Refill gas for about a dollar - it's the
same stuff, almost - but it has the same properties). I do this with my 5
liter kits and have not noticed a difference 8 months later.

If you can find them, Tetenal also makes a kit using Tabs. You use 1 tab
per film of Developer, 2 tabs of BLIX per film, and 1 tab of Stab per film.
It's one shot, and you only mix what you need. Tabs are more expensive, but
easier to store and there's less waste. A kit of them to process 12 rolls
cost about $23.00 (here), so the cost ratios are for the 5 Liter kit is $.83
per roll, the Tabs are $1.91 per roll of film. So it's your call. I like
the Tabs, because if I want to do one or two rolls, I mix what I need. They
dissolve well, as long as you use Distilled or Demineralized water (which
you should).

If you go the liquid route, you MAY run into an issue with the BLIX will
develop a whitish precipitate, and I mean a lot of this precipitate. I have
run into this ONLY when I've exceeded the recommended storage time of the
working solution. This was my fault, and not an indication of the quality
of the chemicals as others have suggested and written about in this forum.
Keep in mind that Tetenal has been selling Photographic chemicals longer
than Kodak. Tetenal also make the chemicals repackaged under the Beseler
name (check out the price difference there!).

In my humble opinion, Tetenal makes chemicals that are a good value for the
money. They are consistent (removing any human factor), broad spectrum (as
far as I know, they are the only ones offering chemicals in a tablet
form),are easy to use and produce good clean, repeatable results. If all
this sounds like a sales pitch, it's not. I don't work for Tetenal. I just
think (from what I remember from my younger days when I lived in the USA and
used Beseler chemicals) that Tetenal gets quickly overlooked in the shadow
of the 'Big K'. Kodak also seems to be moving away from providing kits for
the low volume user (they make a 1 gallon kit that costs over $60.00). I
seem to remember 500ml Flexicolor kits some years ago, and I could afford
them on my part time after High School job.

Hope some of this info helps. All the choices are yours and some of this
may depend upon availability in your area.

Have Fun

"Chronos" <michaelrin...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
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Hannu Ylioja

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Mar 5, 2002, 6:36:42 AM3/5/02
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Joe Schimpanzi <JoeSch...@Monkeybusiness.com> wrote in message
news:3c84985c$1...@news1.uncensored-news.com...

> If you can find them, Tetenal also makes a kit using Tabs. You use 1 tab
> per film of Developer, 2 tabs of BLIX per film, and 1 tab of Stab per
film.
> It's one shot, and you only mix what you need. Tabs are more expensive,
but
> easier to store and there's less waste. A kit of them to process 12 rolls
> cost about $23.00 (here), so the cost ratios are for the 5 Liter kit is
$.83
> per roll, the Tabs are $1.91 per roll of film. So it's your call. I like
> the Tabs, because if I want to do one or two rolls, I mix what I need.
They
> dissolve well, as long as you use Distilled or Demineralized water (which
> you should).

The Tetenal C-41 Phototabs tablet kit can in fact develop 24 films, thereby
halving the price.
According to the instructions you can develop 2 films per tablet (150ml
rotary tank), just develop
for 3min 55 seconds for the second film.

Also Tetenal Phototabs are great if you're in a hurry. You can develop the
film at 113F/45C
for a total time of 9min 15seconds for a dry film to a dry negative !

Hannu

Colin DeWolfe

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Mar 5, 2002, 1:14:07 PM3/5/02
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Sorry.. pint....

They're pint kits..

*smacks self in forehead*

Colin

Frederick Rupert

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Mar 5, 2002, 9:33:08 PM3/5/02
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My opinion: compared to B&W it's a LOT of trouble, and good photo stores
will do just the developing for a cheap price (at least where I live). Most
stores charge for a lot for the prints, but little for the film's trip
through the minilab.

"Chronos" <michaelrin...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
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Chronos

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Mar 6, 2002, 1:24:56 AM3/6/02
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Unknown

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Mar 6, 2002, 2:20:37 AM3/6/02
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I got tired of the one hour lab scratching up the negs so I tried the
Tetenal 2 bath kit. The only hard part was keeping the temperature close to
38 C.
Other than that the processing is quick and the results were great. I did
about 25 rolls of TCN, no problems.

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Joe Schimpanzi

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Mar 6, 2002, 4:43:17 AM3/6/02
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Hannu,

Thanks for the correction. I was going off my memory, and I seem to
remember it was one tab/one shot. I looked when I got home, and realized
what I had done. Again, Thanks

Jim


"Hannu Ylioja" <hannu....@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
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Leo

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Mar 7, 2002, 2:56:53 PM3/7/02
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A LOT of trouble? what troubles did you get into? I do both B&W and color.
I do not see a LOT of trouble at all.

Leo

Frank Pittel

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Mar 7, 2002, 4:13:38 PM3/7/02
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The problem with color is maintaining the temperature of the film and
chemicals at 100 degrees. Developing B&W is a room temperature operation.

Frank


Leo <leo...@hotmail.com> wrote:
: A LOT of trouble? what troubles did you get into? I do both B&W and color.

: Leo

:> >

--


Keep working millions on welfare depend on you
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f...@deepthought.com

Bill Schmitz

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Mar 9, 2002, 3:41:08 PM3/9/02
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Frank Pittel <f...@warlock.deepthought.com> wrote in message news:<6KQh8.74094$pN4.6...@bin8.nnrp.aus1.giganews.com>...

I am interested in a C-41 formula and wonder if
anyone has one in use that works well.

Leo

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Mar 11, 2002, 3:16:07 PM3/11/02
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Frank Pittel wrote:
>
> The problem with color is maintaining the temperature of the film and
> chemicals at 100 degrees. Developing B&W is a room temperature operation.

Only the color development step needs to maintain a temperature at 100 +/-
1 degree F. The fact is there is really no difficulty in meeting that temperature
control.

Leo

Francis A. Miniter

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Mar 11, 2002, 10:52:26 PM3/11/02
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Here is an ASCII version of a document I got somewhere from the net. I think I have used all of them (Dignan, Chapman, Zone
V) at one time or another. I am comfortable with the results from each. On the Potassium Iodide, watch out, that is
milligrams, not grams. You can destroy the film with too much Potassium Iodide.

Francis A. Miniter


Bill Schmitz wrote:

> <snip>

C-41 Formulas.txt
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