1st time with C41

[Darkhorse]

My Unicolor kit arrived yesterday, and since I had nothing better to do, I decided to test it out.

I had an undeveloped roll of Ektar in 120 in my freezer that I never got around to taking in. Mainly because I knew the shots weren't that interesting, so I felt comfortable experimenting with it.

The whole process was fairly simple. However, when I was at the Blix phase, for some reason the chemicals would stream out of the top of the small steel tank whenever I did an inversion or lift. It drove me nuts. I don't want to waste any chemicals, and Blix smells really bad.

Things turned out how you would expect. Scanning them is a different issue. Making sure you have the correct film base set with my V500 and Vuescan is tricky. With black and white I save a TIFF file and do the corrections in Aperture, and things work similarly well with color. Although I'm never sure if the colors that I'm seeing are the colors I'm meant to be seeing. But if it looks OK perhaps I shouldn't worry about it.

 

[ibcrewin]

looks like they came out pretty well.

 

[Darkhorse]

I think this'll work out OK. I know the directions say you're supposed to dry after the stabilizer, but I have the urge to just douse with with flo and distilled water.

The big push to do this was the fact that people tell me my new Rollei 35 S is great for color, and plus the Tet Festival is this weekend - surely a great place for color over black and white. http://tetfestival.org/

 

[sevo]

Once you have established a routine that keeps you at working temperature, it is no harder than black and white. If you have a Jobo or other rotary processor, it might even be easier...

Stabilizer is important, though - it is what makes the difference between fading in one or a hundred years!

 

[Darkhorse]

When I bought my enlarger, there was a rotary processor included. It was foreign to me, so I just ignored it and put it in the garage. Time to dig it out to see how it works!

EDIT: Shows what I know, it's apparently just a drum processor for color prints. May be useful in the future, but not right now.

 

[bolohead]

I use the Unicolor kit too and the instructions state something about an endothermic reaction when you mix Blix A and Blix B together. The steam was probably the blix still mixing together. Obviously not a problem as your results are outstanding.

 

[Darkhorse]

I use the Unicolor kit too and the instructions state something about an endothermic reaction when you mix Blix A and Blix B together.

I think this may have been the problem as well. Hopefully I didn't lose a whole lot of Blix, but it doesn't matter since I only have single reel tanks (right now anyway).

 

[imokruok]

This happened to me the first time as well. I think the blix mix needs a little while to settle down, so I just mix it ahead of time now and let it sit, or seal it up and come back to it another day.

 

[Fotohuis]

Best way to develop C41 is a seperate Bleach and Fix.

BTW after your stabilizer (which is containing a wetting agent too) you have to dry. Do NOT use a seperate wetting agent afterwards.

A Jobo rotary development with elevator is the most convenient way to develop C41 and E6 films yourself. I have a Jobo CPA-2 with elevator in combination with the 2502 reels and 2523 developer tank (270ml volume for two 135-36 or two 120 roll films). It works perfectly. Easy and convenient.

Best regards,

Robert

 

[DNG]

OK,
My interest is sparked
Just how much Temp control is needed?
I use a Paterson 2 reel tank for B&W
How many rolls does one kit develop?
One the chemicals are mixed, is it a one shot deal?
So many ???s

 

[Pirate]

The Blix always expands during use and seeps out of the lids. The only way I've been able to stop this and not lose any Blix is to keep the top off and just swish the stuff around for agitation instead of doing the inversion. Works well for me. Your pictures look great so things must be working for you.

 

[Pirate]

OK,
My interest is sparked
Just how much Temp control is needed?
I use a Paterson 2 reel tank for B&W
How many rolls does one kit develop?
One the chemicals are mixed, is it a one shot deal?
So many ???s

For temp control I fill my sink with hot water - testing with a thermometer a few times will get you used to what it feels like by hand. Put the developer and blix in the sink for about 10 minutes while getting other things ready and it should be up to temp.

1 liter of mix will develop about 8 rolls of film. The instructions say you can get a few more out of it so a little testing can tell you for sure, but I've always gotten at least 8 out of it with no problem.

It's really easy. Use the mix, then put it back and wait for the next rolls until you use up 8 rolls.

 

[Fotohuis]

 

[monochromeimages]

As I understand it the blix bubbles off some gas while it is working. So if your tank is gas tight-ish there will be some pressure inside causing the liquid to escape when you invert it. I just use the twiddle method of agitation and have had no problems.

 

[Fotohuis]

This is how it works. BTW in this system you have no problem when the Bleach / Fix (Blix) is degassing. In a regular Jobo tank you have a red lid which you have to pull and which can expand during the Blix stage. In this way you will never have a leaking tank.

You can use as one shot 250ml + 20ml extra dillution. Or re-use with some small extension of the developing time. (+5 Seconds). In this system you start to empty with the elevator on 3:05 minutes and the 2523 tank (270-300ml in rotation) is emptied in 10 seconds which means 3:15 minutes exactly when the Bleach is comming in. I have used Amaloco K54 kits but have now the Rollei Digibase C41 kits, which is a professional Fuji Hunt C41 kit made in smaller volumes: 0,5 - 1 - 2,5 and 5 ltr. available. In this way you will have always fresh chemicals.

In fact in this way C41 development is a piece of cake. The 37,8C +/- 0,25C can be maintained easily due to the re-circulation pump. It's very preciseley even when I make analog RA-4 prints from the negative with my color analyzer (FEM-Kunze color future line 4012). All densities and color corections of same films are staying the same so always the same type of color CC corections for the C41 type films. I am using Pro 160NS and 400H (Fuji).

best regards,

Robert

 

[bolohead]

If you don't want to spend big bucks on a Jobo system, you can always develop in Patterson tanks. I use a uniroller system which works well and cost me $50 for a roller, three tanks and a few dozen reels. I get better results than my local pro lab using the Unicolor kit. The kit costs about $20 and I get about 20 rolls developed through it before quality reduces. I typically keep the exhausted chemistry for a bit and use it to cross process a few rolls of slide film.

 

[Fotohuis]

If you don't want to spend big bucks on a Jobo system

Above Jobo system was.... one bottle of French wine. Further I completed the system by some Jobo spare parts directly from Germany.

But of course it will depend where you live. In Holland they are often almost free of charge.
BTW the same with a lot of enlargers. For free..... 🙂

 

[tbeaman]

A lot of people "burp" their tanks to avoid the blix gassing problem. That just means lifting a corner of the lid a bit to let the gas out on your terms, rather than it's.

I do that too, but I'm finding now that if I just push down on the flexible Paterson lid before I seal it, it squeezes enough air out to leave room for expansion. But I still burp the tank after the first inversion.

And about the stabilizer and photo-flo, I'm pretty sure I read at APUG that the Tetenal/Unicolor/Jobo 1 liter kits don't contain a wetting agent in the stabilizer, and/or that it is safe to simply add some photo-flo to the stabilizer. That's what I did. Seems to be fine, but I'll get back to you in a 100 years. 😉

 

[nikon_sam]

This is very encouraging as I have a C41 kit that I haven't used yet...Thanks

 

[bolohead]

.... one bottle of French wine.

French wine is rather expensive here in Hawaii. 😉