A question about Stand Development

[johnny9fingers]

Hi, I'm going to take a stab at C-41 stand development and have a question regarding part of the process. When using a four bath kit (Like Rollei DigiBase) various recipes say for bleach, initial agitation then let sit for your desired time. Then for the fixer, agitate for 30 seconds to a minute, then about once a minute for 7 minutes, or whatever time your recipe calls for. Here's my question. My kit comes with a blix. I'll probably leave the film in the blix for 30 to 45 minutes. Should I ignore the fixer agitations, or do intermittent agitation for the entire time?
Thanks for any advice.
John

 

[catamaran]

C41 Stand

C41 Stand

Hi, I'm going to take a stab at C-41 stand development and have a question regarding part of the process. When using a four bath kit (Like Rollei DigiBase) various recipes say for bleach, initial agitation then let sit for your desired time. Then for the fixer, agitate for 30 seconds to a minute, then about once a minute for 7 minutes, or whatever time your recipe calls for. Here's my question. My kit comes with a blix. I'll probably leave the film in the blix for 30 to 45 minutes. Should I ignore the fixer agitations, or do intermittent agitation for the entire time?
Thanks for any advice.
John

I've used the three step kits for years, but thought I would mention how I do this in case it helps you in some way.
I load the film, and tend to do two rolls at a time in Paterson tanks. No pre-wash. I pour the developer at room temp, agitate for one minute, and let stand for 60 minutes (no further agitation). Pour the BLIX, again agitate for one minute and then let the BLIX stand for 60 minutes. Then thoroughly wash. Add the stabilizer, and over about 5 minutes, agitate from time to time. Final thorough wash, hang and dry. I've been getting (to my eye) wonderful results this way for many years. Once I discovered this technique, it upped my use of color film ten fold. I found the maintenance of temp at 100 degrees to be so tiresome and of little value in exchange for the effort, it took the fun out of C41 for me. Stand brought back the joy of color and C41, and when I use films like the Portra family, gorgeous.
Hope that helps.

 

[johnny9fingers]

Thanks Catamaran, I try this tomorrow. I see you don't do a wash between developer and blix. Doesn't that contaminate the blix? Either way, I'll follow your directions and let you know how things turn out. Thanks again....
John

 

[:: Mark]

I've used the three step kits for years, but thought I would mention how I do this in case it helps you in some way.
I load the film, and tend to do two rolls at a time in Paterson tanks. No pre-wash. I pour the developer at room temp, agitate for one minute, and let stand for 60 minutes (no further agitation). Pour the BLIX, again agitate for one minute and then let the BLIX stand for 60 minutes. Then thoroughly wash. Add the stabilizer, and over about 5 minutes, agitate from time to time. Final thorough wash, hang and dry.

Can I ask which chemical kit you are using?

This sounds way better than the pain that is trying to set the temperature precisely. I think that today probably pretty much all colour films are scanned rather than wet-printed, making it easier to deal with any colour shifts from unusual processing techniques.

 

[Fernando2]

Yes please, could you share more infos?
Temperature, reusability...?

Thank you very much!

 

[johnny9fingers]

I will be using the Rollei Digibase C-41 kit http://www.freestylephoto.biz/660151-Rollei-C-41-Developing-Kit-2.5-Liters
and will develop at room temp (70 - 72 degrees F) using the times provided by Catamaran above.
John

 

[Fernando2]

I will be using the Rollei Digibase C-41 kit http://www.freestylephoto.biz/660151-Rollei-C-41-Developing-Kit-2.5-Liters
and will develop at room temp (70 - 72 degrees F) using the times provided by Catamaran above.
John

How are you going to manage chemical degradation, for example?
I usually develop 12 rolls (135 size) with a C-41 kit, lengthening the first bath a bit every 4 rolls. No required with stand development, I assume? How many rolls can one manage before disposing the kit?

 

[catamaran]

Unicolor Kit

Unicolor Kit

Can I ask which chemical kit you are using?

This sounds way better than the pain that is trying to set the temperature precisely. I think that today probably pretty much all colour films are scanned rather than wet-printed, making it easier to deal with any colour shifts from unusual processing techniques.

Ive used both the Unicolor and Jobo three part kits; and they both appear identical in box contents, instructions and image results for me. I usually get 18 rolls per kit. Never went any further, but didnt have any reason to stop at 18 other than not wanting to push my luck. To answer the other question about no wash between developer and blix, I followed the kit instructions that did not include a wash step between the two, and never did it. No evidence of problem from not washing between the two steps. I do wash thoroughly after blix, before stabilizer. I hope my consumption of C41 films will keep them alive. 🙂

 

[catamaran]

Missed the question about temp. My room temp ranges from 67ish to 72ish, and I've never paid much attention to it. Same results regardless. The other thing I might mention is I've never tested 'shelf life' I tend to wait until I have at least 18 rolls, mix up a batch of chems, and do a run of the 18 rolls. I don't have any experience to report on shelf life of mixed chems, beyond about two weeks, although I believe they remain usable for a reasonable time (weeks at least).

 

[johnny9fingers]

Just a quick post to say Thank you again to catamaran. I developed two rolls of film with his stand development method, and couldn't be more happy with the results. When I figure out how to post pictures to the site, I'll put some up so you can see them. Thanks again....
John

 

[catamaran]

Just a quick post to say Thank you again to catamaran. I developed two rolls of film with his stand development method, and couldn't be more happy with the results. When I figure out how to post pictures to the site, I'll put some up so you can see them. Thanks again....
John

I’m glad. I’ve been coming here daily for many years, and posted maybe a half dozen times. I never felt I had anything to offer over the incredible wealth of experiences and advice I’ve seen (and had benefit of myself), to think anything I had to offer was more than window dressing. That this was of benefit to you is very gratifying for me, like I finally was able to give something back.