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Old 6th January 2020, 06:16 AM
John King John King is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: County Durham
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nat Polton View Post
My prints have stood the test of time from 1982 until the present, that's 37-38 years, not bad for an amateur. So the dual use chemicals worked fine. As far as I can remember shelf life was not a problem. So why cant we have one set of chemicals that does prints and films?
I think simply it is a question of cost. The kits and individual chemicals are mostly designed for use in mini labs, so creating a smaller channel than those already in existence is not likely to be a financial success. Well not quite, there is a degree of success for the accountants.

Speaking from a personal point of view, I would not be happy with using a 'universal' kit. I am quite happy with two different solutions, each one dedicated to a particular process. Looking at B&W there are universal developers for film and papers, but without exception the quality is not as good as ones for each process. There used to be one shot developing and fixing baths for B&W but the quality was dreadful.

The same is usually said of combined bleach and fix baths for colour films, They are available but it is generally agreed that separate bleach and fixing baths are better. I have found since I stopped using them there is less variation in colour balance.
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