Best c41 colour film developing kit

[Mike O'Pray]

Thanks John. Pity you can't order the developer by itself. That's the "Achilles heel" of C41 as far as I can see in terms of longevity

Mike

[John King]

I wonder if the supplying the part of the developer than goes off relatively quickly in a glass bottle rather than a plastic one will make any difference.

Incidentally I found, quite by accident that storing the developers for RA4 upside down with the cap firmly screwed down so that no air can get into the bottle when it isn't being used would make any difference, It certainly seems to with RA4 working strength developer.

On the subject of RA4 the stock solutions (concentrates) seem to have a far longer shelf life than C41! I wonder if the manufacturers have an answer?

[Collas]

Nik & Trick offer the Bellini C41 kit with the option of extra developer.

https://ntphotoworks.com/product/bel...-kit-the-best/

[Mike O'Pray]

Thanks Collas. I went to the Nik and Trick site and read the instructions but found two parts of the Q&A confusing

Here they are: Q: It says prewash the films but you say no water.
A: It doesn’t say prewash the films, it says to do the above! That’s right, stand your tank with the loaded film in alongside the chemicals so everything start at the same temperature ��

Q: Stabliser….
A: Two ways of doing this….make up loads in a big can so that contaminants sink deep or use make up three baths, 1, 2 and 3 and do three washes in order so that 3 is the cleanest of the clean! Yes, it’s okay to squeegee, C41 films are quite tough but warm the squeegee and ensure it’s extra clean.

No washing of any kind, not even between bleach and fix is unusual compared to other instructions. Yes it isn't essential as far as I know but most kits suggest it as the wash after bleach extends the life of the fixer Secondly there seems no mention of a stop bath and yet stop after developer prevents any developer remnants from adversely affecting the bleach

I presume that the 3 bath stabiliser is the alternative of any washing steps prior to stabiliser but seems to be unnecessary if you wash and then just use one bath of stabiliser

So great you can buy developer separately but no water at all leaves me a bit dubious.

It may be that as this is a mini-lab process water is not used and that's why they say no water but in a minilab maybe developer, bleach and fix are never in the same tank which is not the case with home processing where the same tank is used throughout

I wonder if Nik and Trick's version of what to do is slightly different to Mr Bellini's to keep thing as simple and as quick as possible but in fact there is no problem created by the use of water except of course post the stabiliser stage when it clearly negates the benefit of stabiliser


Mike

[Collas]

Here are the instructions. I've used the kit a few times and have never had any problems.

https://www.bellinifoto.it/wp-conten...da-tecnica.pdf

[Mike O'Pray]

Thanks Collas. I take it you find that neither the life of the bleach not the fixer is adversely affected by no stop after developing nor any water wash after bleach and before fix?

Can you say how many films the bleach and fixer can handle before needing replacement. Secondly how many films can you develop with the developer and its extended times?

Thanks

pentaxuser

[John King]

Originally Posted by Mike O'Pray

Thanks Collas. I take it you find that neither the life of the bleach not the fixer is adversely affected by no stop after developing nor any water wash after bleach and before fix?

Can you say how many films the bleach and fixer can handle before needing replacement. Secondly how many films can you develop with the developer and its extended times?

Thanks

pentaxuser

Is there no guide as to how many Sq Inches or Sq Cms after which you have to either change or replenish.

With the Jobo kit there is a guide at least for the bleach which has to take the brunt of the change from the developer. ! have never used a stop bath with film, but always do a 1 minute rinse with plain water.

It is not in the guide, but I do it anyway and it does not seem to have any adverse effect.

What is in the guide is a pre heat of 3 mins using water. I don't use that either. What I do to make sure the tank is at the same temperature as the chemicals is to stand the tank including the film on the shelf of the Jobo Processor from the time the water is cold until the temp of the developer has reached 38c then fill the tank with whatever developer I am using. With the water pre bath I feel that there will always be a small amount of water left in the tank that will ever so slightly dilute the developer. Right or wrong that is what I do and have yet to make a mistake (Apart from the time I filled the tank with developer, but it was actually plain water.!)

[Collas]

Originally Posted by Mike O'Pray

Thanks Collas. I take it you find that neither the life of the bleach not the fixer is adversely affected by no stop after developing nor any water wash after bleach and before fix?

Can you say how many films the bleach and fixer can handle before needing replacement. Secondly how many films can you develop with the developer and its extended times?

Thanks

pentaxuser

Sorry, no, as I've only used it a couple of times, originally in a Job CPP2 and more recently in a Adel dev.a. But it does work using the instructions from Bellini. They've created the set to make it easy to use, which it is.

[John King]

Copies of three hard [prints made from negatives developed using a Digibase kit that I previously thought had expired. (Kodak Gold in Nikon F6)
The colour balance on the originals was as close as I remember it, but some work has had to be done after the flatbed scanner thought differently.

[Mike O'Pray]

Thanks John and Collas,if I were to buy the Bellini kit then I think I would at least use a water bath after the developer and then one after the bleach and before the fixer on the basis that it may be unnecessary for the longevity of the bleach or fixer but it can do no harm as you have said John

I just feel uneasy about no stop bath be that water or weak stop after the developer stage and a water wash before the fixer

Mike