Best c41 colour film developing kit

[GoodOldNorm]

Originally Posted by Miha

I'm very satisfied with the Bellini kit. I'm just about to frame 3 12'x12' photos taken last summer on a trip with my C330 and some fresh Kodak GOLD 200 that I developed in Bellini. Once mixed, it's stable t

I have ordered the Fuji Hunt kit from Bristol Cameras £109 Inc. P&P. It is far more economical than the Bellini kit for me as I have quite a stock of c41 film that I need to use.
I will be trying the following method of using it.

[Miha]

I've been using the Fuji 5 L kit in the past with excellent results as well.

[John King]

Originally Posted by GoodOldNorm

The development is a little different, with a 5 min pre rinse at 38c at the start. 3m15 development. 6.5min bleach. 3.5 min rinse. 6.5min fix, followed by 3.5min final wash. 1.5 min in the stabilise bath and hang up to dry.
Hello again John, do you find that the 3.5 min. Wash before the stabiliser is enough? I have used the Fuji Hunt kit years ago and I remember giving the film three 3.5 mins washes to reduce the pink colour in the final wash water. Is that too much washing?

It isn't 1 x 3.5 min wash it is 7 x 30 seconds with clean water every 30 seconds. The first couple of rinses (I should have used that term not wash!) especially after the bleach stage the water will be discoloured but after that the water on the final rinse should be dry.
The 3.5min pre wash (which is not changed) will also give off colour but I assumed it was the antihalation layer being removed. Perhaps I am wrong. I have no idea.

[GoodOldNorm]

7 times 30 second rinses, that makes more sense, thank you.

[John King]

After recently praising the Fuji 5 litre kit I went to develop 2 Kodak Gold films yesterday, only to find the developer Bottle 'A' had gone off. The actual liquid colour had not changed but the chemical components had separated out into a fine particulate mist of black bits floating around inside.

There is the new 2.5 litre C41 kit marketed by JOBO and sold in UK by AG and Morco is now on order.

Then having a clear out of my store cupboard under the stairs this morning I found a part used 2.5 litre kit manufactured under the Digibase name and previously sold by Firstcall that I had totally forgotten about. That must be at least over 2 years old since last used. It is a 3 part developer + starter and bottles 1&2 are fine and they never go off. It is developer part 'C' in these kits is the one to watch but surprisingly it had only just started to slightly discolour.
I did a clip test with part of one of the films I had to develop and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. I have not printed anything yet but the strip was scanned and the colour balance/saturation was absolutely normal.

I am now more than convinced that the expiry times for these developers is greatly underestimated. It now looks as if I was a bit premature ordering the JOBO kit.

As a matter of interest Digibase is no more. It was produced by a small family company from Germany and the owner retired and closed the company down. (so Rodney Bates from Firstcall told me.)

[John King]

Fedex excelled themselves today. I was not expecting the C41 dev kit until Monday - they delivered it at 8am - luckily I was up early.

A quick appraisal of the kit shows it is quite straight forward and is standard with the same times as all the others I have used, although the bleach and fix stages are a little shorter.

A pre rinse is also part of the process that lasts 3 mins.

There is a word of warning about the stabiliser and that is if the film is stabilised in the reel the reel must be thoroughly washed in running water afterwards. Perhaps the stabiliser will stick to the reel and affect the next development.
There is a stronger warning that the stabilising solution must never be used in a JOBO processor which is equipped with a a lift mechanism! Probably for the same reason.
.
The developer comes in 3 seperate bottles A. B. and C. A and B are in plastic bottles but 'C' which is quite small is in a screw top brown glass bottle, I'm assuming this is the part that will go off quicker than the others after it is opened.

There is also a warning that the liquid concentrates should never be stored below 5c or above 30c

All in all it looks pretty well straight forward.

I have however found one printing error in the instructions concerning the mixing. Initially they give dilutions of the kit to make 2.5L which is the full quantity and the next the dilutions to make up half that. What is actually printed in the concentrate quantities is in reverse to the actual section titles.

I won't be using it for a while yet because the elderly Digibase kit I found in the cupboard was still in good working condition so I will use that in the meantime.

[John King]

Originally Posted by GoodOldNorm

The development is a little different, with a 5 min pre rinse at 38c at the start. 3m15 development. 6.5min bleach. 3.5 min rinse. 6.5min fix, followed by 3.5min final wash. 1.5 min in the stabilise bath and hang up to dry.
Hello again John, do you find that the 3.5 min. Wash before the stabiliser is enough? I have used the Fuji Hunt kit years ago and I remember giving the film three 3.5 mins washes to reduce the pink colour in the final wash water. Is that too much washing?

I do not do a 3.5min wash at the end before the stabilise bath, but 7 x 30 second washes with a change of water between each wash. That is the standard I have always used. The pink tint eventually disappears after the 4th or 5th change

I addition to my main appraisal as above I have also found a little snippet regarding safety which I have never seen before:-

Initially it states the concentrates should be mixed in warm water at 35c+/- 5c which is what I have always done, but then goes on to say 'Don't mix the chemicals with each other to avoid toxic gas and heat from being generated'
I assume they mean don't mix the concentrates with each other but mix them in water, but that may not be all together clear for someone who is just starting C41 developing

I have also E mailed JOBO about the disparity between the water quantities for 2.5 and 1.25 working quantities and awaiting their response it is almost certainly because the printers have got things back to front

[John King]

Post deleted

[Mike O'Pray]

[QUOTE=John King;150986
.
The developer comes in 3 seperate bottles A. B. and C. A and B are in plastic bottles but 'C' which is quite small is in a screw top brown glass bottle, I'm assuming this is the part that will go off quicker than the others after it is opened.


I won't be using it for a while yet because the elderly Digibase kit I found in the cupboard was still in good working condition so I will use that in the meantime.[/QUOTE]

Yes it's a pity about the demise of the Digibase kits.What I like about it was the (a) variation in the sizes of the kits and (b) the fact that as I remember it you could order fresh developer by itself instead of having to replace the whole kit.

Can you do this with your latest 2.5 L kit. John?

Thanks

Mike

[John King]

Originally Posted by Mike O'Pray

Yes it's a pity about the demise of the Digibase kits.What I like about it was the (a) variation in the sizes of the kits and (b) the fact that as I remember it you could order fresh developer by itself instead of having to replace the whole kit.

Can you do this with your latest 2.5 L kit. John?

Thanks

Mike

I don't think so Mike with the JOBO kit's 3 seperate bottles of developer. I have never seen any information to the contrary. Compared to the Digibase the containers of the component bottles for the developer is possibly more concentrated than Digibase hence they are a lot smaller.
Until about a week ago I thought the Fuji kit was lasting well until I saw the precipitate in the main bottle which meant it was expired. I had used about half of the 5 litre kit but looking at the replacement of the same shows the price has gone up by about 30% on what I paid last time.

I have always the 'use once and throw away' principal which ensures absolute consistency and comparing the JOBO will give me slightly less than 50% of the same capacity, price for price but I won't have half of the kit wasted. I still have a good bit of the Digibase kit left and so long as it gives me the results it is still doing, I will use it all before opening the JOBO kit.

When I started C41 work around 1992 I used by choice the Agfa 2 bottle kit (Bleach & fix was a seperate kit.) until they went out of production around 2004/5. It was so stable that I never ever had a bottle of the developer ever go stale on me, I was sorry when they went out of business.