dungan.robert
Heating C41 Chemicals
Here’s my setup for C41 color film developing. I bought a temperature controller and set it to 107 degrees with a one degree temperature variation (107 degrees setting brings liquid in containers to 100 degrees). I also bought a crock-pot at the good will. I place the developer, blix and a bottle of water in crock-pot and plug in temperature controller. I add hot tap water to crock-pot. I go away and come back in an hour and the liquid in the bottles is about 100 degrees. I then remove the plain water bottle and place it in a 2 liter mixing bowl filled with hot tap water and wait until temperature rises to 102 degrees. I pour water into film developing tank and place tank into crock pot. I remove the developer and place it in 2 liter mixing bowl with hot tap water and monitor temperature until it is 102 degrees (takes only a minute or two). I remove the developer, pour out the water in the film developing tank and place tank in crock-pot. You then fill the tank with film developer. I use the little rod to agitate film according to directions instead of inversions (3.5 minutes). At end of development time I dump developer back into its bottle and pour in the blix and agitate using rod. At end of blix time (6.5 minutes) I pour blix back into its bottle and rinse film using tap water for 3 minutes. You then pour the stabilizer in to film tank and agitate for ten seconds, pour stabilizer back into its bottle and hang film to dry. Your done.
On my first C-41 development I had a hard time maintaining uniform temperature and the blix leaked from the tank (I did inversions of tank). The water bath setup gets all chemicals to almost the same temperature and minimizes aggravation trying to get developer to exactly 102 degrees. The blix needs to be between 95 and 105 degrees so the water bath takes care of it. By using the rod to agitate the film and not doing inversions the pressure from the blix does not build up and cause the top to leak.
The biggest remaining problem is that the film chemistry once mixed has a short shelf life. Since a one liter package is supposed to develop 8 rolls of film I have to hold my undeveloped film until I have 8 rolls ready to develop. This time around I did six rolls. I had planned to wait until I had 8 rolls, but caved and decided to go ahead and develop at six rolls. Since then I have developed 3 more rolls for a total of nine rolls. Ninth rolls color is fine, so, I may go for ten rolls.
Heating C41 Chemicals
Here’s my setup for C41 color film developing. I bought a temperature controller and set it to 107 degrees with a one degree temperature variation (107 degrees setting brings liquid in containers to 100 degrees). I also bought a crock-pot at the good will. I place the developer, blix and a bottle of water in crock-pot and plug in temperature controller. I add hot tap water to crock-pot. I go away and come back in an hour and the liquid in the bottles is about 100 degrees. I then remove the plain water bottle and place it in a 2 liter mixing bowl filled with hot tap water and wait until temperature rises to 102 degrees. I pour water into film developing tank and place tank into crock pot. I remove the developer and place it in 2 liter mixing bowl with hot tap water and monitor temperature until it is 102 degrees (takes only a minute or two). I remove the developer, pour out the water in the film developing tank and place tank in crock-pot. You then fill the tank with film developer. I use the little rod to agitate film according to directions instead of inversions (3.5 minutes). At end of development time I dump developer back into its bottle and pour in the blix and agitate using rod. At end of blix time (6.5 minutes) I pour blix back into its bottle and rinse film using tap water for 3 minutes. You then pour the stabilizer in to film tank and agitate for ten seconds, pour stabilizer back into its bottle and hang film to dry. Your done.
On my first C-41 development I had a hard time maintaining uniform temperature and the blix leaked from the tank (I did inversions of tank). The water bath setup gets all chemicals to almost the same temperature and minimizes aggravation trying to get developer to exactly 102 degrees. The blix needs to be between 95 and 105 degrees so the water bath takes care of it. By using the rod to agitate the film and not doing inversions the pressure from the blix does not build up and cause the top to leak.
The biggest remaining problem is that the film chemistry once mixed has a short shelf life. Since a one liter package is supposed to develop 8 rolls of film I have to hold my undeveloped film until I have 8 rolls ready to develop. This time around I did six rolls. I had planned to wait until I had 8 rolls, but caved and decided to go ahead and develop at six rolls. Since then I have developed 3 more rolls for a total of nine rolls. Ninth rolls color is fine, so, I may go for ten rolls.