Questions on C41 development at home

[fatihayoglu]

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1 minute ago, 250swb said:

I use as much developer as needed usually on the basis that a smaller amount is faster to pour out of the tank before the next chemical which in turn is faster to pour in. However as giannis says ultimately it's not an issue about saving chemicals.

Sure. I just need to get my timings right. So the rest can be user error

[250swb]

1 minute ago, fatihayoglu said:

Sure. I just need to get my timings right. So the rest can be user error

You will be amazed how easy it really is, just go for it, what can go wrong?!

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[fatihayoglu]

56 minutes ago, 250swb said:

You will be amazed how easy it really is, just go for it, what can go wrong?!

Well even if the colors are bad, I guess I can convert them BW with post processing

[fatihayoglu]

Hi again,

Although I am planning to batch process all C41 films over 2-3 days to have minimum oxidation effect I need some bottles to keep them. I’ve investigated few options, a glass brown ones and accordion style. Some people say it is difficult to clean accordion ones and also they are not really air tight.

any feedback on this, what kind of bottles do you guys use?

Cheers,

F

[Pyrogallol]

I have some accordion bottles and yes, the lids are not always airtight, but you can squeeze them down until the liquid is right up to the top, but they are a bit fiddly to use getting the lid screwed on when the liquid is at the top, it is easy to spill some.  As discussed elsewhere Tetenal Protectan spray is the best thing to use as well in the filled bottles. I keep all my small 500ml plastic chemical bottles to reuse, not mixing developer bottles with fixer ones of course.

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Edited June 2, 2020 by Pyrogallol

[giannis]

15 hours ago, fatihayoglu said:

any feedback on this, what kind of bottles do you guys use?

 

I don't bother with special bottles for most stuff anymore. Fizzy drink bottles are airtight, can be easily squeezed to get most air out, and can be discarded if they stain since they cost pennies.

If you wanna be fancy, glassbottles are the best solution for reuse (of the bottles). You can combine them with those vacuum-pumped wine bottle stoppers, to keep air out. Or you could give a quick burst of protective spray (it's inert gas heavier than air which sits on top of the chemistry stopping contact with oxygen). Tetenal Protectan works really well. And they're easy to clean.

The worst of the bunch I'd say are the accordion bottles. The material is not really airtight so oxygen leaks in. On top of that, even the caps don't close in airtight-ly and leak even more air in. Also you'll notice they're quite stiff and don't stretch well. When brand new, you'll see it'll be hard to stretch them to fill with chemistry fully, they have a tendency to compress back like a pulled spring. (You could heat them up with boiling water poured over them, until the plastic gets softer, or use any other heat source,  stretch them and they'll keep the stretched shape, if you end up using them). Also they're impossible to clean for residue, I threw one away due to silver sulfide buildup (black gooey stuff in used fixer). Now I only use them for non-critical chemicals like paper dev, stop and fix. Because if the chemistry is ruined, I can just print again. The only reason I use them is 1.) I can't bring myself to throw them after spending £10 on each one, and 2.) they have a wide brim so I don't need to use a funnel when pouring back the chemicals from the dev trays.

 

 

Edited June 3, 2020 by giannis