Kodak C41 2.5/5L kit and Fujihunt 5L kit - from a Bellini 1L user

[Kilgallb]

I was told by Cinestill to contact downtown photo in Toronto and Gosselin in Montreal to express interest in them bringing in the kits, which I have done.

Gossellin replied. They do not handle chemicals.

Hopefully downtown photo will help.

 

[Kilgallb]

No response from Downtown photo.

I assume Canadians are out of luck.

 

[Kilgallb]

Freestyle accepted my order to Canada!

 

[Donald Qualls]

Freestyle accepted my order to Canada!

Nice. What did the shipping look like (and I presume you won't know what if any import fees apply until it's in country)?

 

[Kilgallb]

Shipping was $28.00 USD. I will have to pay 5% GST when it gets here. As no photo chemicals are made in Canada there must not be duty, but I expect a brokerage fee.

That is cheaper than shipping to Montana and picking it up myself.

 

[MattKing]

As no photo chemicals are made in Canada there must not be duty

That actually isn't at legally or practically related to whether or not there is any duty payable.
However, as the chemicals are made in the USA, it is most likely that the replacement for NAFTA will result in there being no duty.
The same would apply to chemicals made in Mexico.

 

[Kilgallb]

All I paid was 5% GST and the usual handling and shipping charges. Fast service with no complications like brokerage fees.

 

[Fulltang]

Interested in how this kit ended up comparing to the Bellini!

 

[blee1996]

I'm still using the first 1L from the Kodak C41 5L kit. 12 rolls of 135/120 film so far, and the negatives look good and scans well. I have not detected any color shift or contrast issue yet. Bellini was my reference.

 

[Kilgallb]

I see Freestyle no longer ships the 2.5l or 5l Kodak C41 kits out of the country. I knew it was to good to be true.

 

[blee1996]

A one-year update: I just finished the first Kodak 5L C41 kit (mixed in September 2024). All the negatives come out consistently good. And I got 16 rolls per liter capacity, by adjusting development time after every 4 rolls.

So I just mixed my second 5L kit into four 1L bags and two 0.5L bags, like last time. I look forward to use them for another year.

 

[Donald Qualls]

A one-year update: I just finished the first Kodak 5L C41 kit (mixed in September 2024). All the negatives come out consistently good. And I got 16 rolls per liter capacity, by adjusting development time after every 4 rolls.

So I just mixed my second 5L kit into four 1L bags and two 0.5L bags, like last time. I look forward to use them for another year.

Excellent! I've got almost five liters of Flexicolor Color Developer Replenisher (as well as 5 liters of EcoPro ersatz Xtol) in debubbled wine boxes that's been there two years; I'm hoping that the exclusion of all oxygen will have kept it good, now that I'm approaching being able to spend time in my darkroom again (and catch up my huge film backlog).

 

[lamerko]

I'll complain
Today I paid 60 pounds for a liter of Fuji Hunt starter chemistry. Separately, I'm in Bulgaria, and the order was made in the UK.
Fuji Hunt has great chemistry for C-41, but... In one set there is a developer for 10 liters (it comes out a little more), but the starter chemistry, which comes in a set of 6x1 liters of concentrate, is designed for 400 (four hundred) liters. In fact, much more - the replenishing chemistry does not need a starter.
Unfortunately, only in one place did I see an option to order just one bottle, not a whole set. And my old stock, which I had taken from a friend, is running out...

 

[koraks]

Yeah, only few sellers are willing to part out single bottles.

 

[Kilgallb]

I do one shot (4x5) and have great success just pouring out concentrate for 600ml of working solution at a time. I managed to keep the concentrate viable for about 9 months.

600ml in a Jobo does two cycles of 6 sheets, total 12. So I get 48 sheets out of the 2.5 l Kodak kit.

 

[sperho]

A one-year update: I just finished the first Kodak 5L C41 kit (mixed in September 2024). All the negatives come out consistently good. And I got 16 rolls per liter capacity, by adjusting development time after every 4 rolls.

So I just mixed my second 5L kit into four 1L bags and two 0.5L bags, like last time. I look forward to use them for another year.

That's great news! Can you please share a bit more detail on how you are handling each 1 L bag of developer? What I am inferring from one of your previous posts in this thread is that you dispense what you need into your tank for a few rolls and then pour it back in to the same bag when you are done with that tank's development cycle. Then, maybe (or maybe not) use a time compensation scheme for each subsequent tank? Is that all correct? If yes, what is your time compensation scheme?

 

[Meinrad]

Do you replenish? I am asking because i developed 3 films in 500ml i have prepared from the Kodak kit (as i always do with JOBO, Bellini..) and the third came out very thin... temperature should have been right.
Then I read it should be used one shot or replenished

 

[sperho]

That's great news! Can you please share a bit more detail on how you are handling each 1 L bag of developer? What I am inferring from one of your previous posts in this thread is that you dispense what you need into your tank for a few rolls and then pour it back in to the same bag when you are done with that tank's development cycle. Then, maybe (or maybe not) use a time compensation scheme for each subsequent tank? Is that all correct? If yes, what is your time compensation scheme?

@blee1996 I'm interested in your work flow, too. Not sure if you saw my post above... Thanks!

 

[blee1996]

@blee1996 I'm interested in your work flow, too. Not sure if you saw my post above... Thanks!

That's great news! Can you please share a bit more detail on how you are handling each 1 L bag of developer? What I am inferring from one of your previous posts in this thread is that you dispense what you need into your tank for a few rolls and then pour it back in to the same bag when you are done with that tank's development cycle. Then, maybe (or maybe not) use a time compensation scheme for each subsequent tank? Is that all correct? If yes, what is your time compensation scheme?

Sorry missed that question. Once I mix all the chemicals for the entire 5L kit, I separate them into 4x 1L light-tight air-tight wine bags, and 2x 0.5L wine bags.

My regime is like this for the 1L working solution:

- Use Paterson 1L tank (3x 135 or 2x 120 rolls)
- Use full 1L chemical
- Time compensation for color developer (in minutes): 3:15 for rolls 1-4, 3:30 for 5-8, 3:45 for 9-12, 4:00 for 13-16
- I did not bother to compensate for bleach and fixer
- Pour 1L chemical back to the wine bag, squeeze out air and foam, cap

And repeat the above for next few rolls. As I said I use up 5L over about 11 months, so use up 1L every 2 months or so.

 

[blee1996]

Do you replenish? I am asking because i developed 3 films in 500ml i have prepared from the Kodak kit (as i always do with JOBO, Bellini..) and the third came out very thin... temperature should have been right.
Then I read it should be used one shot or replenished

I did not replenish, but I did adjust CD time as mentioned in previous post. Plus my wine bags are light-tight and air-tight, stored in cool room temperature (20-25C). And I got 16 rolls out of each 1L solution, even the last roll is properly developed.

 

[sperho]

Sorry missed that question. Once I mix all the chemicals for the entire 5L kit, I separate them into 4x 1L light-tight air-tight wine bags, and 2x 0.5L wine bags.

My regime is like this for the 1L working solution:

- Use Paterson 1L tank (3x 135 or 2x 120 rolls)
- Use full 1L chemical
- Time compensation for color developer (in minutes): 3:15 for rolls 1-4, 3:30 for 5-8, 3:45 for 9-12, 4:00 for 13-16
- I did not bother to compensate for bleach and fixer
- Pour 1L chemical back to the wine bag, squeeze out air and foam, cap

And repeat the above for next few rolls. As I said I use up 5L over about 11 months, so use up 1L every 2 months or so.

Ah, this is fantastic! Thank you. I'm impressed (happily) that the working solutions remain stable in the wine bags. Have you gotten any sense of color shifts occurring with your compensation for the development times? I reckon that unless one used a control strip of some kind and a measurement device, it might be difficult to see when the captured scene is always different. That said, a bit of shift whereby it would take a spectrometer to see it doesn't bother me.

 

[blee1996]

Ah, this is fantastic! Thank you. I'm impressed (happily) that the working solutions remain stable in the wine bags. Have you gotten any sense of color shifts occurring with your compensation for the development times? I reckon that unless one used a control strip of some kind and a measurement device, it might be difficult to see when the captured scene is always different. That said, a bit of shift whereby it would take a spectrometer to see it doesn't bother me.

I'm not very scientific, and have not used a control strip. But I do strive to be relatively consistent in my process.

I scan my C41 negatives (either directly as negative using Epson Scan / Nikon Scan), or scan as positive and invert using Negative Labs Pro. So there are enough variables in the entire signal chain that small variations due to the C41 processing might not be noticeable to my eyes.

 

[sperho]

Sounds like we are similar in how we do things for film development. When getting the developer up to development temperature, do you just put the bag in the water bath as-is and just let it float around or hold it somehow and not worry about any contamination that might occur at the bag spigot? I'm not too worried about this, but as I wait for the rest of my C-41 materials to arrive, I figured I'd try to learn from someone else's hard knocks... ha...

 

[blee1996]

Sounds like we are similar in how we do things for film development. When getting the developer up to development temperature, do you just put the bag in the water bath as-is and just let it float around or hold it somehow and not worry about any contamination that might occur at the bag spigot? I'm not too worried about this, but as I wait for the rest of my C-41 materials to arrive, I figured I'd try to learn from someone else's hard knocks... ha...

The wine bags won't float around: they are filled with liquid and no air. They can stand on their own as well: just get rid of the little air pocket underneath it. And the water bath only reaches 2/3 of the bag height, thus no worry about chemical contamination from the spout. I should take a photo next time I develop C41 or E6 at home.

 

[sperho]

The wine bags won't float around: they are filled with liquid and no air. They can stand on their own as well: just get rid of the little air pocket underneath it. And the water bath only reaches 2/3 of the bag height, thus no worry about chemical contamination from the spout. I should take a photo next time I develop C41 or E6 at home.

Makes sense... Would love a picture of your (and anyone else's homebrew) setup!