5x7 in C-41 at home

Hey,

Looks like the last batch of 5x7 I cut down was cut a little short and my lab can't load it on to their hangers.
So I guess I need to go out and buy a develop at home kit.

I don't have a JOBO or film hangers right now so I'm wondering if there's any reason I can't tray process 1 sheet at a time in a tempered bath and what the agitation pattern/time might be for that.

Alternatively, I guess I could see myself rolling a sheet into a stainless tube (similar to BTZS tubes) is there any issue with this? In other words, do I need to pull the film out so that the back of the film comes in contact with the chemistry?

Finally, I suppose I could go out and find some film hangers. With b/w developing I always had edge marks (surge marks) when I used hangers. Is there a way to avoid this?


Thanks.
T


PS. I just went back about 15 pages in this part of the forum but I didn't see a comparison on the Arista, Rollei and Unicolor c-41 kits. Does anyone care to chime in as to which one is better/easier/less SNAFU-able?

false_Aesthetic said:

In other words, do I need to pull the film out so that the back of the film comes in contact with the chemistry?

Click to expand...

Yes, by my experience you absolutely want the chemistry to reach the back side, otherwise AH layer won't come off. And the result of that will look really ugly.

I have heard of a "Taco Method" where one folds the sheets like a taco shell, secures them with rubber bands and places them in a traditional round daylight tank.

A search might turn up some good info...

werra said:

Yes, by my experience you absolutely want the chemistry to reach the back side, otherwise AH layer won't come off. And the result of that will look really ugly.

Click to expand...

Can this be taken care of post-developing?

In other words if I go through the Pre-wash, dev, bleach, fix. Can I then take the film out of the tube and re-fix or whatever?

I use a Beseler 8x10 print drum and process 2 sheets of 5x7 at a time. Works great.

I've also used the 8x10 print drum method (poor man's JOBO) for 5x7 and 8x10 film developing.

I use a roller base or just roll the drum in a tempered bath, e.g. my kitchen sink.

The drum I use has slide-in guards which help keep the film sheets in place - so if buying one, make sure these are included (if required).

Emulsion side faces inward, base side faces outside of drum. Haven't had an issue with chemistry not reaching base side.

Rollei chems are re-branded Fuji and as such have separate bleach / fix steps, whereas the powder kits use a combined blix. I've used both, and prefer the separate steps.

The Fuji 5L C41 kit only seems to be available in Europe (macodirect.de), is slow to arrive and expensive to ship - so the Rollei chemistry is likely your best bet (outside larger quantities form a Kodak or Fuji distributor).