A Primer for Choosing a C41 Home Process

[Photo Engineer]

Paul;

I'm sure it works, but I suggest you look for the following:

1. Premature dye fade, especially in older negative films made before ~2002.
2. Mold or fungus growth on negatives.
3. High grain, reduced color saturation and high contrast compared to commercially processed negatives.

#3 is the biggest immediate problem, as that Blix will have trouble removing all of the Silver metal in all films. BTDT! I ran Silver analyses on films processed in Blixes like that. Even a few milligrams of Silver per square foot causes image degradation.

Back in the 60s, we could not get NH4FeEDTA, only the Sodium salt. We found that the more the Ammonia content, the higher the rate of Bleaching, but only one Blix really worked. One group learned how to make NH4FeEDTA and patented it (Stephen and Surash at EK USP 3615508) and another learned how to make a true film Blix (Mowrey, Stephen and Wolfarth of EK). You may wish to look at Example #1 in the patent by Stephen and Surash. The blix outside the invention is essentially the powder kit we are talking about. The sodium salt based blix is about 3x slower with the test film. This is what you will find!

Good luck.

PE

 

[Paul Verizzo]

PE, I just want to first acknowledge my appreciation for the necessity of precision, perfectionist work in engineering. Especially for things like airplanes!

But I still say that "good enough" is a perfectly fine parameter for many endeavors. Other than airplanes.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Paul;

If there was no perfection in engineering any photo product, you would not enjoy photography very much. Engineering perfection is needed in all fields of work, or you get bad results. OTOH, if it works (makes you happy), use it. I have done too many analyses of off brand products to either give blanket condemnation or blanket approval. I therefore urge caution!

PE