• Welcome to Photrio!
    Registration is fast and free. Join today to unlock search, see fewer ads, and access all forum features.
    Click here to sign up

Alternative to Tetenal C-41?

Kirth Gersen

Member
Allowing Ads
Joined
Jan 17, 2019
Messages
53
Location
Kent, England
Format
Multi Format
Tetenal has been my C-41 kit of choice, but now that it is unavailable (and hopefully without starting a flame war) any suggestions for an alternative?

My own thinking is that I have a preference for kit that allow you to develop at lower temperatures than 38C (as I find that hard to maintain). I got excellent, consistent results from Tetenal at 30C. The likely contenders in the UK are the Fuji Kit, the Digibase kit, and I believe you can get the Cinestill kit imported. I have tried (and didn't get along with) the Bellini kit. For some reason I found quality variable (presumably down to failing to keep it at 38C).

Thanks

Richard
 
Any C41 developer will develop film at lower temperatures. But, of course, all bets on correct gamma and color accuracy are off - regardless of which chemistry you use. C41 is a standardized process and altering the process parameters may or may not yield usable results.

I personally DIY my C41 developer, but I use the bleach and fix from Fuji. I use their rapid access minilab chemistry, which works a treat. Can be found on sites like eBay; look for what is available, scout down the datasheets of whatever products you find and determine if it suits your needs.
 
Kirth Gersen said:
any suggestions for an alternative?
Click to expand...
I get great results with the Digibase kit, but I've only use it at 38°C with a Sous Vide and stainless tanks. Never tried the Tetenal C41, but I do like and use their E6.

Oh, and I couldn't get on with the Belini kit at all either. Shame, as Nik and Trick seem to really rate it...
 
Perhaps this is offtopic, but out of academic interest, what are the problems you experienced with the Bellini kit? I am kind of surprised by the fact that the Bellini kit contains a single concentrate for the developer, which I would expect to be unstable and have very poor keeping properties, even as a concentrate. The MSDS does not give any clues as to preservatives/antioxidants.
 
koraks said:
out of academic interest, what are the problems you experienced with the Bellini kit?
Click to expand...
It was a year ago, so my memory is a bit foggy on it, but looking at my scans, it looks like I kept getting strange colour casts, pretty much impossible to fix in post. Perfectly happy to accept it could be due to my poor temperature control. I sent a note to Nik & Trick asking what the timings would be for 30C and got no response, so I swapped back to Tetenal and life was good again .
 
koraks said:
Perhaps this is offtopic, but out of academic interest, what are the problems you experienced with the Bellini kit?
Click to expand...
Here is mine. I've saved you 8.5 pages of arguing and linked to my first response to my original question of "Is the Bellini kit any good or wot?". The second response, once I've used it a few times, is 2 or 3 posts later.

In conclusion: Random streaky effects over the film. Not impressed. Never had it with the Compard/Digibase kit!
 
Last edited:
I have had very good results using the one liter Unicolor kits to process between twelve and sixteen roll or roll equivalents in one or two days.
 
@Fin and @Kirth Gersen thanks for the responses! This does clarify. I can't really link your experiences to my suspicions of a one part developer concentrate, although Fin's experiences could point in that direction, although it could also be a temperature or agitation issue. Then again, if a different kit works OK with the same processing parameters...
 
I used Bellini kits for over 60 films and had very good results, and never had streaks on film. I also bleach and fix for more than 45 seconds.
 
Moving back on topic. Any other suggestions/recommendations for Fuji, Cinestill, Digibase?
 
Kirth Gersen said:
Because I wasn't paying attention . Sorry. If a moderator can redirect it would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...
The best way to make a request like this is to use the "Report Post" function, and make the request there.
Otherwise, the moderators probably won't see the request.
I've done it for you .
 
MattKing said:
The best way to make a request like this is to use the "Report Post" function, and make the request there.
Otherwise, the moderators probably won't see the request.
I've done it for you .
Click to expand...


So did I
 
Thread moved.
 
I just saw the Cinestill C-41 chemical kit for a reasonable price at my local camera store and would like know if anybody has used it? I just happen to have almost exactly the number of not-very-important C-41 rolls laying around that the kit will process. I've only done C-41 once and it was not very successful. This might be a good chance to get started with it.
 
 
I went ahead and bought the Cinestill kit. The instructions have development times for temperatures from 102oF (39o C) all the way down to around 72oF (22oC).

I know David Laiga has posted that he regularly does C-41 at room temperature with no untoward results. What do others think of this?
 
Last edited:
It's been a while since I did room temperature development, but split between the lack of patience for a 15 minute development step and also fairly long bleach and fix steps, and the risk of uncorrectable color problems in RA4 printing, I just stick to the 37.8C/3m15 schedule. It works, it's the way it's intended to work, so to me it makes the most sense to do it this way. But...having the luxury of a Jobo processor on hand does play a crucial role...
 
The results may be acceptable to some, but I always got measurable and visible crossover with room temperature C-41 development, as one would expect.
 

+1
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register