Arista C-41 processing temp question

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J Rollinger

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The Arista C-41 kits state the processing temp should be 102 degrees but if your read further it states drum temps from 75 f to 104f. Can i just process in a small tank using 75f? Why 75f in drum and not in a small tank?

Thanks
 

srs5694

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This sounds like either a typo or extreme optimism to me. The usual processing temperature for C-41 is 100F. I've heard of kits that claim they can be used at lower temperatures, but the consensus is usually that they produce color crossover at those lower temperatures. (The only exception I'm aware of is (there was a url link here which no longer exists) but it's a very weird divided developer that produces inconsistent results, in my experience. I don't recommend it.) That said, I've never tried using any conventional C-41 developer at a temperature that deviates more than half a degree or so from 100F, so maybe the problems of 75F processing aren't as bad as I've been led to believe. You could always try it yourself on a test roll -- preferably something with some test patterns and/or lots of neutral grays of varying darkness so you can spot color crossover easily.
 

Bob-D659

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Could be the lower temp works ok with black and white c41 type films where you don't have multiple emulsion layers to worry about.
 

Photo Engineer

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It does not work with any COLOR film intended for C-41 processing.

For color, I have tried 68 F - 100 F and only 100 F works properly.

For B&W films, IDK but even if the development time could be adjusted to give the right contrast, there is nothing that says the color of the neutral dyes will remain neutral at lower temperature. They might shift hue. IDK. I would guess that at 68F (20C) the correct time would be in the range of 20 - 30 minutes for the B&W films, but that is just a rough guess.

PE
 
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J Rollinger

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Thank you for the replies! The kit is the house brand from Freestyle. I will give the lower temp a try at 75f for 17 minutes and see what happens. This is my first attempt at color processing and if it goes well i want to try e-6. I wanted to use Kodak chemicals but it seems they only sold in large quantities. Thanks again for the replies.
 

nickandre

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It says 102 because you lose heat in between a water bath and a tank, about 2 degrees actually. I believe the other instructions are for chromogenic B+W film. I would not try that with color.
 

srs5694

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It's really not that hard to do the processing at 100F. Tiberiustibz has alluded to the simplest and least expensive approach: a water bath. Take a dishpan or similar container and fill it with water that's a bit above the target temperature -- say, 102-104F. Put the bottles with your mixed C-41 chemicals in the water bath and wait for them to reach the target temperature. (If you're just using tap water to maintain the water bath, rather than a heating element of some sort, you may need to drain off some of the water and add more at a higher temperature to get everything to the target temperature.) You can also put the developing tank in the water bath to get it to the target temperature. (I use a pre-wet, too -- I pour in 100F water, then pour it out when I'm ready to start processing.) I start my water bath before I load the film in the tank. That gets the chemicals up into the 90F range by the time I've done loading the tank, minimizing the time I have to sit around waiting for the chemicals to warm up.

Even with temperature drift if you don't use a heating device, the drift will be pretty minor over the course of the 3:15 required by the C-41 developer, and that's the most temperature-critical step. (When I use tanks that permit using a thermometer during development, temperature readings don't change my more than 0.1-0.2F.) Kodak says that subsequent steps can be done within a range of 85-100F or 75-105F or some such -- I don't recall the precise range, but it's broad enough that my water bath has never drifted past the low end over the whole processing period.

You can of course get more complicated than this. I've mentioned heaters to keep the temperature at 100F; or you can buy dedicated processing hardware. The latter tends to be fairly expensive, at least by the standards of a Rubbermaid dishpan, so I continue to use a water bath and manual tank. I get consistent results, as measured by enlarging filter packs that don't vary my more than about 10cc when I use the same RA-4 paper and RA-4 developer.
 
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