C41 Fixer Supply in Japan

[kizu]

Anyone know where I can get C41 Fixer in Japan?

 

[Bronson Dugnutt]

You can use any standard rapid or non-rapid fixer with color film. My preference is the non-rapid variety to aid in rinsing.

I use Arista odorless for all my film/paper processing: B&W, C-41, ECN-2, E-6 etc. Pour out a little from a gallon of distilled water, add the fixer, mix, and top off with the pour-off from earlier. EZPZ.

 

[mshchem]

Any rapid fixer will work

 

[kizu]

I want to do ECN2 and substitute the fixer with C41 fixer. In the formula of ECN2 a pH of 6.5 is described. Ilford Rapidfixer has a pH of 5.5. Do you think this will still work?

 

[Bronson Dugnutt]

Yes. After the stop bath and bleach there is no image forming chemistry occurring. Basically the only way you can screw up the fixing step is not washing enough prior to fixing or under-fixing (using an exhausted fixer or too little time).

 

[lamerko]

Kodak issues the following warning:

If bleach regeneration is practiced, the fixer pH should never be allowed to fall below 5.5, since low fixer pH affects the dye stability of Kodak color negative films.

I'm not sure which bleach is the problem, but I always use the bleach according to the formula given.
I had a weird color problem a while back that I still don't know the cause of. I did a series of tests - including using the Ilford RAPID FIXER - I didn't see any visible change...

 

[halfaman]

PE mentioned several times that fixer pH is important for final hue of color dyes. So an acid rapid fixer will work (it will remove halides) but it can affect color to some extent.

 

[koraks]

Anyone know where I can get C41 Fixer in Japan?

Fuji chemistry should be fairly easily available.
If you know a lab nearby that does c41 development, ask them if they can sell you a bottle of c41 fixer.

@halfaman is right in that there are concerns with dye hue when fixer pH is off. I'd also be reluctant to use a non-rapid fixer as it may struggle to remove all the silver.

What @Bronson Dugnutt says is theoretically correct, but a concern is that silver halide can fog into silver sulfide in the presence of sulfur or sulfur compounds. This means that the use of old fixer or old stocks of thiosulfate may bring about subtle density and color changes due to formation of silver sulfide (which cannot be removed afterwards).

I've used Fuji C41 fixer for all my ECN2 film in the past year or so, and it works very well. If recommend looking for something like it in first instance, and only if that fails, resort to alternatives.

Keep in mind that you can relatively easily mix the official ecn2 fixer if you have access to the few common chemicals it requires. It's not a dangerous or difficult process.

 

[lamerko]

I want to do ECN2 and substitute the fixer with C41 fixer. In the formula of ECN2 a pH of 6.5 is described. Ilford Rapidfixer has a pH of 5.5. Do you think this will still work?

I noticed now that you are from Germany. You can look for TETENAL Unicolor Superfix FX-VR in Fotoimpex - it costs 39 euros a concentrate for 20 liters, which if used in the top-up scheme will have a very large capacity. Its pH of 7.1 makes it a universal fix for C-41, E-6 and ECN-2 processes.

 

[brbo]

I noticed now that you are from Germany.

The title says OP needs a source of fixer in Japan.


It's good information for the rest of us, though. Thanks!