Difference in Tetanol c-41 kits?

[Poco]

Does anyone know whether different color processing chemicals are used in the Tetenal 5 liter mono kit and the professional 13.5 liter kits? I'm used to using the mono kit and mixing the color developer for it results in a deep umber colored liquid with that familiar photo-lab smell. Mixing my first color developer for the 13.5 liter kit (which I bought by mistake - Doh!) resulted in a weak golden solution that doesn't smell much like anything. Could something be wrong here?

Thanks,

-Michael

 

[Ed Sukach]

I use the 5 Liter C-41 Tetenal Kit all the time. I haven't seen the *mixed* Color Developer look like that yet, but I have with others, long out-of-date. I would suspect oxidization. How old are the chemicals, and how long have the individual bottles been open? Were the plastic bottle seals intact when you received the kit?
I once purchased what I believed to be a NEW Photocolor C41 Kit from a supposedly reputable retail store. When I got it home ALL the bottles had been opened, were about half full, and the sensitive "Part B" was FRIED - oxidized to @#$%@#$.
I returned it, indignant, and they replaced the kit. All they would say after an additional 50 mile trip, was "Oh, things like that happen, once in a while".

Come to think of it ... I remember another instance, from another store... When a chemistry kit was opened, and I discovered one of the bottles was holed, had leaked and was empty. I returned that kit, and it was replaced. What happened to the defective kit? - Right back on the shelf, waiting to be resold, as is, with no indication to the next buyer.

 

[Poco]

Ed,

The last 5 liter kit I used was maybe 10 months after being bought but well with the expiration date. No question the color was deep amber, but it worked well enough.

So tell me, what color would you expect from fresh chemistry? Like I said, the 13.5 liter stuff mixed up to light golden color.

 

[edz]

Ed,

So tell me, what color would you expect from fresh chemistry? Like I said, the 13.5 liter stuff mixed up to light golden color.

Tetenal have a few different C-41 kits. The developers differ as Mono, 2-part and 3-part chemistries and have varrying degrees of capacity (regeneration rate), smell and health-safety quality (the so-called Environmental or clean air lines) and even process--- alongside the C-41 there are a few different C-41-RA or rapid access processes. One should do some standard colour tests. Some of the different developers demand different starters and some of the different bleaches need a starter and some don't. There are a few different bleaches, fixes and bleach-fixes in Tetenal's program. Bleach is never just bleach as the different bleaches will indeed result in different final mask colours. Here too one should do some tests for retained silver.
One does not need to purchase "real"(tm) Kodak control strips but can make/design one's own using a colour film of your liking. If the process chain is calibrated to produce what you consider good output and you calibrate to test strips that produce in the chain good output then they are sufficient and can be used to check the process and, especially, chemistry changes.

 

[Ed Sukach]

Ed,
The last 5 liter kit I used was maybe 10 months after being bought but well with the expiration date. No question the color was deep amber, but it worked well enough.
So tell me, what color would you expect from fresh chemistry? Like I said, the 13.5 liter stuff mixed up to light golden color.

I've just checked the JOBO/ Tetenal C-41 5 Liter Kit I have - JOBO Part #109310 (? - from memory) and I can't find anything resembling an "Expiration Date". You have one on yours? Where did you buy the kit?

If perfect, I think the Color Developer concentrate would be "straw" colored -- there is a LOT of leeway here, apparently ... In the last kit I opened the concentrate was brown - definitely brown. Mixed, it is faintly light, light brown - and worked very well.

Lately, I've been using the 1 Liter C-41 "Press Pak" - dry chemicals - for the shelf life. I've been able to "cheat" successfully, using 250ml of chemistry in a JOBO 1500 Series tank to process two (2) rolls of 120, - therefore 8 rolls/ liter - instead of the 270 ml stated by JOBO. This stuff works well. I wish I could get dry RA-4 chemistry.

 

[rjr]

Ed,

I am not aware of any "expiration date" on Tetenal chemistry - but they put the date of production on it.

Check the batch code, the first number indicates the year, the second and third are the week of production.

1234567 would indicate "23rd week of 2001".

 

[Poco]

"I am not aware of any "expiration date" on Tetenal chemistry - but they put the date of production on it."

That's what I'm talking about. Then someplace in the directions or the Jobo web site it says that sealed chemicals should have a two year shelf life.

Anyway, the stuff worked. Straw colored, golden, umber, whatever... so long as the end results are there!