Forget BLIX. Go to dedicated bleach and fix. For fix just use the cheap "universal" stuff--- perfect for B&W, colour, film and paper.I've taken up film color photography and printing recently and process C41 and RA4 with some regularity. I found a great product for the Blix, it was a universal blix with two different dilutions for film and paper.
BLIX is not economical. The capacity of BLIX is defined by the fixer. Fixer has much less capacity than bleach but is also extremely cheap.So now I'm looking for an economical solution for the blix.
You don't need starter.Kodak wants me to buy about a million different bottles to accomplish this. Bleach for C41, bleach starter for c41, fix, and blix kits for RA4 (all of which will cost me over $100 with shipping as opposed to the $6 I payed for the universal 1/2 liter concentrate bottle).
C-41 bleach is Fe-EDTA based and **can** be mixed with fixer. That's what BLIX is. From any modern bleach and a fixer one can make BLIX. Its the cheaper (and "obsolete") C-22 bleach (ferricyanide) that one can't mix (falls apart within hours).People have told me there's a problem with deterioration when you mix the bleach and fix but I have a liter I mixed from a tetenal c41 press kit in mid-January I kept in a plastic container that worked fine this week.
Since the shelf-life of bleach is measured in "epochs" there is no reason not to get some surplus from a mini-lab...If I do decide to seperate them, is there a way to get cheap bleach?
Its a high-school (and this is a public forum) but the most economical (albeit not ecologically acceptable) is a bleach based upon potassium dichromate (the same stuff once used as glass cleaner in nearly every chemical lab on the planet). Its a Chrome-IV so absolutely NOT to bring into the high school. Its, however, re-usable and re-usable and re-usable.. and also works better ***if*** correctly handled (by a trained and qualified technician), re-used and correctly disposed of. Potassium permanganate based bleaches can work but its much trickier to get good results (more prone to damage emulsion) and since not reusable can more costly to use.I will be mixing a non-rehalogenating (right word?) bleach with my high school to do a B&W reversal for super8 but I'm not sure on the economics of that...(try ordering sulfuric acid online)
Its not garbage. Its about starting for use in automatic replenishment. Its put simply a means to turn new bleach into something more like bleach after its been used. This way one can have consistent levels of activity over time.Than I guess this is complete garbage? Dead Link Removed
That's RA (Rapid Access) process stuff. Its about reducing the time from development start to finish.Kodak sells an RA4 blix... Dead Link Removed This would be simpler because I'm fumbling with trays in the dark.
You wanted economy and that's the way.. and as a side effect. Its even the better solution--- just takes another step or two and a bit longer process time.Ok. Looks like I'm going to have to stay with the mini-lab jugs.
RA4 blix is intended for color paper! It is not intended for color film at any concentration.
I repeat, you don't need a starter for bleaches, blixes and fixes.
Its not garbage. Its about starting for use in automatic replenishment. Its put simply a means to turn new bleach into something more like bleach after its been used. This way one can have consistent levels of activity over time.
Once Ferric EDTA is mixed with Hypo they begin to react. In fact, Hypo on its own is reacting with air and just speeds up when mixed with Ferriic EDTA. Therefore the mixture is not stable. This mixture is a weak oxidant and is not strong enough to fully bleach and fix film if mixed at the right concentrations. /QUOTE]
I wondered about the bleach formulas based on peracid agents (see US 6703292 for example) Kodak has introduced...
I should add, after getting a chance to check, that patent # appears to be incorrect. It is for making semiconductor wafers.
Hello Tiberius,
You don't say what system you are using for C-41 - small tank, drum, etc. Since Kodak does not have a "home" C-41 kit any more (as far as I know) it can be a bit confusing choosing the right size and type of individual chemistry. I suspect you are using single use rather than a replenished system.
If you are determined to use blix, B&H has Tetenal Universal Bleach/Fix http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/444591-REG/Tetenal_T102046_Universal_Bleach_Fix_15.html
I use a WR13 safelight (actually 2 of them) and can see pretty well when I work on color paper. For film it is totally dark, of course.
PE
....
E6 is just not worth it in terms of time and money. It's not that exciting because in the end you have slides (yay) but I'm not doing ilfochrome so I'm stuck with scanning and that would be traitor-esque. I just send them away in fuji mailers for now.
A red or red-orange safelight will fog the red layer and produce a cyan fog.
The amber light was designed specifically to fit a hole in the sensitivity of the paper and allow a safelight that caused no fog.
PE
All these years I've been working blind in the dark, and now I find out that there is a safe safelight for colour printing <sigh>
Graham
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