Flexicolor SM developer capacity? Extended times/replenishment?

[tbeaman]

So I walked into the local camera store the other day and, to my amazement, they had eight of the Flexicolor SM 2L developer packages sitting on the shelf. The rarity of seeing color chemistry these days is one thing, but more than that, they were clearly pricing it to sell, so I promptly bought all of them.

Now I have 16 liters worth of developer and I'm wondering how I should go about it. I've been using the powder press kits up until now, and you can stretch those quite a bit through reuse and extending times. Meanwhile, with what little documentation there is to go with the SM stuff, they recommend using it one shot and not replenishing. What a tremendous waste. So they expect us to pay the MSRP of ~$12 just to develop 5 rolls of film? And that's not including the price of bleach, fix, and stabilizer. I'm sorry, but I have a hard time believing in documentation that clearly demonstrates the insanity of it's writers.

So what should I do? Extend times with each session like I do with the powder kits, or is it possible to replenish? I generally use 1 liter at a time in a rotary process, so I could mix the 2 liters at a time and replenish the first liter with the second. Unfortunately, I can't go by standard replenishment rates because the SM mixes up as an already diluted tank solution as opposed to a richer replenisher solution.

Any advice you can give will be rewarded with much gratitude.

 

[tbeaman]

Thanks guys! That's very helpful!

 

[L Gebhardt]

No problem!

 

[L Gebhardt]

I don't use the SM chemistry, but with the Flexicolor Developer / Replenisher (Dead Link Removed) I just use the stuff at the minimum amount needed for the Jobo. So that comes out to about 135ml per roll (270ml in a two roll tank). I do not replenish, or reuse, the developer when used in this way. I reuse the bleach one time. And fix is also one shot.

 

[keyofnight]

I hate to revive another old thread, but does anyone replenish SM chemistry? Is it hard to maintain a working solution?

 

[markbarendt]

I hate to revive another old thread, but does anyone replenish SM chemistry? Is it hard to maintain a working solution?

The replenishment info is in Kodak's tech pubs, it is the norm, not the exception, it is not hard.

http://www.kodak.com/global/plugins/acrobat/en/service/Zmanuals/z101_02.pdf

 

[keyofnight]

The replenishment info is in Kodak's tech pubs, it is the norm, not the exception, it is not hard.

http://www.kodak.com/global/plugins/acrobat/en/service/Zmanuals/z101_02.pdf

Thanks. It seems easy enough, but the whole business about "control plots" made me nervous.

 

[markbarendt]

C-41 is an industrial process, the control plots are very useful for labs trying to make the system really efficient and very consistent over a long period.

As individuals we don't generally do enough volume to keep the developer going for months on end. Just following the replenishing directions will keep us darn close for say two to three weekends then we can toss it and start fresh a month or two later when we get the chance again.

Replenishing takes the guesswork out of the times it's 3:15 and you are done, once you get through it a few times you'll see that it is "as consistent as you are" and then some. I don't remember ever having a developing failure that ruined a negative even when I goofed something up, say doubling or forgetting to replenish between runs.

While we as individuals may get slight variations that a pro-lab wouldn't, we also work differently than a pro-lab, we have different expectations for any given shot than they might for our whole order and its not tough for us to adjust our printing processes.

Replenishing on the bleach, fix, and stabalizer is the perfect choice for everybody because the chems don't go bad by themselves, in fact getting fresh air/oxygen into the bleach is important. These chemicals can be kept replenished indefinitely. The only time I throw these out is when I inadvertently contaminate them.

 

[Athiril]

The replenishment info is in Kodak's tech pubs, it is the norm, not the exception, it is not hard.

http://www.kodak.com/global/plugins/acrobat/en/service/Zmanuals/z101_02.pdf

The replenishment rates are for whatever replenish you use, if it's LORR LU, use LORR LU replenishment rates, Fuji, use Fuji replenishment rates, regardless if you started with SM, Fuji, LORR/Flexi, Tetenal, etc.


I've replenished regular Flexicolor in 1.6L capacity, and it's not hard to maintain using near air free glass bottle, I pour some out, add the replenisher, pour it back in till bottle is full, then toss the left over, this way I keep the bottle full. It lasts quite a while between uses (to a limit), so that's fine. Flexicolor LORR/LU has twice the HAS in it's mixing ratio, and lasts twice as long as normal Flexicolor, as well as half the replenishment rate, so this should last better than normal Flexicolor which already lasts well.

Definately use a separate bleach and fix.