Fuji Hunt C41 Questions!

Hi folks,

Google has brought me here several times for different threads so thought I should sign up and start contributing!

I have recently bought a Fuji Hunt X-press C41 kit and am getting ready to mix it this week.

I've been using Cinestill CS-41 1L kit and to my inexperienced eyes it's turned out some great results for me over the last 2 months and 17 rolls.

I've read the guide found here and also here, but I'm just wanting to run my plans past you as the instructions leave a lot to be desired!

I also noted that this person made up 500ML batches, and didn't vary the timings at all for the 6-8 rolls they developed each time. I would have gone with this route however I'm wanting to increase the amount of rolls I develop at a time in my Paterson tank (buying a bigger tank) so Ill need 1L working solution.

I'm going to mix up the full 5L of developer, and store 4L in individual 1L amber bottles without any air in my cold garage. The remaining 1L will be my working solution that I keep accessible.

I'm going to make up 1L of the bleach, fix and stabiliser as I think they should hold up okay as concentrates - if I'm wrong please tell me!

I'm planning to do 16 rolls per 1L to not tempt fate and minimise potential issues.

The development times progress throughout each of the 5 'cycles', so if I were to do the below, would that be suitable:

Rolls 1-4, 3:15
Rolls 5-7, 3:18
Rolls 8-10, 3:23
Rolls 11-13, 3:26
Rolls 14-16, 3:27

I've attached the timings table from one of the links above and have based the above timings on the first line, but I've obviously reduced the amount of rolls per L that I'm planning to develop, so the amount of rolls before increasing times has reduced.

My main concerns on the timings are that:

A) the timings are so close that the accuracy when hand pouring in and out of a Paterson tank may not be great.
B) the timings on the cinestill 1L kit climbed much quicker and by bigger amounts, however I appreciate this kit is different.

Finally, when it comes to the inversions/agitations/frequency, I'm honestly lost. The instructions are horrible to follow and they seem unnecessarily complicated!

Can anyone give me a quick run through on their approach to the frequency agitation and inversions? And if possible, their wash/rinse stages (especially if you've added any, as I've always rinsed between Dev and blix on the cinestill chemicals).

Thanks so much!

Welcome to Photrio, @Twotone ! Great to see you're also into color processing

Twotone said:

A) the timings are so close that the accuracy when hand pouring in and out of a Paterson tank may not be great.

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I agree. I would personally just round to the next quarter minute and call it good. So maybe up to roll 7 stick with 3m15 and use 3m30 for the remainder.

Twotone said:

B) the timings on the cinestill 1L kit climbed much quicker and by bigger amounts, however I appreciate this kit is different.

Click to expand...

Essentially with these reuse scenarios in a small amateur lab, you're always pretty much off the beaten path of 'official' color processing. I suppose the Cinestill and Fuji have done their homework and have done some tests to verify how to remain within the ballpark. Which is to say, I'd just stick to what the manufacturer of your chemistry outlines.

Twotone said:

Can anyone give me a quick run through on their approach to the frequency agitation and inversions?

Click to expand...

Continuous agitation. C41 is really intended for constant agitation, so any scheme that gets you the closest to this, should be the best option. In a manual inversion tank, I'd aim for a couple of inversions every 30 seconds at least.

Twotone said:

And if possible, their wash/rinse stages

Click to expand...

Here's how I usually do it:

1: Pre-rinse (essential in my experience for 120 and sheet film in rotary processing; YMMV). Also serves to heat up tank, reel and films.
2: Developer (one shot in my case). 3m15s
3: Stop bath (dilute cleaning vinegar; one shot). 30 seconds or so. Not critical; anything above 10-20 seconds will be OK.
4: Bleach (replenished Fuji in my case). 3m15. I use rapid access chemistry, so my bleach time is excessive. Doesn't hurt, because there's no such thing as overbleaching.
5: Fix (Fuji RA fixer). Again 3m15, and again this is excessive and not harmful. I use the fixer one shot at higher dilution than Fuji documentation; generally around 1+9.
6: 4 wash cycles with process temperature tap water, one minute each.
7: Final wash with distilled water and photoflo.

All steps with continuous rotary agitation (Jobo).

koraks said:

Welcome to Photrio, @Twotone ! Great to see you're also into color processing



I agree. I would personally just round to the next quarter minute and call it good. So maybe up to roll 7 stick with 3m15 and use 3m30 for the remainder.



Essentially with these reuse scenarios in a small amateur lab, you're always pretty much off the beaten path of 'official' color processing. I suppose the Cinestill and Fuji have done their homework and have done some tests to verify how to remain within the ballpark. Which is to say, I'd just stick to what the manufacturer of your chemistry outlines.



Continuous agitation. C41 is really intended for constant agitation, so any scheme that gets you the closest to this, should be the best option. In a manual inversion tank, I'd aim for a couple of inversions every 30 seconds at least.



Here's how I usually do it:

1: Pre-rinse (essential in my experience for 120 and sheet film in rotary processing; YMMV). Also serves to heat up tank, reel and films.
2: Developer (one shot in my case). 3m15s
3: Stop bath (dilute cleaning vinegar; one shot). 30 seconds or so. Not critical; anything above 10-20 seconds will be OK.
4: Bleach (replenished Fuji in my case). 3m15. I use rapid access chemistry, so my bleach time is excessive. Doesn't hurt, because there's no such thing as overbleaching.
5: Fix (Fuji RA fixer). Again 3m15, and again this is excessive and not harmful. I use the fixer one shot at higher dilution than Fuji documentation; generally around 1+9.
6: 4 wash cycles with process temperature tap water, one minute each.
7: Final wash with distilled water and photoflo.

All steps with continuous rotary agitation (Jobo).

Click to expand...

Thanks koraks! Really appreciate the detailed response.

The bleach/fix times you quoted are different to the figures in the Fuji/Kodak guidelines, is that because of the rotary processing/chemicals?

Meant to ask, will the stabiliser concentrate last okay once opened? Planning to make up a 1L batch a time and then dispose of it each time I get a new 1L developer out.

I've since found the attached guidance from Kodak for their flexicolor kit, which is really useful, and gives some extra guidelines.

I'll report back once I've used my first 1L!

Thank you!

Twotone said:

The bleach/fix times you quoted are different to the figures in the Fuji/Kodak guidelines, is that because of the rotary processing/chemicals?

Click to expand...

Note that especially for bleach and fix, it's important to refer to the specific chemistry you're using. This is because there are several variants, most of which these days are much faster than the old Kodak and Fuji times you may find (around 6m30s for bleach if memory serves). I use such 'rapid access' chemistry, and my bleach and fix times are actually significantly longer than Fuji's recommendation for my particular chemistry. I adhere to 3m15s to ensure a bit of a safety margin, and also because I don't have to set my timer to a different time for every step

The Kodak image on agitation you just added looks perfectly in line with how I'd approach it!

koraks said:

Note that especially for bleach and fix, it's important to refer to the specific chemistry you're using. This is because there are several variants, most of which these days are much faster than the old Kodak and Fuji times you may find (around 6m30s for bleach if memory serves). I use such 'rapid access' chemistry, and my bleach and fix times are actually significantly longer than Fuji's recommendation for my particular chemistry. I adhere to 3m15s to ensure a bit of a safety margin, and also because I don't have to set my timer to a different time for every step

The Kodak image on agitation you just added looks perfectly in line with how I'd approach it!

Click to expand...

Brilliant! Many thanks! Did you have any thoughts on my stabiliser query? Thank you

Twotone said:

Did you have any thoughts on my stabiliser query?

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Sorry, missed it! I'd expect it should last more or less indefinitely. In case of doubt, you can always replace it with distilled water with a drop of formalin and a drop of photoflo.

koraks said:

Sorry, missed it! I'd expect it should last more or less indefinitely. In case of doubt, you can always replace it with distilled water with a drop of formalin and a drop of photoflo.

Click to expand...

Thank you for this, greatly appreciated! In which case I'm going to just mix up 1L at a time and put some butane in the concentrate bottle to help keep it fresh (probably not needed!)