Fuji Hunt C41 X-Press Kit - opinions?

Arthur Fleischmann · Jun 18, 2009

Hello,

I recently bought a used Jobo CPE2 processor and now want to start developing C41 film with it. I did some research here on APUG regarding C41 chemistry choices. It seems many people use Tetenal, but others stay away from it because of the blix and recommend seperate bleach and fix stages.

The 1 litre Tetenal kit is readily available at local stores here in Vienna but no alternative products. However I found a C41 kit by Fuji Hunt offered at Firstcall Photographic in the UK where I could order online. The Fuji C41 kit seems to have seperate bleach and fix and is even cheaper than the Tetenal kit! Cheaper, seperate bleach and fix - any disadvantages that I don't see?

I searched the net for a more detailed description of the Fuji kit but didn't find much, not even on Fuji Hunt's official website. Is anyone here using this kit and can tell me more about it?

- Do you have to mix the whole 5 litres at once or is it possible to mix smaller quantities?
- How often do you have to re-use the chemicals to be able to develop 60-80 films?
- How long can the concentrates and working solutions be stored?

Thanks for your help!

pentaxuser · Jun 18, 2009

Arthur There have been threads on the Fuji Hunt kit. The search facility on APUG isn't APUG's best feature but put in Fuji Hunt C41 kit into the search function and see what happens. Tom Kershaw in the U.K. is a user of this kit and might well respond when he sees this thread.

pentaxuser

Arthur Fleischmann · Jun 18, 2009

I did a search before posting but didn't find much. The search result showed a lot of threads but not necessarily the ones I was looking for.

pentaxuser · Jun 18, 2009

Look for the thread started by Tom Kershaw It's called Fuji-Hunt X-Press C41 Kit Any Opinions?. I put in Fuji Hunt C41 Kit and Tom's thread appeared on page 4 of about 12 pages of results

pentaxuser

Arthur Fleischmann · Jun 18, 2009

(there was a url link here which no longer exists) Will read this right away. Thanks a lot, Pentaxuser!

Tom Kershaw · Jun 18, 2009

Arthur,

That thread should give you a good overview of the Fuji C-41 kit. I should add that the kit seems to hold up to making smaller quantities of solutions at a time, inserting inert gas in the concentrate bottles after use.

Tom.

Arthur Fleischmann · Jun 19, 2009

Tom, thank you! That would have been about the only question left after having read the thread started by you and the manual/data sheet posted there. How long have you kept the concentrates after opening the bottles for the first time?

The only advantage of the Tetenal over the Fuji kit looks to be that the Tetenal developer is easier to mix (700ml water + 100ml + 100ml + 100ml developer to make 1 litre). Please tell me if I'm missing or overlooking something! I think I'll just give the Fuji kit a try.

Tom Kershaw · Jun 19, 2009

Arthur,

As I tend to have colour film to develop in batches I have used a kit opened last Autumn around April this year without issue. Mixing Fuji kit is fine, however, you will need some syringes (without needles) to measure the solutions as you'll be dealing with .1 ml measuring precision.

Tom.

Arthur Fleischmann · Jun 19, 2009

Thanks again, Tom! This sounds promising. I'll use Protectan gas to be safe and I'll also get those syringes - where do I buy them, at a pharmacy?

pentaxuser · Jun 19, 2009

Tom I have learnt something here I wasn't aware of before which is how precise the measurement of the Fuji Hunt kits need to be if you have to measure down to 0.1 of a ml. So like Arthur I am also interested in where such syringes might be obtained?

Good news on its keeping ability. The period mentioned means that it last about 6 months and maybe longer.

Thanks

pentaxuser

jscha · Jun 19, 2009

You can also buy the Fuji Hunt chemistry from "Nordphotoversand" in Germany, they sell it under the Jobo brand (give them a call to make sure you get the right version for you) Shipping should be cheaper and you can pay in Euros

Arthur Fleischmann · Jun 19, 2009

Jscha, I know Nordfoto and once bought film from them. But their website says for international orders minimum order value is 250 Euros. Don't know, maybe this is negiotiable. But right now ordering from the UK might even be cheaper because of the EUR-GBP exchanger rate. At Firstcall the Fuji 5 litre kit is 31.99 GBP (= 37.80 EUR), at Nordfoto the price for the Jobo kit is 51,71 EUR. I think Jobo make two different kits, one with BLIX and one with seperate bleach and fix (these products are not listed on the Jobo website but there is an entry in the FAQs).

Edit: Just noticed the Jobo 5 litre kit has seperate bleach and fix, their other (BLIX) kit is to make 15 litres.

jscha · Jun 20, 2009

I read that too, but had never problems ordering from them (shipping to the Netherlands) for less than 250 Euro (you pay the actual shipping costs). My recommondation is to give them a call, they are pretty good in dealing with special orders (Thomas Sievert is the guy to talk to), for example the spare rollers for my pola-mags came from them ;-) My expirience with the GBP to Euro conversion is that it only pays off for big ticket items, for small stuff shipping/fees eats the advantage.....

perkeleellinen · Jun 20, 2009

1ml syringes with 0.1 graduations can be had on ebay at around £2 for a pack of ten.

Q.G. · Jun 20, 2009

Arthur Fleischmann said:
Jscha, I know Nordfoto and once bought film from them. But their website says for international orders minimum order value is 250 Euros. Don't know, maybe this is negiotiable.

I also order stuff from Nordfoto (awaiting some film from them right now), and never reached the 250 Euros minimum order value nor had them make a thing out of it.
So if they have something good or a good price, just give them a try.

Karl_CTPhoto · Jun 20, 2009

perkeleellinen said:
1ml syringes with 0.1 graduations can be had on ebay at around £2 for a pack of ten.

Even if the kit says +/-0.1mL (0.0034U.S.fl. oz./0.00352 Imp. fl. oz.), the notion that your mixing has to be that accurate is ridiculous.

There is no way the companies themselves are that accurate. I have it on good authority that some concentrates are still mixed by hand!

+/-10ml or 3/8 fl. oz. is more than enough accuracy, especially with a 5L kit.

That is why the bigger kit sizes are better: Although there is more to use, there is more room for "slop" in your measuring abilities.

Even with a 1-L or a 1-Qt. kit though, that level of precision is totally a compulsive fancy of some over-bored box instruction writer, or maybe a delusion planted in someone's head by Eastman Kodak company C-41 propaganda.

The actual C-41 process is quite flexible and produces results that are quite usable even with a processing time or temperature variable of 3-1/2°F/1.9°C.

CTPhotography · Jun 20, 2009

Quote:
Originally Posted by perkeleellinen
1ml syringes with 0.1 graduations can be had on ebay at around £2 for a pack of ten.
Even if the kit says +/-0.1mL (0.0034U.S.fl. oz./0.00352 Imp. fl. oz.), the notion that your mixing has to be that accurate is ridiculous.

There is no way the companies themselves are that accurate. I have it on good authority that some concentrates are still mixed by hand!

+/-10ml or 3/8 fl. oz. is more than enough accuracy, especially with a 5L kit.

That is why the bigger kit sizes are better: Although there is more to use, there is more room for "slop" in your measuring abilities.

Even with a 1-L or a 1-Qt. kit though, that level of precision is totally a compulsive fancy of some over-bored box instruction writer, or maybe a delusion planted in someone's head by Eastman Kodak company C-41 propaganda.

The actual C-41 process is quite flexible and produces results that are quite usable even with a processing time or temperature variable of 3-1/2°F/1.9°C.

Arthur Fleischmann · Jun 21, 2009

CTPhotography said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by perkeleellinen
1ml syringes with 0.1 graduations can be had on ebay at around £2 for a pack of ten.
Even if the kit says +/-0.1mL (0.0034U.S.fl. oz./0.00352 Imp. fl. oz.), the notion that your mixing has to be that accurate is ridiculous.

There is no way the companies themselves are that accurate. I have it on good authority that some concentrates are still mixed by hand!

+/-10ml or 3/8 fl. oz. is more than enough accuracy, especially with a 5L kit.

That is why the bigger kit sizes are better: Although there is more to use, there is more room for "slop" in your measuring abilities.

Even with a 1-L or a 1-Qt. kit though, that level of precision is totally a compulsive fancy of some over-bored box instruction writer, or maybe a delusion planted in someone's head by Eastman Kodak company C-41 propaganda.

The actual C-41 process is quite flexible and produces results that are quite usable even with a processing time or temperature variable of 3-1/2°F/1.9°C.

I agree 0.1 ml accuracy can probably not be achieved in real life. Even when using syringes with 0.1 ml graduations I'm afraid my measuring jars are just not that accurate.

You're sure right the bigger kits are better, but the problem is I don't need 5 litres of chemistry at once. I'll have to divide up the concentrates to make 1 litre at the most at a time. And this means (in case of the Fuji kit) quantities of 903 ml water + 70 ml + 9 ml + 18 ml of developer parts. While I have no experience in this I wonder if an error of +/- 10 ml might not be too much? I think ease of mixing might really be the advantage of the Tetenal kit.

Thanks all for your help, maybe I'll ask at Nordfoto how much they charge for shipping and compare to ordering from the UK. Is the Jobo kit Nordfoto sells exactly the same as the Fuji?

Tom Kershaw · Jun 21, 2009

Arthur,

If you do some searching on APUG about C-41 processing in general you will find some information suggesting advantages in terms of image quality using FUJIHUNT or Kodak kits compared to other third party brands. C-41 is a proprietary process.

Tom.

Tom Kershaw · Jun 21, 2009

See: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Tom.

hannibal_barcauk · Nov 9, 2013

I agree, Karl! I've been using Tetenal for colour over the summer (2013) after years of realising that, when developing black & white - you can get away with murder with accuracy of quantity/ratio dilutions, timing and temperature. You get very acceptable results. For me, I'm no professional... very much an amateur and happy with my results both n B&W and colour so far.

I've just purchased a 5L kit of Fuji Hunt C-41 and was initially horrified with the micro-millilitre (joke!) measurements. Yes, of course we need to be consistent and uniform to produce good results... but you won't go to prison for getting things a tiny bit out!?

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