Help with sudden staining on RA4 Prints?

brbo · 2025-08-11T14:41:45-0400

legstowalkmyself said:
My god i feel like an idiot, I've been looking for that forever cuz the bottles themselves just have 10L ratio with water and starter. I just convert it to 1L. I have some ektacolor replensisher I'll try with it. Idk if mixing brands matter

You probably meant Ektacolor Starter, but it will probably work, yes. It did in my case for Fuji RA-4 developer. But, as I said, Ektacolor RA-4 developer needed like 20ml of starter and Fuji needs about 80ml. In reality I could skip the starter altogether with Ektacolor and just add a bit more water and there was zero difference in my prints. Fuji chemistry was totally different and I would get horrible cyan/yellow (even worse than yours) whites and casts when using developer without a starter.

legstowalkmyself said:
So why doesn't it say add starter on the bottle just water? Sorry im new to all this and I really appreciate you teaching me how this works

Because the instructions on the bottle is for mixing the replenisher not working/tank solution. Confusion probably comes from thinking that the bottle is "replenisher" when in fact it is the "replenisher concentrate".

legstowalkmyself · 2025-08-11T14:45:47-0400

brbo said:
You probably meant Ektacolor Starter, but it will probably work, yes. It did in my case for Fuji RA-4 developer. But, as I said, Ektacolor RA-4 developer needed like 20ml of starter and Fuji needs about 80ml. In reality I could skip the starter altogether with Ektacolor and just add a bit more water and there was zero difference in my prints. Fuji chemistry was totally different and I would get horrible cyan/yellow (even worse than yours) whites and casts when using developer without a starter.

Because the instructions on the bottle is for mixing the replenisher not working/tank solution.

Thank you so much you probably just solved my issue, I'll try when im home

koraks · 2025-08-11T14:46:48-0400

legstowalkmyself said:
So why doesn't it say add starter on the bottle just water? Sorry im new to all this and I really appreciate you teaching me how this works

As @brbo says, it's because the instructions are for mixing the replenisher. I mentioned earlier that Champion targets commercial labs primarily. In their typical use, the developer is virtually always used as a replenisher. The developer-with-starter is only mixed when a machine has been drained, the developer discarded and a fresh batch is made. This doesn't happen all that often (as it's wasteful) and most of the 'maintenance' of the chemistry consists of adding replenisher. So the instructions on the label fit the typical use case - which is different from your situation.

legstowalkmyself · 2025-08-11T14:58:24-0400

koraks said:
As @brbo says, it's because the instructions are for mixing the replenisher. I mentioned earlier that Champion targets commercial labs primarily. In their typical use, the developer is virtually always used as a replenisher. The developer-with-starter is only mixed when a machine has been drained, the developer discarded and a fresh batch is made. This doesn't happen all that often (as it's wasteful) and most of the 'maintenance' of the chemistry consists of adding replenisher. So the instructions on the label fit the typical use case - which is different from your situation.

So so according to this chart, I just follow this with my champion replenisher, Kodak ekatcolor and water basically

legstowalkmyself · 2025-08-11T15:00:22-0400

And also I guess I should ask what developer should I purchase from champion [or anywhere else] to make all this as easy and simple as possible?

brbo · 2025-08-11T15:03:20-0400

legstowalkmyself said:
So so according to this chart, I just follow this with my champion replenisher, Kodak ekatcolor and water basically

Yes, I would start with:

925ml water + 50ml replenisher concentrate + 25ml Ektacolor starter = 1L of working solution (I assumed that one bottle of concentrate is 1L and that 1L of concentrate makes 10L of replenisher, which might not be true according to this... you'll have to check what you actually have)

If you get good prints, leave it at that. Otherwise you might play with how much Ektacolor starter you need or buy Champion starter so that you know 25ml is the correct amount.

legstowalkmyself said:
And also I guess I should ask what developer should I purchase from champion [or anywhere else] to make all this as easy and simple as possible?

I'm pretty sure that you will find it easy enough when you realise how much cheaper per litre that developer is compared to Bellini and other "home-user-friendly" solutions.

koraks · 2025-08-11T15:07:55-0400

legstowalkmyself said:
So so according to this chart, I just follow this with my champion replenisher, Kodak ekatcolor and water basically

Looks good! Follow @brbo's lead.

legstowalkmyself said:
what developer should I purchase from champion [or anywhere else] to make all this as easy and simple as possible?

Really, any developer should work. Some are marketed specifically for low-volume and low-temperature use, but frankly, I've never heard of any developer that didn't work for the kind of stuff we do (i.e. low volume printing in a private darkroom). I like to use whatever I can get my filthy mitts on!

legstowalkmyself · 2025-08-11T15:15:00-0400

You guys are great i appreciate you all

koraks · 2025-08-11T15:57:24-0400

Much appreciated it! Please report back how it goes; fingers crossed you'll be able to get some good prints again!

legstowalkmyself · 2025-08-11T20:36:33-0400

koraks said:
Much appreciated it! Please report back how it goes; fingers crossed you'll be able to get some good prints again!

wait so I’m a bit confused, do I dilute the replenisher like it says on the bottle THEN add 50ml or just 50ml just from the bottle? Sorry thank you

legstowalkmyself · 2025-08-11T21:34:11-0400

GUYS IT WORKED THANK YOU SO MUCHHHH LOVE YOU ALL

mshchem · 2025-08-11T21:41:04-0400

Perfect

koraks · 2025-08-12T02:18:54-0400

legstowalkmyself said:
GUYS IT WORKED THANK YOU SO MUCHHHH LOVE YOU ALL

Victory!

legstowalkmyself said:
do I dilute the replenisher like it says on the bottle THEN add 50ml or just 50ml just from the bottle?

Not sure which bottle you mean now. You mix the replenisher concentrate with the required amount of water and add starter to that. In any case, as your print shows, whatever you did, it has worked for you!

brbo · 2025-08-12T03:06:29-0400

legstowalkmyself said:
wait so I’m a bit confused, do I dilute the replenisher like it says on the bottle THEN add 50ml or just 50ml just from the bottle? Sorry thank you

When I stated "50ml + 25ml starter + 925ml water" I was under wrong assumption that you have a 1L bottle of concentrate that makes 10L of replenisher that is then used in "500ml replenisher + 25ml of starter + 475ml" to make 1L of working solution (mixing instructions for Champion product code 140162).

Now I've looked at your links more carefully and I think that you have 0.82L bottles of replenisher concentrate (product code 140163) so you should follow this instructions:

So:
80ml of concentrate (from the bottle that you bought)
+ 35ml of starter (hoping that Ektacolor starter is close to what Champion provides for a starter)
+ whatever amount of water to make 1L*

and then try to aim for 35ºC as developing temperature. As you can see Champion suggests that you make you working solution a bit less potent (40ml of starter) and use different replenishment rate (which is of no importance to you since you'll be using the working solution one-shot) if you intend to develop at 38ºC.

* of course, I would start with like 800ml of water then add replenisher concentrate then starter and then add water to reach 1L

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