Is my mixing of C-41 chemistry correct?

williaty · Feb 9, 2017

I'm using the part numbers for Kodak Flexicolor LORR and SM chemistry (there was a url link here which no longer exists) if you want to know exactly what I'm using. Based on reading the bottles, here's my understanding of what I need to do. Sadly, the Z-manuals aren't available right now, so I can't actually look up if this is correct so I'm hoping you guys can confirm.

1) Pre-warm Flexicolor LU/LORR Developer kit parts A, and C to 21-38C and LORR Developer Starter.

2) Add 4L of water at 21-38C to mixing vessel. Add Flexicolor LU/LORR Developer kit parts A and B first and mix. Only add Part C after A and B have been thoroughly mixed. Add additional 432mL of water to make 5L total developer-replenisher.

3) Add 197mL of LORR Developer Starter to existing 5L vessel of developer-replenisher. Add a further 1,356mL of water to bring the total mixed volume of ready-to-use developer to 6,553mL

4) Store in full, tightly sealed glass bottles.

5) Flexicolor SM Bleach is not mixed. Use straight.

6) Flexicolor SM Fixer is diluted 1+1.

7) Kodak Flexicolor SM Tank Final Rinse is mixed 1 bottle added to water to make 1.5L total rinse.

Is this all correct?

MattKing · Feb 9, 2017

williaty said:
Sadly, the Z-manuals aren't available right now

Tim Gray's site 125px - under the Tech Docs and the Kodak Technical Documents - scroll down the page to the C-41 Chemicals section:
http://125px.com/techdocs/kodak/

williaty · Feb 9, 2017

MattKing said:
Tim Gray's site 125px - under the Tech Docs and the Kodak Technical Documents - scroll down the page to the C-41 Chemicals section:
http://125px.com/techdocs/kodak/

Thank you, there's a lot of useful documents there!

chassis · Feb 9, 2017

Williaty, yes your steps are correct. I mixed this set of chemicals a few days ago and have processed three batches of film successfully. Camera and film handling errors excepted!

bvy · Feb 9, 2017

The directions for mixing the developer look correct. I used distilled water for best results. Those mixing directions for the bleach and fixer (straight and 1+1) refer to the F2 unit, which I see is labeled Flexicolor SM. I only say that because there are other Kodak products labeled SM that may have to be mixed differently.

williaty · Feb 9, 2017

Correct, for the F2 unit.

Off the top of your head, do you know the actual volumes for the bleach and fix in the F2 unit? I can't find them listed anywhere and I need to buy bottles.

bvy · Feb 9, 2017

williaty said:
Off the top of your head, do you know the actual volumes for the bleach and fix in the F2 unit? I can't find them listed anywhere and I need to buy bottles.

About one liter each of bleach and fixer concentrate (maybe slightly more fixer than bleach). They come in thick bladder packages.

williaty · Feb 9, 2017

bvy said:
About one liter each of bleach and fixer concentrate (maybe slightly more fixer than bleach). They come in thick bladder packages.

Wow, it looks like much more than that! The box itself has a volume of just over 5L and it looked pretty full of liquid, so I was assuming that there were ~3L of fixer and ~2L of bleach.

bvy · Feb 9, 2017

williaty said:
Wow, it looks like much more than that! The box itself has a volume of just over 5L and it looked pretty full of liquid, so I was assuming that there were ~3L of fixer and ~2L of bleach.

I'm not at home to check, so going by memory. It's between one and two liters of each. I want to say a liter of bleach and ~1.5L of fixer. I'll check later and post back.

chassis · Feb 9, 2017

Just checked my bottles in the darkroom.

Contents of the F2 processing unit: 1 liter of bleach and 2 liters of fixer.

This results in 1 liter of bleach working solution (use contents straight from the F2 unit) and 4 liters of fixer working solution (dilute F2 contents 1+1 with water).

williaty · Feb 9, 2017

Thanks! I just ordered enough bottles from Specialty Bottle to contain all the results of this so I can hopefully be processing C-41 by the end of next week.

williaty · Feb 14, 2017

So I did the mixing tonight.

1) The Flexicolor C-41SM F2 Processing units contain 2.2L of fixer which you dilute 1:1. This means you'll have 4.4L of working strength fix to store

2) The Flexicolor C-41SM F2 Processing unit contains 1.1L of bleach which doesn't get diluted so you only have 1.1L to store.

3) All told, I needed 15 of the 32oz Boston Brown bottles from Specialty Bottle in order to store the completely mixed working-strength setup of the "5L" dev kit, the result of the F2 PU for bleach+fix, and the stabilizer/final rinse.

So if anyone else is starting from scratch, this thread now contains everything you need to get stuff mixed and stored.

bvy · Feb 14, 2017

Sounds good, but bleach and fixer are more forgiving than the developer in terms of keeping. In fact, bleach should be aerated (shaken up) periodically to revive it, so a large plastic bottle with some air space would work fine. Fixer can be mixed as needed; I store it in plastic too. Not that glass won't work, but I would hate to think of shattering that bottle of bleach.

Is my mixing of C-41 chemistry correct?

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