Keeping properties of Fuji Press C-41

[polyglot]

I made up 1L of developer near the end of June from the 5L kit and used half of its capacity (7 of 16 rolls). It's been in the fridge at 2C in a PETE bottle topped off with butane for four months now; this afternoon I ran a test roll through it that I exposed with two other identical rolls in June - and it looks identical.

So as far as I can tell, the C41 developer keeps happily for four months with no degradation if you treat it right. I don't have a densitometer or test strips to verify that claim with huge accuracy but when I hold the negs up to the light next to each other, they look identical - I can see no colour or density differences by the naked eye.

Of course, it scans as well as the rolls developed 4 months ago but I don't have my RA4 up and working yet.

 

[John Meyer]

Polyglot
Thats good news ,for im about to buy some Fuji c41 dev . I my self keep my chems allso right above freezing, 0 to 1c.. like you say ,the key is "if you treat it right".
John

 

[jbl]

Quick question about the butane, do you just use a lighter refill or is there another way to get it?

 

[polyglot]

John: I just use the kitchen fridge, which is "<4C". I would be careful going under 1C because freezing can kill the developer, and I'm not sure there's any tangible benefit compared to 2-4C.

JBL: Yep, lighter refill. I give the bottle a really good blast to force the air out, then keep going until there's a layer of frosted butane on the inside of the neck, then close it. Once it warms a little, let it sit still for a minute and let off about half of the pressure (from the evaporated butane) and that will blow a little more oxygen out. I dunno if any of those steps are strictly necessary but they seemed like a good idea and the dev still works...

 

[polyglot]

Further update: purging with butane is critical. I put 500mL of fresh developer in a 1.5L bottle in the fridge; three weeks later it has gone from pale-straw to sherry-brown and the oxidation has sucked the volume of the bottle down dramatically.

I haven't tried that developer but it looks to be in a very poor state.