Kodak Chemistry disruption

[grainyvision]

how much is a massive quantity? You can get the 2x10L pack which is basically the same as getting 4 5L lorr packs. https://www.pakor.com/fuji-neg-n1-r-developer-replenisher-2x10-l-3 If you have a big backlog, you’ll prob run through at least one of the 10L mixes and still have one unopened bottle to go unless you replenish, but even then, you gotta burn at least a liter just to get an initial bottle of working solution.

Not nearly that massive. 5L kits make about 6.5L of working solution and I typically use that one shot. I'd run through a full kit at this point by using it one shot but couldn't use 4x kits

 

[mshchem]

I just placed an order for the Fujifilm C-41 developer replenisher. Alas 4x5L, replenisher, I get all my color chemistry from Unique. I will be using the Fuji developer with Kodak bleach and fixer. No problem.
I wonder if Sino Promise is Force Majeur .

 

[mshchem]

@mshchem I am assuming you got this one. But which developer starter did you get? I couldn't find Fuji's developer starter anywhere in the US. Not just in stock, it's not even listed anywhere. What a mystery...

I have Kodak starter, it will work fine.

And yes that's the product I ordered.

 

[Adrian Bacon]

Are any photo stores, smaller operators really shut down?
Crazy times.

it depends on how much chemistry they buy at a time… I generally buy 3-6 months worth at a time so I’m somewhat insulated from stocking issues, but that means that I’m buying a relatively large amount at a time, which is pretty expensive. All that being said, I’m painfully low (by my standards) on bleach right now. I prefer to run Flexicolor chemistry, but might have to consider switching to another brand. If a shop only buys 1-2 months of supply at a time, a multi-month long shortage will totally bite them in the shorts.

 

[spark]

One of the local photo stores here told me years ago that Kodak chemicals were no longer being made because Tetanal had shut down. I take any such info with skepticism, that store was going full digital except for some negative file pages.

 

[mshchem]

One of the local photo stores here told me years ago that Kodak chemicals were no longer being made because Tetanal had shut down. I take any such info with skepticism, that store was going full digital except for some negative file pages.

Tetenal is still going. Kodak black and white chemistry is now available. Kodak SinoPromise is fouled up in the logistical mess. Wuxi (Kodak SinoPromise) have been making Kodak color chemistry for a long time, nothing new there.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

We must rush out to stock up to keep the chemicals from the hoarders!

It's a very satisfying experience to mix your own processing chemicals from bulk materials. Get yourself a copy of the dark room cookbook and get going. It's a lot of fun.

 

[removed account4]

It's a very satisfying experience to mix your own processing chemicals from bulk materials. Get yourself a copy of the dark room cookbook and get going. It's a lot of fun.

exactly!
some of the simplest formulas make the best developers (and fixers)
and sometimes the bulk things purchased can be off of amazon (thiosulfate) in a 50lb bag, or white distilled vinegar from the grocery store
and a film developer that rivals D76, PYRO, HC110 and XTOL &c can be made out of a mix between grocery store and bulk from Artcraft, the formulary or one's favorite photochemical supplier... and a teaspoon.

 

[fdonadio]

It's a very satisfying experience to mix your own processing chemicals from bulk materials.

exactly!

All of my D-76 and Dektol (ok, D-72!) was mixed from raw chemicals and I have always found that it’s almost as easy as mixing the stuff from Kodak. One advantage is tha one can mix only the needed quantities, I mean, no need to mix one gallon when one needs just one liter.

Edit: some formulas, like D-19, D-23 and DK-50, which are no longer available commercially, can be easily mixed from raw chemicals too.

 

[Donald Qualls]

or white distilled vinegar from the grocery store

FWIW, I bought roughly a pint of 75% acetic acid from Amazon that costs a LOT less per liter of stop bath (at 2% or lower strength) than white vinegar from the supermarket (even in the "super cheap" gallon jugs). Still turns out not to beat Kodak Indicator Stop Bath concentrate, especially after I price in a tiny bottle of bromocresol purple (the indicator dye that's yellow when acid and turns purple when not acidic enough).

 

[mshchem]

Whenever people clean out a darkroom I end up with stop, Hypo clearing agent, selenium toner. I never run short.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Whenever people clean out a darkroom I end up with stop, Hypo clearing agent, selenium toner. I never run short.

I have always wished that I was taller.

 

[removed account4]

FWIW, I bought roughly a pint of 75% acetic acid from Amazon that costs a LOT less per liter of stop bath (at 2% or lower strength) than white vinegar from the supermarket (even in the "super cheap" gallon jugs). Still turns out not to beat Kodak Indicator Stop Bath concentrate, especially after I price in a tiny bottle of bromocresol purple (the indicator dye that's yellow when acid and turns purple when not acidic enough).

exactly
TBH I don't even bother with stop bath most of the time
its not necessary ..

 

[Donald Qualls]

TBH I don't even bother with stop bath most of the time
its not necessary ..

It depends. If you're doing something where you need even, consistent development, stop bath is useful -- to ensure that development ends across the entire film/print in the same time frame/direction it started. It also helps avoid active developer in the fixer (which can cause fog if your fixer isn't acidic enough). Beyond that, it seems mostly a matter of how you learned or what you're in the habit of doing. I learned to use stop bath for film and prints (fifty-some years ago), and I've almost always used it, except during the period when I mixed my own neutral fixer and used either water stop or no stop (which is how I know developer in non-acid fixer causes fog).

 

[mshchem]

I have always wished that I was taller.

 

[removed account4]

It depends. If you're doing something where you need even, consistent development, stop bath is useful -- to ensure that development ends across the entire film/print in the same time frame/direction it started. It also helps avoid active developer in the fixer (which can cause fog if your fixer isn't acidic enough). Beyond that, it seems mostly a matter of how you learned or what you're in the habit of doing. I learned to use stop bath for film and prints (fifty-some years ago), and I've almost always used it, except during the period when I mixed my own neutral fixer and used either water stop or no stop (which is how I know developer in non-acid fixer causes fog).

I guess stop bath is useful ? a water bath works fine, and its 1 less chemical to deal with. never had problems of contaminated fixer, or poorly developed negatives or prints, and regarding "fog". I've never experienced that, ... and the woman who taught me stop bath wasn't necessary didn't experience it either (in the 60+ years she had been practicing portrait photography before I worked for her). otherwise she would have had stop bath in the mix to process the 1000s of sheets of 5x7 film 1000s of prints made on a weekly basis. ..

 

[fdonadio]

I believe there’s a long running thread about the importance of stop bath somewhere here at Photrio…

 

[Sirius Glass]

I believe there’s a long running thread about the importance of stop bath somewhere here at Photrio…

Yes, and we all know that Stop Bath with Indicator is just so damned expensive!

 

[removed account4]

I believe there’s a long running thread about the importance of stop bath somewhere here at Photrio…

there is, you are right. and in it PE acknowledged that a running water stop worked OK in some of cases. ...

personally, I don't believe everything i read on the internet - on photo sites it's filled with pissing contests of people who endlessly brag about their gear and troll ... and folks who proclaim that selenium is harmless because it is found in multi vitamins, or that you can substitute baking soda for fixer or if you process your film in universal developers like dektol or ansco 125 or 130 you will get golf ball grain and other nonsense spouted by people who must have heard it somewhere and just posted it as fact ...
as I said in the stop bath thread...i apprenticed for someone who was trained in the depression era and didn't use stop bath for 60+ years, and her thousands of 5x7 films, from the 30s and 40s looked perfect. as do the 1000s of negatives and FB/RC prints I have made since about 1980

getting back to the OP thread
what Ralph said .. if there are disruptions just get you just need metol and sulfite and washing soda to make negatives or instant coffee and Vit c; vinegar from the supermarket works fine as stop bath and thiosulfate from amazon the people who sold you the metol and sulfite a gallon jug of perma wash will last a lifetime like a small bottle of photo Flo.
there's really not much to making photochemistry that works as good as anything that might have been waylaid in a container from china.

 

[Donald Qualls]

True. Fixer is the only thing that's hard to make completely from grocery store ingredients (you don't even really need sulfite for developer, though it helps with getting more of the film's full speed). Fortunately, swimming pools and hot tubs aren't going away this century, and as long as they use chlorine for bacteria control, there will be thiosulfate pentahydrate in buckets at the pool & spa store. Sure, it'd be nice to be able to make it ourselves (like making p-aminophenol from acetaminophen), but it isn't really necessary.

 

[removed account4]

I'm not into the grocery store junk, but I can fairly easily get by on D-23 and a commercial rapid fixer for film. Print developers are easy to make but require a few extra ingredients to work properly.

 

[removed account4]

no I was pointing out that bender has a darkroom stocked with chemistry so this disruption may be short-lived.

 

[Moose22]

Right but did he use stop bath or water?

If it's Bender, I'm guessing beer.

 

[removed account4]

If it's Bender, I'm guessing beer.

EXACTLY!

 

[Sirius Glass]

Right but did he use stop bath or water?

Interested readers want to know because we all know that Stop Bath with Indicator is just so damned expensive!