Quality difference between the C41 and C41RA?

Hello. It looks like most commercial labs in our country that offer C-41 processing service use C-41RA chemicals.
I was very surprised to see that the film processors of Noritsu and Fujifilm, which were made 20 years ago, are still in operation.
If it's correct, C-41 and C-41RA are different chemicals and processes.
I see there are still C-41 film processors on the market but it appears to be not used well by commercial labs.

May I ask you the reason and about the quality difference between the C-41 and C-41RA process?
I heard the C-41 process takes longer than the C-41RA process.

Thank you

No difference. Bleach is different. I think the RA version is for automatic minlabs mostly. Not sure about dip and dunk. I use the RA bleach and fixer with Jobo. I use 2 minutes for bleach and 5 minutes for fixer. I replenish the bleach. Use developer and fixer 1 shot.

I would use whatever process is convenient for you. I don't rush.

.

PaulYW said:

May I ask you the reason and about the quality difference between the C-41 and C-41RA process?
I heard the C-41 process takes longer than the C-41RA process.

Click to expand...

The only difference between the two processes is that the RA (“rapid access”) version uses different bleach and fixer, both of which act faster than the regular, non-RA bleach and fixer. The developer and final rinse are the same. For the Kodak Flexicolor chemistry, the non-RA bleach and fixer both require 6:30 in a Jobo (at 38 degrees C), whereas the RA bleach requires just 1:00 and the RA fixer requires 2:00 at the same temperature. Many people use slightly longer bleach and fix times just to be on the safe side, as mshchem reports above, but my experience using chemicals only as one-shot solutions suggests it’s not necessary. On a per-unit-volume basis (with regard to working solutions), the RA versions are a little more expensive.

I use the Kodak Flexicolor chemistry and have actually compared the results produced by the non-RA and RA chemistry side-by-side using 4x5 sheets of Ektar and Portra 400 (i.e., exposing two sheets of Ektar and two sheets of Portra, and developing them in the two different processes). The results are completely indistinguishable. I prefer the faster process, so I’ve switched to the RA bleach and fixer.

Hope that helps.

PaulYW said:

I heard the C-41 process takes longer than the C-41RA process.

Click to expand...

In processing RA generally means Rapid Access.
This may mean
-) a process on its own as RA-4
-) a RA version of standard version as C-41RA

But there also are other RA processes.
Industrial labs for instance use a standard C-41 process except for the washing and final rinse. Here though the idea is not less the time saving, but the saving of water, by reduced washing and the use of a respective stabilizer. One may call such process C-41 WL.

Thank you for your detailed answers guys. It helped a lot.

North Coast Photographic Services NCPS labs in Carlsbad CA use Clayton F76+ developer instead of Kodak D76 Any opinions?

Clayton F76+ is neither a colour process, nor a RA process.

I worked in a lab that used RA C41. It was Noritsu equipment. With our machines, the chemicals were premixed in a condensed solution inside a box, which you plugged into the feeder tray at the bottom of the machine. Pumps would suck the fluid out of the box and mix it into the tank solution. No hand mixing was needed with these machines. But when a pump went, the chemistry all went to Hell after that. Usually you ended up dumping the tanks and mixing fresh starter solution by hand into the tanks of the processor. And of course get the pump fixed. I don't know if all RA machines used the box chemicals or not, so I can't comment there.

I've been using the Kodak C41RA chemistry for several years works fine. With the availability issues with Kodak I've started using Fuji developer replenisher and starter. I use a Jobo, use the developer (tank mix including the starter) developer one shot, Kodak Flexicolor C41RA Bleach ( I replenish the bleach which is NOT recommended by Kodak), finally I use Kodak C41RA Fixer one shot. Wash, followed by Kodak final rinse.
Hopefully the Kodak brand of color chemistry will be back before too long.