Questions about tray processing RA-4

[Bob-D659]

I've been doing b&w darkroom work off and on since the Nikon F was a young pup, but this is my first foray into colour printing. I picked up a nice Durst Ce1000 c/w a working CLS450 head and power supply, 5 neg carriers and 3 mixer boxes.

After reading about using Kodak's chemistry, BTW, thanks a bunch to PE for his posts here and on photo.net, I have one question, can I use Kodak's 10 litre blix replenisher kit as mixed for tray processing?

Any other hints or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Bob

 

[srs5694]

I do tray processing of color (RA-4) paper. I mix all chemicals as directed. For me, this is a mix-it-yourself developer, conventional stop bath, and commercial blix. In the past, my blix has been Paterson's blix, but that stuff is gone now, and my last purchase was Kodak's blix. Both Paterson's and Kodak's blixes seem to work fine in trays, but I can't speak to print longevity, particularly for the Kodak product. My oldest tray-processed RA-4 prints are only a couple of years old. So far they're fine. Ask me again in another decade or two about long-term stability.

 

[ZorkiKat]

I used to do tray processing too before I got an old RCP20.. I also used a stop bath, which BTW is not used when using roller print processors. I used Konica and Lucky equivalents of the RA4 developer. But for the BLIX, I used a DIY formula from ORWO. Good final washing needed- thorough, but not necessarily long. Prints from around 2002 or 2003 made this way still look good.

The ORWO BLIX I used did its work in under 2 minutes. It did not even use ammonium thiousulphate- just plain hypo added to Ferric Chloride, EDTA, and Sodium Chloride.

 

[Bob-D659]

Thanks for the info, also it appears a local photo dealer can get the 10 litre Kodak RA-4 chemistry for me. I'll let you know how well it works for me.

 

[Bob-D659]

Great news, Photo Central here in Winnipeg has received the order of Kodak RA-4 chemistry, will pick up mine tomorrow.