RA4 chemicals for film?

[ricksplace]

Has enyone ever tried RA4 paper developer for (colour) films? There must be somebody who, like me, is curious enough to have tried it. If it worked, what time/temp/dilution did you use?

 

[Nick Zentena]

PE has posted that the developer in RA4 [CD3?] is bad for the dyes in the film. At least that's what I remember. I'm sure he has discussed the issue.

 

[glbeas]

You would probably have issues with crossover and color balance as the layers would develop at a different speed ratio as with the C41 process. It's worth it for junk film just to see what happens, a different sort of 'cross process' so to speak. I know it works poorly with prints and C41, done that and got no Tee shirt for it.

 

[srs5694]

The CD3 developer used in RA-4 is the same as the developer used in E-6, so in terms of the developer being "good" or "bad" for the film, I wouldn't expect it to be any different from cross-processing C-41 film in E-6 chemistry. (Of course, you'd get very different results.) That said, I've never tried this experiment. I certainly wouldn't expect archival results, but it might be worth trying just to see what you get.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Just FYI, the E6 color developer and the RA color developer use CD3, but the pH of the E6 developer is around 11 or 12 (I'm having a senior moment and cant remember offhand without looking at my notes). In addition, the E6 developer contains a lot of silver halide solvents. SO, E6 color developer used for paper gives foggy results, and RA developer used for E6 films gives low contrast and muddy dyes.

Now, C41 uses CD4 which is a lot more active than CD3. Therefore used for paper will give odd, high contrast results with crossover and oddball dye stability due to the nature of the dyes formed. RA used for C41 films will give low contrast images with odd colors.

OTOH, E6 <-> C41 cross processes work after a fashion. E6 film in C41 gives high contrast images with lots of crossover, and C41 films in E6 give low contrast orange slides.

Of them all (I've tried all) the E6 in C41 is the only combination to give interesting and usable results. The rest are pretty much flops, but then that is my opinion. They might be useful as an oddball art form.

PE