Rollei Digibase C-41

mikecnichols · Oct 23, 2010

mikecnichols said:
Is there any way to fix it on the rolls it has unfortunately occurred on?

Should I re-bleach and fix then re-stabilize?

kompressor · Oct 26, 2010

aged and used chem testing on Kodak portra 160NC

Here is a teststrip i did today for testing the long time stability og working solution of my Rolle Digibase C41-chemistry. The one litre of working solution had previously done 15 120 films and been stored in half filled bottles for almost two months now in room-temperature. Strip is done in my studio ona the spot-on reading for this exposure was 1/125 and F11,5 The whole strip is done at 17125 and you can see the aperture on each frame. Developed at standard times from the instructionsheet in a JOBOCPE2.

pentaxuser · Oct 26, 2010

kompressor. An interesting test. Based on background colour(grey?) it looks as if the spot reading used was correct and yet while the background goes very dark at f16 the colours on the chart look better to me. The f11 shot makes the colours look a little washed out.

I take it that your conclusion here was the developer was still working correctly despite being 2 months old,having done 15 films, keep at room temp and in half filled bottles.

pentaxuser

perkeleellinen · Oct 26, 2010

And just to clarify - there was no extension in developing time?

germanotero · Nov 8, 2010

I'm wondering about the expiration time of this process once is prepared, and also, in concentrated mode. Does anyone has this info?.

Why?.. because I only shoot 1 or 2 color rolls each month, except for vacations, and I want to see if it works for me..
Las summer, I use tetenal c-41, because in my vacations I shot 8 ektar 120, so I've prepare it, and develop all the films the same day. I couldn't find the expiration dates once is prepared for the tetenal, or the Rollei process.

hrst · Nov 8, 2010

C-41 developer in completely squeezed plastic PET soft drink bottles usually lasts for 4 to 6 months or more, and probably even more if you refrigerate it (but not below 5 deg C). I can't guarantee anything, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if it lasted more than a year in a perfect condition. This applies probably to any C-41 developer, be it Kodak, Fuji, Tetenal or Rollei.

The usual figure that is promised by most manufacturers is around 6 weeks, but it has safety margin.

Concentrates, while in theory allowing longer shelf life, can actually be quite problematic as they are very small bottles and displacing air is very important and not as easy as with mixed solutions in bigger bottles.

germanotero · Nov 8, 2010

Does anyone know who can ship a kit overseas, South Amerca (Argentina)?.

mikecnichols · Nov 9, 2010

mikecnichols said:
I have a question about final rinse and drying. It seems that the bottom couple of frames of my rolls are more susceptible for water staining and I'm pretty sure it is due to squeegeeing and/or the gravitational nature in hang drying. This is a two part question, is it possible to clean the negatives that have this phenomenon (and how) and how is it preventable on future rolls?

Here are a couple of examples:

Can I re-bleach, fix and stabilize these rolls?

hrst · Nov 9, 2010

Rebleach, fix and stabilize can always be done, but do the whole tail end, including decent final wash and stabilizer/final rinse. Or, if you have no problems with bleach and fix and you just want to clean the film, wash AND stabilize is ok.

mikecnichols · Nov 9, 2010

hrst said:
Rebleach, fix and stabilize can always be done, but do the whole tail end, including decent final wash and stabilizer/final rinse. Or, if you have no problems with bleach and fix and you just want to clean the film, wash AND stabilize is ok.

Thank you. I wasn't sure if a water wash would be enough to clean the film thanks....will fix tonight.

mikecnichols · Nov 9, 2010

hrst said:
Rebleach, fix and stabilize can always be done, but do the whole tail end, including decent final wash and stabilizer/final rinse. Or, if you have no problems with bleach and fix and you just want to clean the film, wash AND stabilize is ok.

Seems to have done the charm. Still waiting for the rolls to completely dry, but looking at those frames that were affected, the "bubbles" are not visible. Thanks for the help!

Josh Harmon · Nov 9, 2010

I would like to add to the longevity of these chemicals.

I am using the 500ml kit. I mixed the chemicals on 9/30/10 and have run a total of an equivalent of 18 135-24 rolls through it.

Everything including the last few rolls are fine. I am compensating by adding 30 seconds to the 1st dev and bleaching and fixing for the 5 minutes and 6 minutes respectively.

Here is a scan from roll #18: (NOTE: Slight underdevelopment, also film was shot three years ago and frozen since)

Its some consumer Fuji 400 film.

I will probably order a new kit soon though, I will still run the occasional "trash" film through these old chem's though to see how they survive.

-Josh

wilfbiffherb · Nov 10, 2010

anyone got an advice for when you're mixing the chemicals before developing? this is my first time so i want to make sure i put enough of each container in. my tank needs 240ml solution at least.

mikecnichols · Nov 11, 2010

mikecnichols said:
Seems to have done the charm. Still waiting for the rolls to completely dry, but looking at those frames that were affected, the "bubbles" are not visible. Thanks for the help!

Got the rolls scanned to CD, definitely fixed the problem!

kompressor · Nov 12, 2010

A frame from film number 40

Funny thing I had 39 rolls of 120 developen in the same workingsoulution of 1 litre. It was not so very old. Just a week or so. And on a shoot for a magasine cover i used Portra 160 NC as usual. Since i used å modifed light set-up, i did shoot a test roll and developed it in the old chemistry. The other 6-8 rolls i developed in fresh developer. After seeing the cointactsheets, 1: there where no difference in colour, exposure quality and the frame tha was best suited for the cover, was on the testroll

Magazine cover attached

kb3lms · Nov 12, 2010

I have the Digibase kit here waiting for the next batch of film.. This is all very encouraging!

wilfbiffherb · Nov 15, 2010

just done my first run with this kit. its brilliant. instructions leave out washing but i figured it out! really happy with my results.

mikecnichols · Nov 15, 2010

wilfbiffherb said:
just done my first run with this kit. its brilliant. instructions leave out washing but i figured it out! really happy with my results.

Yeah,

Washing definitely helps. I combined the instructions of the kit with Kodak's instructions for C-41. It works like a charm and produces great and consistent results.

dhgustaf · Nov 16, 2010

I need your help! I ordered the 10 roll kit from Freestyle to process 120 film in an inversion tank. I went to mix chemistry the other night and all the bottles indicate 25ml as their capacity. I've read and re-read the instructions and it looks like this kit will make a working solution of 250ml with a stated capacity of 3-5 rolls. Am I missing something here? I'm gonna need double that to process 1 roll of 120 with my setup. Did I get the wrong kit? Contacted Freestyle and they'll do a return but they think I'm misreading the instructions. If Part A and Part B and Part C all say 25ml on their label, that will make a working solution of 250ml, right?

JLP · Nov 16, 2010

I have not used the 10 roll kit but have mixed two bottles of 500ml working solution from the 20 roll kit.
Pretty sure you will have a 500ml working solution if you mix it all from your 10 roll kit.
Negatives looks and prints wonderful.

RobertV · Nov 17, 2010

http://www.macodirect.de/download/C41_InstructionManual.pdf

I need your help! I ordered the 10 roll kit from Freestyle to process 120 film in an inversion tank

250ml tank 3-5 films. Your kit contains chemicals for 2x250ml so if you're going to develop in a 500ml inverse processing you need all chemicals to make 500ml. Seems pretty clear to me.

mikecnichols · Nov 21, 2010

I have done 8 rolls so far in the 2 months of this working solution. Frankly, I am impressed as my rolls are getting better. I guess that has partly to do with getting back into the routine of things. I think I'm ready to start messing with printing color now.

Hell-on-a-stick · Nov 24, 2010

Experiment #2

I posted a couple months back that I had experienced some negative things with the Rollei/Compard Chemistry.
I am happy to report that my second development attempt was much better. The first batch of chems I got from Rollei, the bleach was very dark and created a ring on the interior of the container, it was green. DO NOT USE THIS BLEACH! The 'good' bleach looked more urea colored, and became a nice amber IPAish color when it had been through 2-4 rolls. I developed 10 rolls with the kit all at 100F, moving up incrementally 15 seconds per 2 rolls seemed to work nicely for the pint kit.

My initial worries are laid to rest, but, as seems to be the consensus, check your chemicals! I developed a range of films this time and everything turned out very well except for some Ektachrome VS100 that was pretty blown out. I did shoot it at 64EI, so, i'm probably to blame for that one. I also dev'd sensia, provia400 provia100 reala 100 CN400 NPHII and portra 100T with this batch. All the films came out nicely, except where my camera work was shoddy. This is a good product, but i still have to match it to the Arista E-6 kit to be sure. It beats hell out of the Unicolor kit, thats for certain (when the chemicals are good)

kompressor · Nov 25, 2010

Hell-on-a-stick said:
My initial worries are laid to rest, but, as seems to be the consensus, check your chemicals! I developed a range of films this time and everything turned out very well except for some Ektachrome VS100 that was pretty blown out. I did shoot it at 64EI, so, i'm probably to blame for that one. I also dev'd sensia, provia400 provia100 reala 100 CN400 NPHII and portra 100T with this batch. All the films came out nicely, except where my camera work was shoddy. This is a good product, but i still have to match it to the Arista E-6 kit to be sure. It beats hell out of the Unicolor kit, thats for certain (when the chemicals are good)

Kremt...This is a thread for Rollei Digibase C41 colour negative films. You have developed E6 Transparency films.....No wonder your cross process films did burn in the H-lights....

billdlv · Nov 26, 2010

I bought the 10 roll kit, mixed up the developer, bleach, fix without any problems. There was enough concentrates to make 500 mL of working solution.

When I got to mixing the stabilizer, I found that there was only 25 mL of concentrate. I thought there should be 50, so I reached for the instructions and promptly spilled the stabilizer concentrate down the drain.

So my questions are:
1. How important is the stabilizer in the process?
2. Should there have been 50 mL of concentrate to make 500 mL or does the 10 roll kit only have enough to make 250 mL?

Rollei Digibase C-41

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