Rollei Digibase C-41

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zsas

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Huh? Are you suggesting mixing non degraded part C with degraded part C? I believe when part C is deep purple it has degraded past use (oxidized). Are you thinking mixing non degraded part C with degraded part C will give you enough part C to mix a new batch of chems? Why mix good w bad? I don't follow?
 

Tony-S

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It was already mixed. I was unaware of the purple problem until after I had mixed it. So I was sent a replacement Part C.
 

zsas

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Ahhhh I see, you could try it w a test roll of no value, if you have the time, $ and desire to risk it. I personally wd not risk it, I plan to mix up new Digibase with my replacement, I've a stockpile of film to process now. If you do try, post your results. According to Rollei (Sebastian) earlier in this thread, deep purple means expired part C (oxidized).
 

Rhodes

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A few doubts that I need to clear, before begining c-41 develop with rollei digibase. I have a jobo processor cpe2 and will use it for this and due to not knowing the various rollei kits for n rolls, I thought of maximazing the c-41 and develop 5 rolls at a time and so bought the 1530 extention tank to add to my 1520 (2 rolls). The latter takes 240ml for rototion dev plus the 330ml of the 1530, so I have to use a total of 570ml for 5 films, correct?
To make 600ml of working solution (also the quantite of the jobo bottles and the maximum amount that jobo tells one to use in rotation, for not stressing the engine) I have to buy the rollei kitt for 50-60 rolls?
For the developing, for what I read here, I will use the kodak/fuji, with washes after bleach and fix and possible after the color dev. My question is, the pre-wash, should I do a dry or wet prewash?
And the washes during developing have to be at 37.8ºC? Also the washes have to be of 570-600 ml?
 
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hrst

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Rhodes,

Everything seems correct. There is a wash between bleach and fix but NO WASH between dev and bleach. If you insist adding a wash, then you must add an acid stop first, but it really is not necessary, just go directly to bleach. As a final wash after the fix, I would recommend at least seven wash cycles in Jobo. No matter how long you wash, you will get some pink color in the FR/STAB, but if it is deep pink or magenta, that's a sign of insufficient final wash.

Prewash is a matter of taste. It's a good way to temper the films quickly. BUT, you have to use two wash cycles. One might not be enough to get the temperature up. Measure the latter one carefully to 37.8 or 37.9. Be quick but drain well before developer not to dilute it. If you are going to reuse the developer for several times, I would skip prewash because of accumulating dilution. If you do dry preheat, use a long enough time. Go with 10 minutes to be sure.

Yes, the washes are of same temperature. But, only the developer (and maybe the last prewash cycle) are critical. Other steps, including washes, may vary several degrees without effects.

Yes, use the same 570-600 ml for washes, too.

A tip (if you use Jobo Lift): if possible, prepare a larger amount of final rinse/stab and do it outside of processor. If not possible, detach the tank, fill carefully with a funnel, insert the tank back manually etc. This way, you don't need to wash the processor lift system again from the stab residue, as it is already washed by the final wash.
 

Rhodes

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Thanks, hrst! The wash bettwen the dev and bleach i read that it may be optional here: Dead Link Removed "A quick wash step here (one change of water, approx 30s) will reduce forward-contamination of the bleach and prolong its life. Water is not a very effective stop agent however, so this bath should be long enough just to swill excess developer from the tank and spirals."
Never thought about the dilution of the dev with a wet pre-wash. I have the lift but it's not mounted with because I still lack the cog for the tank, so first color dev I will do should be only with the magnet and I already know about not pouring the stabilizer trought the lift. Will do what many do and as you say, even without the lift.
 

mikecnichols

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Rhodes,

Everything seems correct. There is a wash between bleach and fix but NO WASH between dev and bleach. If you insist adding a wash, then you must add an acid stop first, but it really is not necessary, just go directly to bleach. As a final wash after the fix, I would recommend at least seven wash cycles in Jobo. No matter how long you wash, you will get some pink color in the FR/STAB, but if it is deep pink or magenta, that's a sign of insufficient final wash.

Prewash is a matter of taste. It's a good way to temper the films quickly. BUT, you have to use two wash cycles. One might not be enough to get the temperature up. Measure the latter one carefully to 37.8 or 37.9. Be quick but drain well before developer not to dilute it. If you are going to reuse the developer for several times, I would skip prewash because of accumulating dilution. If you do dry preheat, use a long enough time. Go with 10 minutes to be sure.

Yes, the washes are of same temperature. But, only the developer (and maybe the last prewash cycle) are critical. Other steps, including washes, may vary several degrees without effects.

Yes, use the same 570-600 ml for washes, too.

A tip (if you use Jobo Lift): if possible, prepare a larger amount of final rinse/stab and do it outside of processor. If not possible, detach the tank, fill carefully with a funnel, insert the tank back manually etc. This way, you don't need to wash the processor lift system again from the stab residue, as it is already washed by the final wash.
I've wondered about that a bit myself when doing my prewash. Would a dry preheat consist of weighing down the tank to be submerged in the tempering water bath? I might like to try that method since it usually takes 10-15 minutes for my chems to get up to temp anyway.
 

polyglot

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The standard C41 times make the assumption that there is a pre-wet. Without a pre-wet, the developer activity is different (higher I think), therefore you would perhaps need to adjust your times slightly.

Yes, you do need to be careful to drain as much as possible of the pre-wet in order to not dilute the developer. However, I don't think it's a significant problem - my measurements show that there's maybe 10-15mL of water left in the tank (stuck to spirals and walls and stuff) which against the 1L of developer I use, is only 1.5%. The developer (Fuji) gets reused about 5 times, for a total dilution change of 7%, which is IMHO basically irrelevant and certainly less than the effect of exhaustion for which you already need to apply a time extension.
 

mikecnichols

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What about the midi and mini kits?

Apparently, they are fine....I've been waiting since December for the Maxi kit on backorder. I called Freestyle today, and they told me they were just about to call me with this info. I had to choose two Midi kits instead. I was so excited about the Maxi. Would have saved a ton of money.
 

jbl

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Weird.... I had bought a midi kit back in August that had a problem with one of the chemicals. Apparently all of the midi kits at that time had the problem, so I had them send me a maxi kit instead. For a while, only the maxis were available.

-jbl
 

Rhodes

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So, I got today the package with my midi kit of 1 liter. When I opened the box I had two mini kits insted of one of 1 litter. Before I contact the online shop, I just want to ask, even with two mini kits of 500ml I can do a one litter working solution?
The thing is: My tank takes 570ml for 5 films and the storege bottles are 600ml so I though (and was going to ask opinion here) or I do a full 1 litter solution and only use 600, discarding the remain 400 ml(wastefull) or I convert the formula of doing 1 litter and do only 600ml and the remain is going to be use some how (replenisher?).
Now, let see if a do this right: if 1000ml of solution takes 100ml of developer, 600 will take 60ml of developer. But I only have two 25 ml bottles of the developers parts, so I can not do what I thought, right?
Sorry if I miss explain or could not explain well.
 

wblynch

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Mix it all up and reuse it. Don't throw 400ml away.

Should be good for 20 rolls or more.
 

Rhodes

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Yes, but how much working solution I can make with two mini kits? The instrutions tells that to do a 250 ml solution, the various developer parts are of 25ml. And to do 1000ml the developer used is 100ml. The same amount that the midi kits "says" that have. But I only have 25 ml bottles (two of each type, ok) but if I join both, I only have 50ml of dev parts, so I can not do a 1000ml working solution, right?
 

parshimers

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chemistry colors

what colors are the respective chemicals in the kits you guys have received? also how do they change over time? i've never used color chemicals before, and the rather lackluster documentation rollei provides has left me quite puzzled at times
i only processed one roll so far, i didn't get to see how it turned out as i am an idiot and opened the tank on accident before the film was fixed
my bleach started out as a rather frightening hue of dark green, and is now the color of strong tea
also my developer started out as a light tea color, but now it's black, like diluted ink? i found this very strange, does this mean it's exhausted? in my experience with b&w development, the developer changing colors means it's usually gone bad or is going bad
the fixer is sort of a light yellow, and the stabilizer is tinged pink like pre-rinse with antihalation layer in it
my kit was a bit leaky as well, it only seemed to be the stabilizer though. makes it annoying to deal with the bottles though, as you're not quite sure what residue might be left on them.
 

polyglot

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I've only used the Fuji, but the devs should generally be quite clear. Dark green or dark red is normal for bleaches. Fixer should be the usual straw/clear, stab will clear/pink. Once you use the dev, they will go a bit tea-coloured. They might go crazy-dark if you don't pre-rinse as you will get antihalation dyes in there.

If one of the dev concentrates (C?) is purple, it's oxidised and no good. Some of the Rollei kits had that problem with bad lids.
 

railwayman3

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Quick questions - what's the shelf-life of the kits unopened? And do they carry an expiry/use by date?
Thanks.
 

svai

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Hi

I just bought my first 500ml rollei kit.
So can I develop more than 2 separate times.
If I shoot film now and then, and develop with same working mix every time, does chemicals handle that?
 

Lamar

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You can definitely reuse the chemicals. I just did 19 rolls out of a 1 liter batch over the period of 8 months. Not too shabby.

Stabilizer: I buy two 1 liter kits and use the 25ml stabilizer bottle from both kits to mix 1 full liter of stabilizer. The stabilizer is good for 60 rolls. The rest of the kit is only good for a max of 20 rolls. I mix up 1 liter of the rest of the chemical use it up, keep the stabilizer and use it with the second 1 liter kit. No problems. I also add Kodak PhotoFlo to the stabilizer to help with water spots.
 

shuttershane

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How do you make 1L of stabilizer with the 25ml botlle from the kit? The instrutions indicates that for 250ml solution one must use 225m of water and the 25ml of stab. For one liter is 100ml of stab.

This really confused me as well. I bought the 20 roll kit and it only came with 50ml of the stab and indicated it needed 100ml for 1L stab. Everything else came with enough for 1L mixes. I was mixing 500ml at a time so I just used the whole 50ml for my 500ml mix (450ml water + 50ml stab). I just assumed that the whole 50ml would last long enough for 20 rolls. I have no idea what you would do for a full 1000ml mix.

Maybe there is an issue with there packaging, or they want you to buy the bigger kit if you use L mixes
 

Lamar

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You’re right, sorry for the confusion. I used two bottles of stabilizer (one from each kit) to mix one liter. I just looked at the packing list and they should have been 50ml bottles, not 25. I hope they were. I think I just remembered wrong.

How do you make 1L of stabilizer with the 25ml botlle from the kit? The instrutions indicates that for 250ml solution one must use 225m of water and the 25ml of stab. For one liter is 100ml of stab.
 
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