Roller Base C-41 Developing

[KidA]

I've finally acquired a proper temp controlled bath with good accuracy, and a roller base with a 5 (135) roll tank. My question is, in your experiences, how much does the temperature drop in the time on the roller base and how do you compensate? Of course, there are a ton of factors, such as amount of chemistry in tank, temperature of the room, starting temperature of chemicals (warmer to compensate?), development time adjustments... etc. I'm sure I'll have to find out my own correct process, but I'd like some input/starting points.

What I can tell you is up until now, I've mixed 1L batches of chemicals, poured the whole thing into the tank, placing the tank back into the water bath when not agitating. Results seem ok, but it was a terrible stress (i can be a little anal about temp) to try and maintain the water bath at that temp, and also being only 1L only being able to process 2-3 rolls at a time.

Would it be better to fill the tank up with 1L chemistry, to maintain better temperature, but reuse the chemicals, or start off a little warmer, using less chemistry as a one shot dev?

Also, how are your experiences with monochrome, consistent roller base agitation?

My apologies if there's a thread on this, but I couldn't find anything on it.

 

[sagai]

Having these gadgets makes problems those would not have been exist if not having these gadgets on the first place.

All of these concerns are correct I think.

Honestly? ... I do not know, you need to test it and refine your process. And yes, it is up to the season too.

Yes, the ambient temperature could effect the temperature in the tank. In summer, I can do C41 in the garden without any heating tool.
You can test the temperature drop in your environment for 1 liter to predict average temperature for the processing period.
It is more fragile for the developer.
I also know guys are super overheating the developer to decrease the otherwise increased development time for reused developers.
That works too for amateur purposes.

I have some images of the thing that I do for C41 following:
https://goo.gl/photos/wbnFvMao2Jew3zst9

 

[Wayne]

On a side note I'm a bit confused here...roller based agitation is usually continuous and involves drums, but you talk about a tank and "when not agitating". What exactly is the "tank" you are using, and when/why are you not agitating?

 

[mnemosyne]

On a side note I'm a bit confused here...roller based agitation is usually continuous and involves drums, but you talk about a tank and "when not agitating". What exactly is the "tank" you are using, and when/why are you not agitating?

I think from the TO's post it is evident that this refers to the way he has processed C41 "up until now" by manual inversion.

 

[bvy]

Also, how are your experiences with monochrome, consistent roller base agitation?

Frustrating, though I haven't given up. On a reversing roller base, I get a build up of density along the edges -- more pronounced on Paterson reels, less on stainless steel. I'm going to try rotating along a different axis -- instead of the tank turning on its side like a wheel, I'm going to simulate inversion agitation.

As far as C-41, I've not done it on a roller base. I think the temperature would drift too much in three minutes at room temperature. I've heard of people using a hair dryer, but you'd have to test this. The proper test is to take the temperature of the developer going in and coming out of the tank or drum. It sounds like you're going through some pains to maintain the temperature of your water bath -- but that's only good insofar as it keeps the temperature of the developer where you want it. For me, the water bath is at 122F +/- 3 degrees. I only say it because your comment sounded like you were maintaining the temperature of the water bath and not the developer. You can do a "dry run" with empty reels and plain water in place of developer.

 

[KidA]

Search google for Kodak document Z-131. There is a section about rotary processing C-41 and how to measure the drop in temperature during process and how to compensate for it.

I didn't have time to scan thru it to find details on it…

Looks like I'm going to have to test. Do any film manufacturers still make test strips?