Rollie C-41, mixing short for one shot use

[Joel_L]

Hi,

I just replaced my old C-41 kit that went sour with a Rollie kit. I processed my first roll and all went well. I use a Jobo processor and mix my chems one shot from the concentrate. To do 1 35mm roll uses 140ml in the Jobo tank. Doing this, I'm throwing away half the capacity unless I save the chem and get to another roll soon. Way back when I used to use a Unicolor film tank I used to short mix my chems. Using the Jobo as an example, I mix 14ml of CD-A to make my 140ml normal mix. I seem to recall playing the game of mixing say 7ml and then using the development time for the last rolls. I kind of remember that the timing results were different using fresh chem mixed short vs exhausted chem that was mixed correctly. I think I might just try it and see what I get. Maybe start with the 3/4 exhausted time which should give me something useful either side of error. Also, way back, I'm remembering that I didn't see any difference in the printed result between the two. Anyone else play with this?

Thanks

Joel

 

[Rudeofus]

(there was a url link here which no longer exists) posted his method for using C-41 developer one-shot at extremely low cost. He claims he could even optically enlarge those negatives with good results.

 

[Joel_L]

Thanks, that was a good read and lines up with some of the observations I think I remember from long ago. Mainly that when I mixed the fresh concentrate so that it was little more diluted, I did not get what I thought would be the required longer development time. It was somewhat longer but not what I had expected. I have some old film that I have already verified is good to play with, so I think I'll do just that.

Thanks

Joel

 

[Joel_L]

Hi,

I went around the house and shot a quick roll using some old Optima 100 and processed in 1/2 strength solutions to see what the results would be. I processed at 38C using 3:45 for the development time instead of 3:15. I scanned the 35mm negatives on my V700 at 2400DPI. There is no grain reduction or color correction. So the reason for this, I don't get out and shoot very often and when I do, it's usually only one or two rolls. Mixing the chemistry full strength wastes about half the capacity. So I'm looking for acceptable results and save on chemistry. I only mix what I need from the concentrates and find the concentrates last plenty long for me. Excuse the dust and subject matter but here are a few samples.

Joel

 

[Joel_L]

I've been playing more with developing with diluted chemistry. So far I am happy with the results. These pics are from old Optima 100 in 120 format processed with my Jobo. The tank I used needs 240ml of chemistry. I mixed the developer and BLIX using 1/2 the normal amount of each component. I increased the development time to 4 minutes at 38C and used the same 6 minutes BLIX time. For me, the results are satisfactory and I get almost the full capacity of the kit, closer with 35mm or if I make sure to do two 120s at a time.

Joel

 

[Rudeofus]

I would be very careful with dilute BLIX, because BLIX at full concentration is already borderline weak. You don't discover retained silver initially because the orange mask will hide it, but once it slowly and non-uniformly converts into Silver Sulfide, it will both show up in prints/scans, and it will be next to impossible to remove.

I recommend you convert your kit to a (there was a url link here which no longer exists), both bleach and TF-5 have near infinite working solution shelf life.

 

[Joel_L]

How much time is "slowly"? something I'll definitely keep an eye out for. My thinking though in my process is that my diluted chem is as active as full strength solution as you get to the end of its capacity. For the developer, I'm at the time you would use for the last rolls of film.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I save up enough film to use the Unicolor C-41 chemicals in two or three days. About 12 to 16 rolls of film or that equivalent.

 

[Rudeofus]

Developer is uncritical with regard to long term stability, but BLIX could turn into an issue. The effects you will see are the same that you see with poorly fixed or washed B&W film/paper. Retained silver halide will turn into yellow/brown Silver Sulfide over time, and it doesn't do this uniformly. I can't give you an exact time frame for this to happen (and nobody seriously can IMHO), but I personally wouldn't take the risk.