room temp C41 chems

[osprey48]

I've just seen some C41 processing chemicals which come already diluted and be used from any temp from 20c to 45c, in other words, at room temp. This sounds good news for me, as I'm about to try processing my own colour films but have been put off slightly by the need to be 100% accurate with the temperature, which is a bit difficult when I don't have a thermostatic drum processor.
Has anyone used this product? Are the results as good as the more traditional makes, e.g. Tetenal Colortec?
Its distributed by Firstcall, and called Digibase C41.

http://www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk/products/4402/firstcall-c41-prediluted-kit-3x-385ml-softpack

 

[AgX]

In any case you should have a look at this thread:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

You could do inverting processing with chemistries kept in waterbath in isolated bassin.

 

[Sirius Glass]

From what I have heard about developing C-41 at room temperature, was that I was not worth the effort. Your experience may vary.

 

[pentaxuser]

I have the kit but haven't used it yet. However I won't be taking what I would regard as a risk and use it at room temp. It seems logical that if a C41 kit could be used consistently at say 20 degrees C then the companies producing C41 kits would by now have solved all the problems associated with such a temperature and all kits would be used at that temp.

So has anyone here used it at room temp successfully?

pentaxuser

 

[Diapositivo]

I think the question was discussed in the thread about the Rollei Digibase C-41 kit, which also claims a better temperature "latitude".

The "expert opinion" was that C-41 is C-41 is C-41, there is no shortcut, the chemistry involved requires those temperatures for best results.

That doesn't mean that processing at 20°C gives awful results. It just depends on the photographer's attitude toward quality. Given constraints, or to try the thrill of home development, good enough can be good enough. But some quality is certainly left on the table.

A cheap, approximate hot bath, even if not perfectly consistent, is probably conducive to better results than a 20° development conducted with great consistency.

 

[brucemuir]

From what I have heard about developing C-41 at room temperature, was that I was not worth the effort. Your experience may vary.

ditto

 

[osprey48]

Thanks all of you. As I'm yet to process colour I've got nothing to compare it too, so at first I'll stick to recognised chems and temps.

 

[Rudeofus]

One should not forget that C41 is a process targeted at optical enlargement of the resulting negatives, which means many corrections that are trivially applied in digital post processing are not considered when judging C41 negatives. As difficult as it may be to process C41 to match Kodak's criteria, if you scan your negs you can get away with all kinds of processing errors, and let's be honest: most of us who shoot lots of C41 do scan their negs.

My recommendation to the thread starter would be: First, do C41 according to specs, which are whatever the instructions of your kit say. Once you got the process figured out, and if processing at room temperature saves you a lot of hassle, you can always try a test roll and see whether you get useful results.

 

[Sirius Glass]

... and let's be honest: most of us who shoot lots of C41 do scan their negs.

Please do not speak for me!