or seeing if a ferricyanide bromide bleach from ECN-2 works?
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This will work in principle for both C41 and RA4. However, especially with RA4 this will leave the print virtually unprotected against the effects of radicals in the environment, which means the prints will be less stable and more prone to fading and yellowing. If you only want to make prints for short-term display, this is not necessarily a problem. If you want your prints to last and/or intend to sell your work, you evidently should avoid this. Whether similar issues exist with C41 film is a bit of a guess. Maybe, maybe not.
Your location says USA; this means that C41 and RA4 chemistry is relatively easy and cost effective for you to obtain. What's your rationale for DYI-ing these?
Nope, I do have the ingredients for it somewhere. I never bothered with it because the cost per roll for C41 bleach turns out to be so ridiculously low that any effort spent on trying to beat that seemed counterproductive to me. C41 bleach basically lasts forever and can be replenished easily. I really wouldn't bother trying to DIY it.Have you ever tried the alt bleach from PE?
There are several posts here on this forum that detail how you can preserve your C41 developer. Even if you buy relatively small (and therefore relatively expensive, on a per-liter basis) volumes, these approaches work.The longest I’ve pushed C41 dev kits is about 15 rolls over 2 months from an 8 roll kit and the dev times were very long.
No, it's a different mechanism. PE seems to be referring to the effects of incomplete bleaching, i.e. retained silver. That's also a concern, but more so in film (esp. slide film) than in paper - although of course in paper it's also undesirable. There's just not a whole lot of silver in paper so it generally blixes out fairly easily.I think when he talks about image longevity he is talking about the yellowing you mentioned
Nope, I do have the ingredients for it somewhere. I never bothered with it because the cost per roll for C41 bleach turns out to be so ridiculously low that any effort spent on trying to beat that seemed counterproductive to me. C41 bleach basically lasts forever and can be replenished easily. I really wouldn't bother trying to DIY it.
There are several posts here on this forum that detail how you can preserve your C41 developer. Even if you buy relatively small (and therefore relatively expensive, on a per-liter basis) volumes, these approaches work.
I think if you run the numbers, you'll realize (like many before you) that DIY-ing this chemistry only makes sense if you live in a location where commercial options are unavailable or prohibitively expensive, or if you're trying to hedge against a contingency where commercial chemistry becomes entirely unavailable. We sometimes see people in e.g. South American countries DIY-ing color chemistry for the former purpose.
No, it's a different mechanism. PE seems to be referring to the effects of incomplete bleaching, i.e. retained silver. That's also a concern, but more so in film (esp. slide film) than in paper - although of course in paper it's also undesirable. There's just not a whole lot of silver in paper so it generally blixes out fairly easily.
Not a problem; you don't need a starter for blix.Cinestill sells Kodak RA-4 Blix replenisher in 20L quantities but I’ll have to get a starter batch, or figure out how to use replenisher on its own
Not a problem; you don't need a starter for blix.
Mostly bc I think it would be fun. For RA-4 the only chemicals currently available in hobbiest quantities that I could find is the Arista 4L kit for 75$. B&H and freestyle sell huge amounts developer and blix but there’s no chance I’d use them before they go off. The minimum is like 50Liters.
For c-41 I would like to have the option of doing smaller batches, since I don’t shoot that much C41 film. Mostly vision3 for color. I can get cheap chemistry but it would be nice to mix my own small baths for 1-2 rolls like I do with ECN-2.
Plus it would be cheaper and the dry chemistry lasts forever. The longest I’ve pushed C41 dev kits is about 15 rolls over 2 months from an 8 roll kit and the dev times were very long.
Have you ever tried the alt bleach from PE? I could link if you don’t know where to find it
Cinestill sells Kodak RA-4 Blix replenisher in 20L quantities but I’ll have to get a starter batch, or figure out how to use replenisher on its own
@Unbuiltbread Did you ever find a source? I Google this every few months and never get a legitamate answer. I've contacted suppliers about PDTA but they want to sell 25 kilos at a price that's just not worth it. I'm in the same boat: I mix my own C41 (C29 from this group), but the Potassium Ferricynaide bleach from ECN-2 severely stains the negatives. If you look bak through my posts, I had a discussion about this. I tried again last week and rinsed the developer for 20 minutes and used a sodium sulfite clearing bath, but no luck. Still stained. I, too, am interested in my own C41 bleach.Would like to make my own RA-4 and C-41 chems (mostly RA-4), but I cannot find a single source for the Ferric Ammonium EDTA anywhere. I’ve searched Artscraft, Photoforumarly, and major chemical suppliers like Flinn, CarolinaBio, and Fishers.
Without making my own, is my only option to use the alternative Ferric EDTA + Tetrasodium EDTA bleach that PE lists, or seeing if a ferricyanide bromide bleach from ECN-2 works?
@Unbuiltbread Did you ever find a source? I Google this every few months and never get a legitamate answer. I've contacted suppliers about PDTA but they want to sell 25 kilos at a price that's just not worth it. I'm in the same boat: I mix my own C41 (C29 from this group), but the Potassium Ferricynaide bleach from ECN-2 severely stains the negatives. If you look bak through my posts, I had a discussion about this. I tried again last week and rinsed the developer for 20 minutes and used a sodium sulfite clearing bath, but no luck. Still stained. I, too, am interested in my own C41 bleach.
Ah, that's too bad. I've been down this road a lot and somehow keep getting to the same point and no one else seems to have that issue.
I reread the comment linked here: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/c-42-is-kodaks-home-version-of-c-41.89135/post-2373450 and they're using C42 with Pot F bleach and sufficient wash and it works. All kinds of posts all over the internet say Pot F bleach works for C41 and now I'm thinking my issue may be in the subtle difference between C29 and C42.
Are you mixing your own C41 developer? Which version? And where did you get the Blix?
Do you need a starter for the blix?
Curious, your formula is similar to the one I have issues with. I wonder if the differneces between the relative Sodiums and Potassiums has something to do with it? This is the one user RPC says works for them with the Pot F bleach.
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He will see a notification if we alert him using the @ - like so: let's summon...@Andrew O'Neill!xcuse my rather vague answer but hasn't Andrew O' Neill developed his own C41 from ingredients? He is based in Canada so I have idea where he gets his stuff from and it may be that as it was only a step in an Alternative print process then it may be that what he needed and what is required for accurate colour and stability are 2 different things
He may even reply if he gets notified of someone mentioning his name
I wonder if the differneces between the relative Sodiums and Potassiums has something to do with it?
In the developer, it won't matter. This will affect solubility of a concentrate, but if you're mixing a working strength developer in one go, it doesn't matter and certainly doesn't explain any fog.maybe using the sodium/potassium for both carbonates is better than using a mix of the two
I don't think so: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threa...phoenix-photos-up.203317/page-32#post-2830546I had thought it was a "home-made " developer
If @Andrew O'Neill had been DIY-mixing his developer etc., surely I would have remembered it because he would have posted a video and perhaps even a few questions about it.I bought a pack of Pheonix 200 120, Kodak's C41 kit, and developed for the first time ever, a roll of colour film.
Following the developer, I have used a 2% acetic acid stop bath with 10 g/l sodium sulfite added to it for a couple of minutes, followed by a wash for a couple of minutes, followed by the ferricyanide bleach with no detectible staining. PE (Photo Engineer) has recommended this acid/sulfite bath many times.
I use distilled water to mix home-brew developer, stop bath and ferri bleach.
YMMV, do what works for you.
Oh yeah, you're right! I forgot about that; thanks for looking it up.
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