Stablizer & Final rinse, Are they the same?

[J Rollinger]

Please excuse me for not knowing this but I'm very new to C41. I recently ordered some Kodak C41 Stabilizer/Replenisher 5 liter and received it today. When i opened the package there was a bottle of Kodak Flexicolor Final rinse and replenisher, Did i receive the correct bottle? Are they the same thing?


Thanks
Jim

 

[srs5694]

No, they aren't the same thing, although what you got might be OK. Basically, stabilizer includes formaldehyde, which is a necessary preservative for older C-41 emulsions. ("Older" being designed by Kodak more than, at a guess, 5 or 10 years ago.) Final rinse lacks the formaldehyde and includes some other, more benign, anti-fungal agent. If you use final rinse on an older emulsion, dye stability might suffer. If you use final rinse on a newer emulsion, everything should be OK. I believe that somewhere on Kodak's labyrinthine Web site there's a detailed specification of what Kodak films requires stabilizer and what ones work OK with final rinse. Basically all modern Kodak, and I believe Fuji, films are fine with final rinse. If you've got older films, though, or films from other manufacturers, you might need stabilizer to ensure stability beyond a few years.

FWIW, the same thing happened to me recently on an order from Adorama -- the Web page (and invoice) specifies stabilizer, but the bottle says final rinse. The Kodak part numbers match, so it seems that Adorama's Web site description is messed up.

 

[J Rollinger]

No, they aren't the same thing, although what you got might be OK. Basically, stabilizer includes formaldehyde, which is a necessary preservative for older C-41 emulsions. ("Older" being designed by Kodak more than, at a guess, 5 or 10 years ago.) Final rinse lacks the formaldehyde and includes some other, more benign, anti-fungal agent. If you use final rinse on an older emulsion, dye stability might suffer. If you use final rinse on a newer emulsion, everything should be OK. I believe that somewhere on Kodak's labyrinthine Web site there's a detailed specification of what Kodak films requires stabilizer and what ones work OK with final rinse. Basically all modern Kodak, and I believe Fuji, films are fine with final rinse. If you've got older films, though, or films from other manufacturers, you might need stabilizer to ensure stability beyond a few years.

FWIW, the same thing happened to me recently on an order from Adorama -- the Web page (and invoice) specifies stabilizer, but the bottle says final rinse. The Kodak part numbers match, so it seems that Adorama's Web site description is messed up.

That is where i bought mine and the numbers match! I will have to call Adorama.

Thanks

 

[srs5694]

I thought about calling Adorama and complaining, but it was only about $6 or so; I figured it wasn't worth the hassle to return. Instead, I'm using it with my Kodak and Fuji films, and using my stabilizer with my stash of Agfa films, as well as anything exotic that might benefit from it. I'll try Dead Link Removed next time I need to buy stabilizer.