Have you tried 3 minutes? I ask because at higher temperature it seems like, once it's done, it's done. Leaving it to develop longer has no effect. I know with the old Polaroid professional, peel apart films, extending development at room temperature didn't seem to matter.
I guess I'm asking is timing critical at 68F?
If my brain serves me well, it seems like 2 minutes is what I've heard for room temperature development. Some where I've got original Ektachrome processing kit instructions for 68°F, not too long after that it moved to 75°F. I remember when I was in 9th grade processing my first Ektachrome in E3 and E4. I would need to look at the temperature. Emulsion was so soft on color film you could scrape it off with your fingernail.I remember trying different times in the past with no significant change, but for whatever reason I decided two minutes was optimum. YMMV.
OTTOMH I would think any change per time at colder temperatures would be less than at higher temperatures.
If my brain serves me well, it seems like 2 minutes is what I've heard for room temperature development. Some where I've got original Ektachrome processing kit instructions for 68°F, not too long after that it moved to 75°F. I remember when I was in 9th grade processing my first Ektachrome in E3 and E4. I would need to look at the temperature. Emulsion was so soft on color film you could scrape it off with your fingernail.
RA4 is brilliant.
I've used the straight replenisher. If you look at the process control sheets for big processing labs in the Z manual for Ektacolor processing it's enough to make your head spin.To be clear, I do not add water and starter for room-temperature tray use, but use straight replenisher.
However, when used at high temperatures, it is probably a good idea to add the water/starter if you want in-spec results.
Stick with it. A proper RA4 print made optically rather than laid down with a minilab LED printer can look quite different. Even better are medium and large format contact prints, better than the best scannerThe instructions for the kits I use (Arista?) call for 3:20 for 75°F. That has worked for me. Caveat: I am new to RA4, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
It does, but that doesn't mean development can/should be extended infinitely. Like with any other silver-based image forming material, at some point, non-exposed halide will develop (i.e., it will fog). There's some margin for error and indeed, in my printing, I don't see differences if I (mistakenly) add, say, 10 seconds on top of the usual development time, but I wouldn't extend the time unnecessarily.From my experiments RA-4 doesn't develop to completion.
Bleaching should go to completion. That's a hard and fast rule. If additional bleaching time gives you different results, your bleach time is not correct or your chemistry is compromised.Or it might be more correct that it can be always bleached too much and that's where variance comes from.
Of course. But that doesn't mean it's supposed to NOT be developed to completion.Even with B&W it can be developed to completion or not.
That's correct. He also said that RA4 development goes to completion along the lines I explained at the top of this post. Search back in his posts on RA4 development. Given that he was pretty knowledgeable about RA4 materials and processing (to put it mildly) and he did RA4 at room temperature in trays, I've always felt quite confident about adopting this approach myself. I don't regret it.However I'm positive someone knowledgeable, and I'm pretty sure it was Photo Engineer, said that RA bleaches to completion.
That's correct. He also said that RA4 development goes to completion along the lines I explained at the top of this post. Search back in his posts on RA4 development. Given that he was pretty knowledgeable about RA4 materials and processing (to put it mildly) and he did RA4 at room temperature in trays, I've always felt quite confident about adopting this approach myself. I don't regret it.
Stick with it.
Keep your eyes open for a 20 x 24 cylinder that came with a water bath. Original name was Doran Dev-Tec, company was a spin off of Arkay original family. These were sold under various names including Adorama, Premier. I had a couple at one time, there's an optional immersion heater for the bath. You could even rig up a motor to spin the drum.Don't worry. I keep heading deeper into the rabbit hole. Just picked up a jobo processing cylinder for up to 16x20. The Heath canoe for that size worked, but the cylinders are pretty convenient. Now if I can only find a 20x24.
Thanks for the help!Keep your eyes open for a 20 x 24 cylinder that came with a water bath. Original name was Doran Dev-Tec, company was a spin off of Arkay original family. These were sold under various names including Adorama, Premier. I had a couple at one time, there's an optional immersion heater for the bath. You could even rig up a motor to spin the drum.
They work great, they were cheap when new something like 75 dollars for the tube and tub. The heater was over 100 dollars. Didn't need it with RA4
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