brianmichel,
I think you need to be more explicit about what you're doing, since it's possible to interpret your comments in several ways, and a reply to one interpretation when you're doing something else might just lead to confusion, wasted effort, or whatever. Specifically:
- What sort of C-41 are you using? Kodak chemicals? A third-party commercial kit? A mix-it-yourself formula? Some combination of these? Separate bleach and fix or a single blix? (Your final post suggests blix, but I want to mention this explicitly since blixes don't keep well, once mixed.)
- What sort of chemicals are you talking about -- unopened bottles of commercial chemicals; opened but unmixed bottles; mixed and diluted but unused solutions; or mixed, diluted, and used solutions that you intend to re-use a few times? Effective keeping times go down as you move down that list.
FWIW, my experience is mostly with home-brew formulas for developer, but I use commercial bleach and fixer (not blixes). I mix up the developer at 2x strength, which improves the keeping quality of the stock solution. I find that this lasts for at least a month or two without any noticeable degradation, although by two months the solution has darkened noticeably. I haven't performed sensitometric tests, so it's quite possible that my 2x concentrate's properties have changed slightly by the two-month mark. Once I dilute it down to a working strength solution, I do
not attempt to re-use it. I have used Paterson's C-41 developer before they discontinued it, and as I recall they recommended re-use. I found that the stuff deteriorated pretty quickly (in a matter of a week or two) once diluted to working strength. I prefer the consistency of a single-use solution, so that's how I use mine.
My understanding is that Kodak's C-41 developer comes in two or three bottles that are mixed together at time of use. I don't know precisely how long that would last before mixing, but it ought to be a while. It should therefore be possible to use Kodak's developer in a one-shot manner without saving up rolls; just dilute however much you need to process whatever you've got in hand, be it one roll or twenty.
As for bleach and fixer or blix, I've tried two or three blixes and I didn't like any of them, so I switched to separate bleach and fixer. I've used Kodak and Silver Pixel bleach and noticed no differences between them. Most of my fixer has been Kodak, but I recently mixed up some from a home-brew recipe on the Internet when I unexpectedly ran out of the Kodak fixer (I thought I had another bottle, but I was mistaken), and it seems fine, too. Separate bleach and fixer last a good long time (months at least). Blixes are inherently unstable, though. PE has posted about this extensively in the past, but I don't have any URLs handy. Certainly a 3-month-old mixed blix is suspect. You might try taking your negatives and running them through fresh blix (or separate bleach and fixer). Unfortunately, C-41 bleach is fairly expensive. I use mine in a replenished manner, according to directions in a Kodak publication. Basically, for every 36-exposure roll of 35mm or equivalent, I toss ~70ml of bleach and add that much bleach replenisher. This helps keep costs under control.
