Kodak C41 chemicals and availability

[PVia]

Vinny,

That's hilarious! Every time I go in there, a retail person always says, "Wow..I haven't seen anyone in that area of the store in a long time!"

[thisismyname09]

Can anyone who bought this kit inform me of the ratios for parts A, B, C, and water to make a working solution? I got a deal on a few bottles of parts A and C, bought a bottle of starter from B&H, and I'm mixing part B myself (since it is, according to the MSDS (http://www2.itap.purdue.edu/msds/docs/8293.pdf), just a ~25% solution of hydroxylamine sulfate). Problem is, none of the bottles list the volume they contain. It just says to use a whole bottle of each to make two liters; not very helpful.

[Tom Taylor]

Go to the Kodak website and download CIS-49: Preparing Smaller-Than-Package-Size Amounts of KODAK Processing Chemicals.

Good news from Kodak today: CAT 191 9042 continues to be available and you should be able to order that from your Dealer.

[thisismyname09]

Thanks.

[anikin]

I'm having a bit of an issue with storage of the developer, and I'd like to ask a question what people's approaches are.

Back in January I bought a 2L set of SM developer which consists of parts A B and C. Parts A and B came in plastic bottles and part C came in a brown glass bottle. The bottles were not sealed, with caps just screwed on! I mixed exactly half of the chemistry into some plastic bottles and topped off the concentrates with butane before closing them. Meanwhile, I've been shooting a lot of slides, but very little negative. The chemicals were sitting in the cupboard in a cool garage.

Now, three months later, I just finished the last bottle of the mixed developer which kept just fine. The developer was clear liquid and produced nice negatives. So I decided to mix the remaining concentrate. Imagine my surprise, when I started adding the part C and it was all black (oxidized)! What did I do wrong? My mixed developer kept just fine for the period of time, but the concentrate went bad. I would have expected the exact opposite.

Now, here's the question. I've been contemplating switching to 10L developer from SM, since it's cheaper per volume, but now I'm worried that I will not be able to keep the concentrate in a good shape long enough to use it all. What do you guys do to keep the concentrates from oxidizing? Apparently, Kodak's bottles aren't as air tight as I would hope. Should I have topped off the Part C with distilled water, or poured it into some better sealed bottle?

Am I better off mixing the whole batch at once and trying to keep the mixed developer, or should I try to figure out a way to keep partial concentrate?

Thank you very much for your help!

[Photo Engineer]

The part C concentrate does not keep well once it is opened. It can be opened but only under an inert atmosphere such as Nitrogen.

I have had it keep for about 6 months to 8 months though so you may not have sealed it very well or the butane may have had a bad effect (I doubt it, but IDK as I never used butane).

PE

[anikin]

Ron,

I think you a right, I probably just did not seal it well. What do you think about topping part C off with distilled water to the brink before sealing it. Would that help to reduce oxidation?

Eugene.

[wblynch]

Can you put it in a smaller bottle?

[Photo Engineer]

Ron,

I think you a right, I probably just did not seal it well. What do you think about topping part C off with distilled water to the brink before sealing it. Would that help to reduce oxidation?

Eugene.

Do not top it up with water. The dissolved oxygen will harm it.

And, don't pour it out into a smaller bottle.

Caveat: You can do both of the above in a glove box under nitrogen using boiled distilled water and a nitrogen jet to sweep out the new bottle. You have to rinse the old bottle to insure you have transferred it all.

PE

[thisismyname09]

Would refilling the top of the bottle with an inert gas and/or storing the bottle in the fridge have any positive effect on its longevity?

[Photo Engineer]

Doing both will work to some extent. As I said, I have gotten 6 months out of opened bottles with no special precautions so an inert gas should help even more.

PE

[MikeSeb]

@Anikin, I do exactly what you are wanting to do. I use the same Flexicolor SM Developer 2L kits, mixing one liter at a time. I shoot around 200 rolls of C-41 a year, and process them in a Jobo. I get around 6-7 rolls per liter doing it this way. I shoot enough, therefore, that buying a six-kit carton (12L of developer in all) of the kits makes sense.

I can't tell you how long the concentrates last, once opened; the longest I've gone is about a month, and there was no discernible degradation once I mixed up the chemistry. I don't do anything special to the opened concentrate; I do spray Dust-Off over my mixed C-41 developer solution, which lives in a 1-L amber glass bottle. I've stored this up to 3 or 4 weeks also, and even when it's turned a bit brown it still has worked flawlessly. It's more usual for me to use the stuff up within 2 weeks once mixed.

I think it really comes down to holding onto the film until you have enough to process so that you use all the chemistry within a couple of weeks. This will be all our reality going forward, especially when Kodak decides no longer to sell these smaller quantities. Who can doubt that day is within sight?

[wildbill]

I've been using this stuff from my local beverage store: http://www.wineenthusiast.com/wine-enthusiast-private-preserve-wine-preservation-spray.asp It's a big can.

[brucemuir]

Juat read this entire thread,

the things we do for film
it's remarkable...

[anikin]

MikeSeb, PE,

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I understand what's going on now. The SM bottle C is very small, so amount of oxygen needed to
spoil it is very small as well. From now on, I'll be just mixing the whole 2L batch with boiled distilled water and sealing in full bottles for one-time use. I'll let you know the results in 4-6 months ;-). Wildbill, thanks for the suggestion. I'll definitely get it.

Eugene.