C-41 in Australia

[Anthony Lewis]

I shoot 4X5 Portra and now wish to delve into C41 processing.
The big question to use is what chemicals? As far as I can see Vanbar, are the only ones who sell chemicals in Australia . Its quite difficult to get your head around the Kodak and Fuji chemicals, and when I do, I find no one sells them all. For someone like me Tetenal makes it easy, but I don't know if I am that happy with the combined, Bleach/fixer. But I will give it a go.
I notice Fuji seems to make an ideal kit, the Fuji C41 Film X-Press kit, but it is not available here. One retailer in the States said there is a big increase in small volume C41 processing. If someone sold the Fuji kit I'm sure people would buy it in favour of Tetenal.
Can the C41 community tell me how you handle C41 in Aust, where you get the chemicals, and which ones you use?

[markbarendt]

It can be confusing.

I started with Trebla's 55FP475 kit but I'm now buying the individual parts.

I but directly from Mini-Lab supply houses.

Found these guys with google https://www.iphoto.net.au/profile.htm

[Kevin Caulfield]

Go with the Tetenal. It's all good, good, good. Don't believe the hype about not combining bleach and fix. Uncle Kodak isn't the only artist on the bill. I can highly recommend Tetenal. I previously used Agfa.

[frontdrive34]

I've used several Tetenal C41 kits and processed a couple of hundred rolls of 120 and 135 with them. It is all nice and easy. Where 1 litre kit states it will do 12 - 16 rolls I've worked each 1 litre kit well past the 30 roll mark.

I sometimes would like to buy in bulk but it is all too confusing. If someone told me product names, codes and an Australian source I'd possibly go that way. I do find being able to consistently buy a Tetenal kit hit and miss. If you see them buy them!

[w9cae]

Interesting views of direction. I recently bought the Tetenal C-41 kit. It was a tad bit cryptic in the instructions. Possibly why my film did not develop.

[Kevin Caulfield]

What do you think went wrong?

[w9cae]

Unfortunately I could not find a thermometer that would give me a good reading. So I feel it was temperature, which we all know is critical in colour.

[Andrew K]

C41 temperature is critical - to +/- 1 to 1.5C - so is time...

You can overdevelop a little - all you get is an increase in dye build up and a bit of a color shift..

If you were 2C under temp and developed for the normal time you should still have gotten negatives that were printable - not easy, but printable..

I used to process C41 (and C22) comercially - have done it in deep tanks, dip/dunk, jobo and auto processors...

The trick is try to keep the temperatures of all baths within a couple of degrees of each other..and keep your time consistant...

[Anthony Lewis]

Guys,

Thanks for the quick replies. As I have bought the Tetenal kit, I will use it with confidence, as it gets good reviews.
Mark, I had not heard of 'i-photo' before. Thanks for that tip. After looking on their website, it appears they have all the chemicals and I will definitely be giving them a go - its just the sort of answer I was after.
I sent an email to Vanbar sales, suggesting they sell the Fuji Kit. They sort of gave a positive response, so it will be interesting if this appears in their stores in coming months.
Thanks everyone for your help. I have found that the only real expensive part of 4X5 was the cost of commercial colour processing. The cost of the stock is not too bad, so I'm wanting to do C41 myself. I had my Jobo CPP2 fully re-conditioned in Germany, at great expense, so it is now up to the standard for colour.

[Anthony Lewis]

Finally processed my first batch of 4X5 in Tetenal. First time I have processed colour as well. It has actually worked out very well and I am very happy with Tetenal.

I got a processing mark on one film - a good shot too! I did not pre wash. Is it best to pre-wash?

Also after the Stabiliser I just took them out of the drum and hung them up to dry. It appears to me that I should give the film another thorough rinse before drying. I had a few water marks on a few sheets and after another wash and a dry, it appeared to fix the problem.Is this correct and what do others do?

Overall processing colour was quite easy and when I sort out a couple of minor issues, then 'Vision whatever' will not be getting my money anymore.