Bleach Leaked During Processing: What Should I Have Done?

[railhead]

Experienced another first with my CPE-2 today. I was only about 2 minutes into the bleach

step, and the cap popped off! I was only using 250 ml, and I think I only lost about 75 ml.

 

I went ahead and slapped the cap back on and finished the roll (and the film looks like it's

been cross-processed!).

 

What should I have done, if not what I did?

[g._armour_van_horn]

You should have topped it back off and finished the bleach, then finished as normal. In fact, you still should do exactly that, as long as you don't get it back in the color developer you should be able to just run through the last stages. Since I've never been really sure what the prebleach does I'd probably start with the normal prebleach, then finish. FWIW, I use 3:00 for Pre, 10:00 for Bleach, and 4:00 for Fix.

 

What you are seeing in the current film is almost certainly silver that wasn't bleached, which means it wasn't converted back to halide, and the fix can only clear silver halides, it won't touch the silver itself.

 

All of these steps can be done in full room light if that makes any difference, and if you already cut the film up you can do it in a bowl and agitate with your gloved fingers. You probably haven't lost any images.

 

Van

[railhead]

GOOD NEWS, that! I've been scanning the negs, and some are "good," and others have their

colors totally whacked-out.

 

I suppose I could just thread the film (some is cut) back onto the reels and agitate in a bowl,

as you said -- but would go for the full time all over again?

 

Also, are you saying that instead of using Kodak's recommendation of 6:30 and 6:30 for

bleach and fixer, you go for 10 and 4 minutes? Can't you "overbleach" and "underfix"?

[discpad]

Maury,

 

Van is talking about E-6, while you're developing C-41.

 

In any case, I would just rebleach it in a bowl for another 5 minutes or so at room temp, and pour the bleach back into the bottle when you're done. Give it a quick rinse, then refix & wash again.

 

As long as you don't bleach or fix for more than about twice the minimum time, you'll be just fine.

[railhead]

Thanks -- I'll give it a go when I get home.

 

Now, any tips on how to keep the red cap from popping off? =)

[g._armour_van_horn]

I'd have to take a look to see what happened to your tank. I've never seen a JOBO lid budge without very specifically pulling the locking ring up. You do know how the lids work, right? You pull the ring up all the way, push the lid on the tank, then push the ring down to lock it, making sure that everything is all square and even?

 

And Dan's right, I was referring to E-6. I did B&W years and years ago, do lots of E-6 now, have never done C-41 and can't imagine ever wanting to, given how easy and cheap it is to get someone else to do it. So I foolishly assumed you were living in the same kind of world I'm in, where bleach means E-6.

 

Van

[railhead]

It was red membrane cap that popped off, not the lid. Again, I'm using the CPE with the

magnet because B&H still hasn't shipped my cog lid for use with the JOBO lift.