chris_douglas1

<p>I tried to order flexicolor fixer from Adorama tonight and they are "temporarily out" of the handy 5 gallon size. I hope that isn't a disguise for "cancelled", because there is no way I'm going to order 25 gallons! Its too bad too because I was going to order a bunch of stuff while at it to save money on the shipping. Thanks for all the information, everone.</p>

<p>Thanks for the response guys. I didn't hear anyone speak up for sodium, message received. I assume Kodak flexicolor comes in a gallon jug and is mixed with 4 gallons of water. Can I store concentrate in smaller bottles and mix up a gallon at a time? Will the concentrate last long this way? I don't use fixer very fast, but at this price I can throw away half of it and still come out ahead. Thanks for any tips.</p>

<p>I have been mixing my own chemicals for a couple years now with good results, however, it doesn't appear economical to mix fixer because Kodak fixer costs about half the price of sodium thiosulfate! I have read that c-41 fixer, at 9 bucks for 5 gallons, is the best way to go, even for black and white. I don't mind mixing powders because I have a stirring hot plate, my main interest is long shelf life. In Anchell's, The Film Developing Cookbook, 1998, he states fairly strongly that I shouldn't be using sodium thiosulfate because it can't fix iodide. However, in The Darkroom Cookbook, 2008, he says the only practical difference in sodium and ammonium thiosulfate is time. He seems to have backed away from his earlier opinion. Can anyone confirm that sodium thiosulfate is fine to use, just slower? Also, if I go with c-41 fixer, how good is the shelf life? Thanks for the help.</p>

<p>Peter,<br>

I am using Unicolor's c-41 kit which includes a stabilizer. Can I omit the stabilizer? It leaves spots and is a pain. I have to use photoflo to get rid of the spots. I am using gold 200 and ektar film, what about other brands, do they need stabilizer? Thanks.</p>

<p>George,<br>

I believe your D is almost identical to my 635. My Yashica definately needed cleaning and lubrication because the low speed shutter times varied, and the self timer was sluggish. I serviced it myself with great success, the shutter and self timer are modular and come out for cleaning in one piece. It would be a nightmare if all the little gears ran all over the place. After dunking the clockwork in naptha, drying and lubicating, it goes back together pretty easily. The bad thing is that you have to peel away the leatherette on the front to get to the screw heads. Damaging the leatherette is pretty easy to do, I got lucky.</p>

<p>Charlotte,<br>

Here is the answer I gave before to a similar question.<br>

In the package is, amoung other things, 8 grams of Metol, and 400 grams of sodium sulfite. The chances of the Metol getting evenly divided is slim. Go ahead and mix the whole batch, fill 3 one liter bottles, and 4 250 ml bottles. Use the little bottles as one shot developers and dump. When the little bottles are empty, fill them from a one liter bottle. D-76 will last at least 6 months this way.</p>

<p>Color developer would have produced a silver image, but the bleach would have disolved it, even the edge markings.</p>

<p>Excellent explanation Alan. I have a color animalizer that is no where near as affective as the viewing filters you explained. I use the analyzer for getting exposure time correct or very close on the first try, which it does well. For color correction I use the viewing filter method. Color is fun, except for groping around in total darkness which is required during printing. I tape the easel down so it doesn't get moved during loading the paper.</p>

<p>Michael,<br>

I agree that high speed film may not work very well. I use the formulas from The Darkroom Cookbook and expose plus x pan at EI 500 with excellent results.</p>

<p>Ric,</p>

<p>You're on the right track with cine' reversal film, it's the same process. I recently posted my success reversing Plus X pan.</p>

<p>Ric,<br>

I use an old water bed thermostat. There must be gillions of these left over from the 70's. You could look at McMaster Carr too.</p>

<p>This thread got me thinking about how forgiving C-41 is. Different B&W films require very different developing times, and you have to experiment to get it right. That makes sense to me. On the other hand, C-41 is all the same. How do they do that? I develop both C-41 and B&W, and I'd have to say that C-41 is easier! Years ago "color" was thought to be just too hard to do at home. How it has changed!</p>

<p>All,<br>

Thanks for the feedback, especially the hazards of Dichromate. I'm surprised the Darkroom Cookbook didn't tell me about permanganate. I have a NIOSH mask and cartridges, and I will use them until my stock of dichromate is used up. I take all my chemicals to the household hazmat collection facility, but I like the idea of converting to chrome(III) to add a little protection for those guys. As teenagers, my friends and I messed around with all kinds of chemicals, and I'm pretty sure potassium dichromate was one of them. I guess we were lucky. One experiment in the older books for boys was a wet cell that used sulfuric acid and potassium dichromate. Now that I think of it, it is the same formula as bleach! I'm sure when the fun was over it all went down the sink. Just part of the collective ignorance of the past.<br>

The MSDS for potassium permanganate shows it also very toxic so lets be careful while we are having fun making our own slides, and developing movie film...Did that as a teenager too...lucky.</p>

<p>I just wanted to share the success I'm having reversing B&W film. I am using Arista Premium 100, exposing at ASA 500, using the formulas in The Darkroom Cookbook. The slides look very good to me, with good highlights and nice contrast, and at ASA 500, indoor exposures in well lit rooms are easy. Camera was a Nikon EM with a f1.8 lens. I don't have a scanner so I can't show how good these look. <br>

The only warning I can make is to be careful with the bleach, it has acid and dichromate and is very poisonous. I am using rubber gloves and will properly dispose of the chemicals, not down the drain!</p>

<p>Thanks for all the answers and discussion. I have been using ASA 100, but I will use 125 from here on. <br>

If anyone is interested, I am also experimenting with reversing this film. I am getting best results shooting at ASA 500, and following the suggested formulas in The Darkroom Cookbook. Shooting any slower gives a very thin washed out slide, more than you might think. I tried shorter first development times, but it just made the whole neg. too dense.</p>

<p>I am experimenting with Arista Premium 100 and 400 and I like it. It is supposed to be Kodak, hence my question. Should I expose Arista 100 at ASA 125, assuming that's what it is? I searched for this info and didn't find it, sorry if I missed it.</p>

<p>Charles,<br>

I agree with most of the comments above. I am a hobbiest and the next thing to try is black & white transparencies. I mixed the first developer last night using the formula in the darkroom cookbook. It is fun to experiment, but bear in mind it took a good half hour to weigh and mix a liter of developer. A professional mignt not want to spend the time.</p>

<p>I recently bought a 645 with the same problem. I put a tiny drop of oil on the counter gear shaft, and it instantly started working perfectly. Have had no trouble since.</p>

<p>Motor oil containers work great. Yup, sounds crazy, but I do my own oil changes, and keeping my fleet of 5 cars maintained I was throwing dozens of these quart (they hold a liter fine) polyethylene bottles out. The Chevron ones are a nice blue color, the air squeezes out easily, and they store compactly. I've been using them for over a year with lots of different chemicals with no problems. I rinse with paint thinner, then wash twice with a strong detergent like laundry detergent. I just pour the same quart of paint thinner from bottle to bottle. When I was starting out contemplating photography as a hobby, I wasn't thrilled with spending $4 each for bottles, hence the solution. </p>

<p>John,<br>

I have had good luck using the plastic tanks by sliding the tank back and forth on the table top about a foot, turning the tank a quarter turn each time. I use as much force as possible without the developer spilling out the drain holes. This seems to agitate more evenly than the spinner. However, I have gone to metal tanks for inversion agitation, which is fool proof.</p>

<p>Kyle,</p>

<p>I would strongly recommend inversion agitation. I have a c-41 developing set-up similar to yours, and it always works perfectly, but I pick up the tank and invert a couple of times every 30 seconds per the instructions on my Unicolor kit. My water bath only goes halfway up the tank, but I think agitation evenly distributes the temperature.</p>

<p>Has anyone had dry chemicals go bad on the shelf?</p>

<p>Thanks for confirming what I already suspected, I have been putting black tape over led's and turning clocks over, and will continue to do so. I appreciate the help.</p>

<p>This may be a silly question, but when I'm loading film into a tank, my Gralab timer looks bright enough to light up the room, so I cover it. Am I being too cautious?</p>

<p>Having bought the raw chemicals for mixing just about any developer I want, I'm having lots of fun experimenting with different formulas. I would like the chemicals to last as long as possible, and I have read that phenidone does't last long on the shelf, even though it is in a powdered state. Most of my chemicals are in the translucent plastic containers they were delivered in, is there a better way to store them? Thanks.</p>