marcus Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 what are you doing to keep your c41 process useable? we have had the low-rep settings on this SM chemistry setting for a long time. we have always turned off the drive when film is not in the chemistry - but there's no other tricks were doing in these times of low through put. does anyone use the plastic air filled balls that have been around forever? less surface area exposed to oxidise was the claim - any good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snpysnps Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 We only run the film processor from mid-day onwards now - saving the power costs and also helping the chemistry as the rollers and pumps are not aerating it as much. The plastic balls are really only good for the rep tanks - we used to use them when we mixed 100 litres of each chemistry - but that was a few years ago! Have seen an upturn in film since Christmas as people had more time on their hands with the bad weather to get all those 'chores' done at home. Also, less shops in our town centre offering film processing any longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magenta Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 what are you doing to keep your c41 process useable? we have had the low-rep settings on this SM chemistry setting for a long time. we have always turned off the drive when film is not in the chemistry - but there's no other tricks were doing in these times of low through put. does anyone use the plastic air filled balls that have been around forever? less surface area exposed to oxidise was the claim - any good? You will have trouble with your balls on an SM machine, the racks already have infill padding to lessen tank volume and cut down surface area, and of course no rep tank full of mixed Dev. As has been said only turn on for a couple of hours a day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cecilh Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 Sounds painful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilT Posted January 15, 2010 Report Share Posted January 15, 2010 You will have trouble with your balls (conf21) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colopt Posted January 15, 2010 Report Share Posted January 15, 2010 I have been using the balls in the developer replenisher tank for quite some time, it seems to help. I also mix 10 litres of rep and put 5 litres in a sealed container so I only put 5 litres in the rep tank at a time. I only turn the machine on if I have at least a few films to do. Gave up offering 1 hour service long ago. Am thinking about only doing films on Wednesdays and taking the developer rack out and putting a floating lid in the tank whilst it's not being used. Of course much of this stuff you can't do with an SM machine. Thought that by now I would have stopped processing film altogether, but some weeks I still do more prints from film than digital, so decided that while the processor still works I should keep doing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Noritsu Posted January 15, 2010 Report Share Posted January 15, 2010 Kodak now have a low utilistaion developer for the c41 machine - you may want to look at that product. Otherwise, you are going to be chasing your tail forever to keep the process in control. You can increase the rep rates and see how you go, but you are going through what many other have had, and thats why they junked their film processors. We offer a service to other labs to develop their films for them, and we have kept our rollage at over 50 per day. Plus we are advertising on radio that we still do film processing. You need to either find someone to do it for you, or offer to do the films for others and get your volumes up. There is still plenty of film out there, but you need to tell people you process it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philspectrum Posted January 15, 2010 Report Share Posted January 15, 2010 I love Colopt's idea of only running the C41 one day a week, and taking the rack out and putting a floating lid on to reduce surface oxidisation. If the chemistry is kept cold and not circulated it will take a long time to go off. Spectrum have seen a big uplift in film processed by going mail order, so we are back to 50 a day, - but on lower prices ..... not like the good old days of 1 hour photo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLA Posted January 15, 2010 Report Share Posted January 15, 2010 Ours is also turned off most of the time and touch wood no problems so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbeen Posted January 15, 2010 Report Share Posted January 15, 2010 mmmm.... we've been under-processing some of our film, cause we used to wash our developer everynight (which dilutes the chemicals) but keeps the machine clean.. so now we only wash twice a week, to keep it from crystalising.. we get around 30+ rolls each day, so theres no problems with not having enough film to put through (all our shops used to do film in an hour-but we stopped and now only one of our shops does all the developing(hence the higher number of rolls) so it keeps the chemicals balanced in that respect.. other shops ive heard.. only run their machine once every few days, when they build up around 10ish films... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowe Posted January 15, 2010 Report Share Posted January 15, 2010 Hmmm.. We have old Konica KP 50. Its for big volume and this days rolls from 10 to 20 per day. So I look at raks and its very easy to short them by half and its easy to chance speed at 50% lower. So time for film in machine stay at same. Only one thing its almost inpossile to do. How to minimize tanks so less chemistry needed. Do I put this machine out, or do I try to fix it someway.... dont know!!!!???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cecilh Posted January 16, 2010 Report Share Posted January 16, 2010 We have the big Noritsu V100. Peter Townsend tells me it will run fine if we do 20 per day. We had a pile of old films and are making up the number to 20 every day. Peter also said running the machine less time helps the dev. slightly but is worse for the bleach which neens agitation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colopt Posted February 26, 2010 Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 I have been doing films only on Wednesdays since the start of the year and it has been working well so far. I should have started doing this sooner. When the machine is not in use I take out the dev rack, and put a couple of layers of bubble wrap on top of the developer to stop oxidisation. I also drain out the bleach and pour it back in before using the machine to help aerate and agitate the bleach. I think I will keep doing this until I eventually close the processor down for good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nash Posted February 27, 2010 Report Share Posted February 27, 2010 mine i put through leader cards through and it seems to work on the fuji FP230B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colopt Posted March 2, 2010 Report Share Posted March 2, 2010 Pleasantly suprised by my latest power bill, quite a reduction since I have been doing films only once a week, another benefit of doing it this way. Better for the environment too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotomo Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 The success of LOMO cameras really put the films back on the map. we are doing more medium format films than ever. And we are charging decent money for that. So I guess the industry owes them a big one for revival of films. I am so happy to hear the sound of bag of films drop at my counter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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