C-41 re-use and storage

[rustyair]

Hi,

I was wondering how many times do you re-use your c-41 soups?

And How do you store them?

[Ari]

If I have the luxury of waiting to develop my film, I will process all of it in the span of a few days.
My last batch of C-41 chems got me 60 sheets of 4x5 and 6 rolls of 120; I'm not sure the chemicals are exhausted yet, but I wouldn't process anything important after 60 sheets.
I find that capacity greatly increases if the chems are not sitting around too long.

As to storage, I use 1-litre accordion-style bottles.

[spacegoose]

I mix to 1L (am using Kodak Flexicolor chems now) - and will start replenishing the developer, though had been using it one shot more or less (sometimes 2 or 3 times if developing rolls or sheets, etc. back to back). But it does change strength over use, since it's one of the more expensive chems, better to replenish (which sounds more difficult than it is). Essentially as I understand it, you make a working solution with water, dev replenisher, and dev starter. After using this solution, you add a small amount more of the replenisher to make up for the lost strength that comes with developing film. Kodak should have a pdf which describes the amount of replenisher to add per amount of Portra the working developer has developed. The amount seems to be based on the speed of film, not sure if this translates to developing Fuji emulsions of similar speeds?

Bleach probably the most expensive chem, has high capacity, so does fix but less than bleach. C41 fix is typically the second cheapest before stabilizer. Stabilizer should be mixed with distilled water to avoid mineral deposits / water marks on your negatives; to avoid stabilizer problems you might consider using it one shot.

Using replenished developer (especially the Kodak LU which supposedly keeps longer), as long as it is stored properly (in air tight full bottles), I believe could go several months with replenishment? If not using regularly mix a new working solution.

1L of bleach could probably go 15 rolls.
1L of fix maybe 7 rolls
1L stabilizer use one shot w/ distilled water

If you're in the North Eastern United States, Unique Photo of NJ seems to have the best prices, and ships UPS.

I use plastic Jobo 1L bottles which are becoming hard to find (no longer made) and expensive - but they are very nice. I might look into brown glass or other 1L glass bottles. I think the typical brown plastic chem bottles are not good for C41 developer, and possibly others like bleach or fix (ok for stab though I think). I had some newly mixed, 1 week old excess fresh developer which looked old and brown after coming out of a partially filled brown plastic bottle. So think either air gets in, or the air that comes from partial filling may be a problem.