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View Full Version : Tetenal e6/c41 kits in 1L and 5L size discontinued



vinny
9-Feb-2016, 14:40
You'll notice on Freestyle's site that the kits are marked "clearance" even though the price isn't reduced. The 1L and 5L kits will be replaced with a 2.5L kit. One less option. Dammit.
Bummer because my c41 blix part 2 went bad before I got even half way through it and they don't have replacements. That's another story though.

rbultman
9-Feb-2016, 19:56
The 5L C41 shows both "clearance" and "out of stock", but lists a due date of Feb 12. I hope the 5L kit stays available. I'm just getting into color film processing.

vinny
9-Feb-2016, 19:59
The 5L kit will no longer be available. Freestyle is the only retailer in the u.s. who carries Tetenal color chems.

Corran
9-Feb-2016, 20:49
Damn!!

I am still on backorder for a 5L set of C-41 chemicals.

However, I already divide my chemicals into 2.5L batches. Did you call them, and get the information regarding the 2.5L kits? Any clue what the pricing will be? I'm going to be a bit miffed if the 2.5L kit is like $60. That would be effectively a 55% price hike.

vinny
17-Feb-2016, 11:14
My conversation was via email. No clue on price but I highly doubt it will be cheaper. Tetenal needs to change their deal with Freestyle and sell these chems to other vendors.

Lachlan 717
17-Feb-2016, 15:58
There's a post on APUG updating this. According to that the OP has been in touch with Tetenal and, after further consideration, they are going to maintain 1 litre kits.

Corran
17-Feb-2016, 16:37
I don't buy the 1L packages because the pricing structure is ridiculous. $51 for 1L, $77 for 5L?! Where's the logic in that? Of course buying in bulk should be a bit cheaper per liter, but that's just crazy. If they only have 1L packages I won't be buying them, I'll find another source/vendor/brand.

Lachlan 717
17-Feb-2016, 19:10
They're apparently going to have 1 litre as well as 2.5 litres.

Corran
17-Feb-2016, 19:12
Great, well I don't post/browse APUG - did they mention prices? Since the 5L was $77, I'm hoping the 2.5L isn't more than $40 or so, but I am betting that's wishful thinking.

vinny
17-Feb-2016, 21:05
This post? http://www.apug.org/forum/index.php?threads/tetenal-1-liter-kits-soon-back-in-production.134677/
The guy is from Norway, not the U.S. Hopefully his email is true for us as well but Freestyle is the sole U.S. distributor just because Tetenal sells it in Europe, doesn't mean Freestyle will stock it here.

Duolab123
17-Feb-2016, 22:05
I think E-6 is going to be darn hard to find going forward, I love chromes, however I want something I can print in my darkroom. I have bought real genuine Kodak C-41 Rapid Access chemistry from Unique Photo in New Jersey, these guys don't make you buy a case (at least with this particular chemistry ). I got 5 liters of replenishers with the developer and bleach starters for what I thought was very reasonable, around 120 bucks. I'm still stockpiling some film before I divide or mix and store in small full bottles.
I will say that Kodak still makes incredible color negative film,at quite reasonable prices, I'm getting the feeling that Fuji feels somewhat saddled with Fuji chrome. It's so wonderful that if Fuji stopped making it would be a tremendous loss. Still I'm going to be shooting a few rolls of Fuji chrome 120 a year and I will find the chemistry somewhere as long as someone is selling. Other than that I'm going to be shooting Ektar and Portra and start to make beautiful RA-4 prints.
Thank goodness Fuji still cuts Crystal Archive paper, even if it's the flimsy stock used by the minilabs, it still makes great prints.
Woe is me. I feel like every time this kind of thing happens makes me nervous.
Best Regards Mike

Jim C.
18-Feb-2016, 15:15
It's a shame that Freestyle is the sole US distributor, it makes it harder for East Coasters to get liquid chems
during the winter months because of the chems freezing in transit.

Corran
28-Apr-2016, 21:07
So I looked today and apparently the 5L C-41 kit on "clearance" (same price as always) finally sold out, and they seem to have then put up the 2.5L kit in replacement. Price is $63.99. For reference, the 5L kit was $76.99.

2.5L C-41 kit @ $63.99 = $25.60 per liter
5L C-41 kit @ $76.99 = $15.40 per liter

This essentially equates to a 66% price increase.

Really quite upset about this. I will need to look at alternatives. That kind of arbitrary price increase is unacceptable as far as I am concerned and I am more than happy to stop giving business to FS.

For those using E-6 chemicals, the "clearance" 5L kits are still @$99.99. I'll probably buy an extra. I expect as soon as they are gone they'll put up the 2.5L kits at likely $83.99 or so.

Tin Can
28-Apr-2016, 21:48
5 minutes ago my former photo instructor asked me to gear up for color. He just flew in from Christchurch.

Can we mix our own? He may know how. I don't.

Corran
28-Apr-2016, 21:52
I have seen color developer / bleach recipes. I don't at this point in time want to roll my own personally, so I didn't bookmark them.

Note that at FS they still have other brands, such as Rollei and their house brand Arista in a gallon kit. The gallon kit is still more expensive per ounce than the old 5L Tetenal kits. One wonders if their choice to hike the price thus was not influenced by such factors.

Now to look at other Tetenal suppliers. I like the product and have had excellent success with it so I would prefer not to switch. This may even entail shipping chemicals from Europe. So be it. I will call FS when I have a moment and let them know how disappointed I am in their pricing structure and product change.

Corran
28-Apr-2016, 21:58
Follow up:
Rollei kits @ macodirect are really cheap but they aren't allowed to ship them out of the EU. Shoot.

Tin Can
28-Apr-2016, 22:00
Thanks for the info.

When he rests up I will find out how big a project he has.

He taught color for decades.

Corran
28-Apr-2016, 22:04
Another option: fotoimpex - €44 or $50 for the Rollei 5L kit. I may go with that. No indications about shipping issues.

vinny
29-Apr-2016, 07:09
Yeah Brian, it's a bummer. The Rollei c41 kits they were selling a couple years ago would go bad before I even opened them (part c). They even sent me 3 replacement bottles of part C, all of which were bad. I hope the new kits are better. I won't pay $64 for the new kit, I'd rather pay to send it out at this point for the small amount of c41 I do. E6 is another story and Tetenal kit I have is already 2yrs old, and parts are going bad. Two kids, other hobbies like fishing and woodworking don't help the shelf life.

Corran
29-Apr-2016, 18:55
Thanks for the info Vinny, that doesn't sound good regarding the shelf life on the Rollei brand chemicals.

I will keep looking. I really wonder what FS is thinking with this.

Duolab123
30-Apr-2016, 20:29
Here's my solution to the Freestyle/Tetenal dilemma. Unique Photo in NJ sells REAL Kodak C-41 chemistry in less than case quantities 5L at a time. But ONLY the Rapid Access C-41 (This is what every minilab uses now) Unlike B&H you don't have to buy a lifetime supply and buy at the store. This is the same stuff that comes in the cartridges that Fuji, Kodak and others sell but this is for machines that don't use the dopey cartridges. You can check your local shop may have the stuff but most use the cartridges.

I just developed 2 rolls of 35 mm 1 Fuji, and 1 Kodak Portra. I am using the Kodak Flexicolor C-41 RA (Rapid Access) chemistry. This stuff is designed for minilabs but looks to work fine for small tanks. I processed on a Jobo CPP2, with a lift, in the short 2500 series tank. At 100F 3min 15 sec. developer, (This is common to every C-41 process ).
There are options for times on Bleach and fixer. If you have the fastest minilab Bleach is 1 min! Fixer is two separate baths of 1 min each.
Having said this Kodak Z-100 manual basically says you can Bleach up to 6 1/2 minutes if that's what your old minilab is set up to do, and Fix up to 6 1/2 minutes (Look at the Z-100 manual)

Here's what I did. 2500 series short (2x35mm) reel tank I used 450mL of solution This was probably overkill but I didn't wan't to run out of activity.
Develop 3'15"
Bleach 3'30"
Rinse 2X 30"
Fixer 5'30"
Wash 10 x 30"
Final Rinse 30" off the machine.

These chemicals are readily available from Unique photo in NJ. They shipped UPS, nothing froze but I had them delivered to my work. UPS truck sat out in a unheated garage overnight stuff was cold but fine. You need Developer starter (Cheap) and Bleach Starter (Cheap) AND you will need to replenish your chemistry. I suppose you could use it 1 shot but no reason to. Kodak says RA designed for washless process but is AOK to wash, (Good because I like to wash)
The developer is standard C-41 LU cat 823 1672 5 L Replenisher, this is where you need the Dev. starter (cat. 660 1074) to make up working solution, Bleach is the RA stuff cat 825 5549, bleach starter (660 1082) is required to make up the working solution. Fixer is RA stuff cat 107 7577, no starter required. Final Rinse is just plain Flexicolor SM (small tank) cat 192 5254.

Next time I'm going to try shortening my bleach times and using two separate fixer solutions it will be a little trickier, need to use final fix to replenish first fix and add fresh fix to final fix, (look at the Z-100 manual, counter current baths it makes sense)

The negatives look great (No I have not printed yet) I'm done with the "Hobby" kits . I get Fuji RA-4 print chemicals from my local lab. The Kodak C-41 stuff is from Unique, but I think I can get this from my local guy as he uses a Noritsu processor (no cartridges). No reason to use "Blix" kits this is how it is intended to be used.

As far as E-6, I'm trying to swear it off, I'm done with E-6 LF, but I can't break myself from shooting 2 1/4 chromes and showing them with my Kindermann projector (fall shots so Great!) If I relapse into a lot of chromes I'm going with the Fuji Pro 6, 5 L from Freestyle (It can be replenished too). For what the film costs I can afford the chemistry. I still have a little Tetenal E-6 left when its gone, I'm done with the "Blix" film processes. It stinks that Tetenal is not going to be available, I think this is Freestyle trying to push Arista. But it is what it is. Europe seems to have A LOT more options than USA, more competition less "superstores"
I will try to scan and post a couple shots in the next few days.
Very Interested in comments. Let me know what you think.
Best Regards, Mike

Corran
30-Apr-2016, 20:36
Thanks Mike, very interesting synopsis.

I am moving soon and I may not even have a darkroom so this problem for me will have to wait, but I have some ideas I'm working on for my color film usage...

jbCleveFan
1-May-2016, 20:59
So I looked today and apparently the 5L C-41 kit on "clearance" (same price as always) finally sold out, and they seem to have then put up the 2.5L kit in replacement. Price is $63.99. For reference, the 5L kit was $76.99.

2.5L C-41 kit @ $63.99 = $25.60 per liter
5L C-41 kit @ $76.99 = $15.40 per liter

This essentially equates to a 66% price increase.

Really quite upset about this. I will need to look at alternatives. That kind of arbitrary price increase is unacceptable as far as I am concerned and I am more than happy to stop giving business to FS.



________________________

I don't think this equates to a price increase at all, since the new 2.5L kit actually seems to fit appropriately between the prices of the discontinued 1L and 5L kits ($51 and $77 from your prev post). Buying larger quantities is always cheaper anyway. It's not a direct relationship to the actual liquid content, as the cost of containers, packaging, labeling, and especially the shipping of hazardous chems from Europe do not have as great a difference for them between the two kits.

You mentioned calling Freestyle (in a later post), this appears to be a change by Tetenal, not Freestyle.
They are saying was due to "change in EU regulations" here: http://www.tetenaluk.com/news/changes-to-tetenal-colortec-c41-and-e6-processing-kits/

I agree the 5L kit was a much better deal, but it doesn't look like a price hike to me, just a smaller package size that benefits over the 1L size, but of course is not as good a deal as the larger bulk rate of the 5L size. I'll prob just move to the 2.5L kit, but, of course I also grabbed another 5L kit before they sold out :)

Best regards,
John

Corran
1-May-2016, 21:19
The 1L kit is ridiculously overpriced as it is. Bulk discounts are one thing, but that's null and void if I can't buy bulk. Either way it's costing us 66% more than before to get the same amount.

I see 5L kits still for sale in Europe so I was under the assumption this was a FS thing, not Tetenal, but I may be wrong. If Tetenal wants to gouge the price, then I can drop them just as well. Either way this is bad for those of us processing at home and continues the never-ending cycle of raising prices, therefore slowing demand, which will destroy the market completely here soon. Tetenal is apparently ascribing to the FujiFilm method of sales. Disappointed.

jbCleveFan
1-May-2016, 21:32
I agree, and yes it seems every year more options for home-processing are either lost or prices increased. The loss of the 5L kit option is more of that, and it sucks bad.
I read thru Mike's post about using Kodak C-41 chemistry from Unique Photo, that is interesting and I'll look more into that, though I can't help wonder if that option is also on borrowed time...


John

Corran
1-May-2016, 21:41
All color film and processing is on borrowed time I suppose. I have a lot of film in my fridge to shoot before it's extinct, so availability of chemistry is essential to me, and these discontinuations really hit hard.

Duolab123
2-May-2016, 18:59
I can't predict the future but as long as there are minilabs processing film I think you will be able to get c-41. Having said that I live in Iowa City IA. We have University of Iowa, so lots of crazy people like me. Still quite a bit of film shooters. University Camera, a local institution since late 60's still develops film color and b&w. I talked to Roger Christian the owner, they still have enough volume everything is good. But, he doesn't process in a month what he did on a couple of good days 15 years ago.
Another local shop in Cedar Rapids is Photo Pro, I grew up with the owner Dave Johnson, they still process film and have a thriving printing business. I checked and Dave uses the Kodak RA C41 chemistry, I can buy 5 L packs Dave.

This may be a mutually beneficial situation, help support small shops, check and see what they use and adapt to it.

I love black and white this is why I shoot large and medium format. I still like to print color now and then but it's getting harder to get excited about printing my own. Still I hope this stuff hangs around. I'm love playing in the dark.
Pray for Fujichrome and Ferrania.
Best Regards, Mike