Where to get C-41 chemicals in the SF Bay Area?

[Sizam]

Hey all,
I’ve processed several sheets of B&W this last couple weeks and it is incredibly empowering (and cheap!) and I realized C-41 color processing would be fantastic so I called a couple photography shops in SF and they all said they don’t carry C-41 chemicals. Well, Sammy’s has a 10 roll kit but that isn’t going to be enough.

Does anybody know of a supplier in the area or does anybody have extra I can buy odd them?

Thanks!

[Bob Salomon]

Did you check Looking Glass? Cameras West?

[Sizam]

Yea called them both, they only have the small “quart size” kit which is good for “10-12 rolls” for $26. I’m looking to get something more in the gallon area :)

[Corran]

Freestyle

[Bob Salomon]

Yea called them both, they only have the small “quart size” kit which is good for “10-12 rolls” for $26. I’m looking to get something more in the gallon area :)

The Kodak distributor for the USA is Omega-Brandess. Check their web site or call them.

[angusparker]

Not to throw cold water on the idea but C41 is much harder to do in home - minor temp variation gives you color shifts.


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[Sizam]

@corran thanks for the tip, sadly Freestyle is So Cal and the bleach in c-41 can’t be shipped :p

@angusparker thanks for the warning, I’m using a Jobo 2520 in a homemade water bath. I figure if I can get the bath to the right temp to start then that should be fine.

[Corran]

Forgive me for my lack of knowledge about CA locales / terminology. I am confused though, what do you mean they won't ship? I order all my C-41 and E-6 chems from Freestyle. I use the press kits (Blix) but I think that's what you are talking about right?

[Bob Salomon]

Forgive me for my lack of knowledge about CA locales / terminology. I am confused though, what do you mean they won't ship? I order all my C-41 and E-6 chems from Freestyle. I use the press kits (Blix) but I think that's what you are talking about right?

Hazmat, we were the Tetnal distributor and for chemistry for their lab customers we were the storage and distribution source in the USA. Tetenal signed contracts with major labs, like District Photo, for chemistry in large drums. We would store the drums and ship them to the labs on a contractual basis. We had to observe Hazmat requirements and regulations to ship and store.
And that was about 15 years ago that we did that.
For camera stores we carried Tetenal’s various anti static cloths, cleaning cloths, lens cloths, micro fiber cloths. No government regs to store, sell and ship those!

We shipped from N NJ to the 48 lower states for the chemistry. The cloths were sold and shipped to the 50 states, and American Possessions like Guam, American Virgin Islands, Peurto Rico, etc..

[Corran]

Again, I buy all my color chemistry from Freestyle, which is shipped FedEx ground to my house on the other side of the country. I used to buy Tetenal and now buy Arista, since Tetenal discontinued their 5L kits.

What your company did years ago in a different state is really of no importance.

[Sizam]

@corran interesting, you're right it does seem like I can just order from Freestyle. Several places I looked online and one person I talked to at Sammy's Camera told me you can't get the bleach shipped due to liability issues. Guess I'll try ordering from Freestyle

[koraks]

It's actually quite odd that they'd have objections to having the bleach shipped. It mainly consists of either edta or pdta, which are sequestering agents very similar or identical to those in laundry detergents, and ammonium thiosulfate which is used as a plant fertilizer.
Edit: silly me, the bleach itself doesn't contain the thiosulfate of course. It's just edta/pdta with a halide and some acetic acid or an acetate buffer. It's really quite benign!

[Bob Salomon]

Again, I buy all my color chemistry from Freestyle, which is shipped FedEx ground to my house on the other side of the country. I used to buy Tetenal and now buy Arista, since Tetenal discontinued their 5L kits.

What your company did years ago in a different state is really of no importance.

The hazmat shipping regs are Federal, not state. So what we had to do in NJ is exactly the same regs that are enforced in every other state. Weather or not a particular shipper adhere to those regs becomes their problem.

[EdSawyer]

I recommend Unique Photo - they carry a large line of C41 and other kodak chemistry, and are happy to ship all of it. Great pricing too.

[Corran]

So Bob you are accusing Freestyle, Unique, and others of breaking Federal law??

[Bob Salomon]

So Bob you are accusing Freestyle, Unique, and others of breaking Federal law??

No, are you?

I stated that hazmat is Federal regs. It is up to the shipper to declare and package per Hazmat regs.

[Oren Grad]

Can we stop this pointless argument about shipping hazmat, please? It is a fact that vendors exist, including Freestyle and Unique Photo, who will ship all of the chemicals required for the C-41 process. Freestyle clearly flags the affected products as "ORM-D" on its website and treats them accordingly in shipping. Presumably Unique Photo handles shipping appropriately as well, but if you have any concerns you can call them and find out.

[tgtaylor]

As far as I am aware, you can no longer purchase C-41 and E-6 chemistry locally. I use to get mine from Calumet in SF and Keeble & Shuchat in Palo Alto until both closed. Now I use Unique.


Thomas

[Corran]

Apologies if I misunderstood the point of bringing up hazmat shipping. It seems as if there was none.

Yes, ORM-D stickers are all over the boxes. I like the boxes for reshipping things so I have to rip all of those off before reusing.

[Sizam]

Thanks all, ordering some chemicals now. Unique Photo does have pretty great prices, trying to figure out which Kodak chemicals I need...

[Oren Grad]

...trying to figure out which Kodak chemicals I need...

This is a never-ending problem. There's a long-running sticky-thread on Photrio about this:

https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/list-of-color-chemicals-and-where-to-get-them.79069/

See especially this post and onward for recent discussion:

https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/list-of-color-chemicals-and-where-to-get-them.79069/page-17#post-2061839

Good luck, and enjoy!

[scheinfluger_77]

@corran interesting, you're right it does seem like I can just order from Freestyle. Several places I looked online and one person I talked to at Sammy's Camera told me you can't get the bleach shipped due to liability issues. Guess I'll try ordering from Freestyle

I expect this was a business decision on the part of Sammy’s. Not that they “couldn’t” ship it, just don’t want to apparently.