C-41 Developer Failure

[Steven Ruttenberg]

If the developer goes bad, will your film come out like it was not exposed? I am positive it is the developer and no, I did not do it backwards, blix first then developer. It was done in the correct order and temperature.

One slide was partially exposed when I inadvertently pulled a dark slide part way back so that portion should have been pretty much black on development. These are completely blank and looks like only the base slide material (orange mask).

I believe it was the developer going bad It was stored correctly in the dark, but I couldn't get to my last set of images till today, about 4 weeks after I mixed (no, I didn't top off with argon, I thought I would use before now) But I just used two test images, the partially exposed one and another.

[darr]

C41 is a developer for negative film. E6 is for slide film. What film did you develop?

[Steven Ruttenberg]

Negative has orange mask used c41

[Steven Ruttenberg]

About my 200th negative with c41

[darr]

Sorry, but you wrote: “ One slide was partially exposed ...” and that caught my eye. If you followed the chemical temps and order correctly, maybe bad chemicals?

[Gary Beasley]

Used c41 developer is pretty prone to going bad, especially if theres any oxygen in the bottle when its sealed.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

Sorry, but you wrote: “ One slide was partially exposed ...” and that caught my eye. If you followed the chemical temps and order correctly, maybe bad chemicals?

My bad. Step daughter dad got fubarred in accident was typing and buying plane tickets at same time.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

New developer. Not used, 4 weeks from when mixed though.

[Gary Beasley]

Store it in glass if you can, plastic is often permeable, and flush out the air with something inert. Also have to wonder if the water supply might have something in it deleterious to the developer. Some people even go so far as mixing with distilled water to avoid that kind of problem.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

I mixed with distilled water. This particular batch I didn't store like I normally do with argon purge and in glass bottles. I planned on no more than a week after mixing, but got all caught up in other things. At Least I was smart enough to use an expendable sheet to test on. Plus, looking at develop or its color looks all wrong.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

This post is more of a oops I fd up than what went wrong. Just haven't seen this before.

[koraks]

Mixed c41 developer generally easily lasts 4 weeks, provided that there is no oxygen in the bottle. You mention you didn't use an inert purge gas; does that mean that the developer was stored in a partly full bottle with a significant amount of air on top of it? Personally, I decant mixed developer (if it's a large batch) into smaller glass bottles that are all filled to the brim. That precludes the need for a purge gas and is quite convenient, as I can simply pick bottles that match developer volumes that I use frequently (in my case mostly 150ml and 250ml).

[tgtaylor]

Kodak C-41 developer will last 4 weeks in a tank with a floating lid or 6 weeks in a full stoppered glass bottle. So if it was in a partially-filled glass bottle it should be dead by the 4th week.

Thomas

[Steven Ruttenberg]

Yep, it was dead I planned to use it a few days after mixing, but all kinds of family stuff and job stuff popped up. Like getting transferred 5 states away. So I was hoping maybe it was still good. No joy.