Kodak RA-4 vs Whatever they sell at Freeestyle.

[false_Aesthetic]

I think I just bought the last 40L of Kodak RA-4 dev and blix in Los Angeles.

Yeah, we still run a color processor at school.

Easy enough to get my hands on the non-kodak stuff at Freestyle.

My question is this: Are those two brands compatible.

I know they basically do the same thing but RA-4 chem is like a neurotic chainsmoking monkey that must arrange its cigaretts in order of length alphabetically.

I know what I'll do to be safe (dump the chem when I run out of kodak and mix up the freestyle stuff) but I'm just curious about compatibility.

[Daniel Stone]

start buying fuji. easy to mix up, and they supply a shitload of LA-based labs, including most of the pro labs.

Kodak really f****d itself when they decided to become a "digital" company....

-Dan

[Robert Ley]

I agree with Dan in that Fuji-Hunt chemistry is every bit as good as Kodak's and will be around for quite a while which is more than we can be assured about with Kodak :( .

I have used Fuji-Hunt chemistry for both film and paper and have been very happy with my results and have never had a problem.

You can get Fuji as well as Kodak chemistry from this place: http://www.minilab.com/index.asp
Minilab Supply Store is a great place to work with and their prices and shipping are very good. Give them a call on prices and availability...they may even have Kodak in stock:D

[Drew Wiley]

RA-4 looks stable on all counts. Kodak is releasing a new line of improved C paper, and
this is an important category of business for them as they go forward with reorganization, so no way they're going to cut off necessary chem. They have sufficient financing in place to keep core product lines going. This is reorganization, not
the end of the line for Kodak. The Arista chem looks very similar, but I haven't had a chance to try it yet. Some labs around here still use Kodak for everything, and the war with Fuji for the C-paper market doesn't seem to be over at all.
with Fuji

[Robert Ley]

Drew, I have not heard that Kodak is coming out with a new C paper, if so that is good news and hopefully they will be offering cut sheets again. I can cut rolls in the darkroom but it is a huge PITA! As far as RA-4 chemistry, I think that I would stick with either Kodak or Fuji-Hunt as I think that Freestyle is more geared to the weekend hobbyist and one shot development in a Jobo or Unicolor drum. I have a Fujimoto CP-51 and it takes 6ltrs to just fill the beast.

[Drew Wiley]

They're interested in pro labs, so probably no cut sheet for awhile. And Fuji is not doing
cut sheet over 20X24. A minor inconvenience. I have no idea who is making B&H's
private label (?) Colortone paper. So Kodak is hardly curling up to die in this particular
product category. And the fact that they're making available specific analog printing
instructions for this new paper, along with the Lightjet etc starting points, makes me
suspect that, despite all the hype, they do see the importance of keeping a companion
color neg film selection on the market. Hopefully they will become a dedicated niche
product company for those various depts which are turning a profit, and not go galavanting off ninety different directions at once. But the next group of investors will have the final say about that, once these speed bumps are passed.

[Drew Wiley]

Be nice if someone posted the US distributors for Fuji-Hunt. Is anyone familiar with
Kull in Washington state? I also notice that the third player in RA4 paper is still Mitsubishi, who seems active in the greater Asian market.

[Robert Ley]

I believe that Fuji-Hunt Chemicals is the distributor in the US and as a stated above the chemicals can be obtained from the Minilab Supply store. They have good prices and service and I have not found a need to search out another source.

Unique Photo out of New Jersey is were I got my first Fuji-Hunt chemistry and I was very happy there but several years ago they made a decision to go digital and chemistry for the big processors and I could not reliably get smaller quantities.

[false_Aesthetic]

start buying fuji. easy to mix up, and they supply a shitload of LA-based labs, including most of the pro labs.

Kodak really f****d itself when they decided to become a "digital" company....

-Dan

Dan, do you know who carries the Fuji-Hunt ra-4 chem in Los Angeles?

I know that the "writing is on the wall" about RA-4 but I want to try to keep this machine going as long as we can. Kids end up understanding color correction so much better when you teach analog first and then move them to digital.

[Daniel Stone]

Dan, do you know who carries the Fuji-Hunt ra-4 chem in Los Angeles?

I know that the "writing is on the wall" about RA-4 but I want to try to keep this machine going as long as we can. Kids end up understanding color correction so much better when you teach analog first and then move them to digital.

I don't think RA-4 is going anywhere anytime soon, all major labs that I know of in any major metropolis run at least 1-2 minilab machines which use it, and the bigger labs usually have a lightjet/chromira LED exposure unit, which needs a processor to process the exposed paper. Try calling samy's in DTLA, and ask to speak with the minilab manager, he/she might be able to point you to their distributor or upline contact who could point you to a source. Samy's is running Fuji paper/chems in their machines now in all their stores.

cheers,

Dan

[Drew Wiley]

Kodak doesn't make their chem anyway anymore - it's Champion - and they're just
getting making money on the distribution and their name, so whatever Kodak is going thru right now probably has next to nothing to do with the availability of Kodak
chem per se. But for awhile now some labs have gotten miffed with their sales policies, so I can understand Fuji gaining ground. As a small-volume user, I found
Kodak's RA products to be quite reliable.