C-41 bleach bypass

DaireQuinlan

Hey all,

Down in jessops today to pick up some half price development stuff .. some paper ... couple of trays ... stop bath ... and .. Oooo, a C-41 development kit ! So I trundled home with it happy as larry. Now , one of the things I want to try and do, when completely ruining my colour negs by developing them at home with the same laissez faire attitude I normally apply to my B&W development, is a bleach bypass. This kit has a bleach/fix combination solution. I presume the fix is the same as normal B&W fix right ? so if I skip out on the blix and just use my normal fix instead will it work correctly ?

I also plan to throw some of my (also bought in jessops) expired fuji 64t slide film through it as a cross process. That'll be fun :-)

ThOnda

I think that the fixing bath is different, because colour process is different too. Just do double checke before you do something, please.

Kilree

Vague recollection from my days processing BW, C41 and E6 (a long long time ago) is that you have to use the blix in c41 process as otherwise the silver in the film will not be converted to silver halides which the fixer part of the blix will wash away. I think you'll find rather desaturated pics if you don't use the blix. Having said all that, processing is all about experimentation so if you have a roll of film you don't particularly care about why not try it out with the BW fix solution only?

DaireQuinlan

Kilree wrote:

Vague recollection from my days processing BW, C41 and E6 (a long long time ago) is that you have to use the blix in c41 process as otherwise the silver in the film will not be converted to silver halides which the fixer part of the blix will wash away. I think you'll find rather desaturated pics if you don't use the blix. Having said all that, processing is all about experimentation so if you have a roll of film you don't particularly care about why not try it out with the BW fix solution only?

AFAIK thats the whole point of doing the bleach bypass :-) The development step in C-41 does the initial development of the silver compounds on the color layers, and then binds in the colour dyes (which are apparently in the development chemical, not the film ?!?) then the bleach pass removes all the developed silver from the film, and the fix stage removes all the unexposed silver compounds from the film (same as B&W) leaving the dye layers behind. Thats my understanding of it anyway. I reckon the best way to find out is just do it ! Thonda, that 'double check' you speak off will probably just be a roll of film going through the wash :-)