{"id":4658,"date":"2025-04-07T19:48:32","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T18:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/?p=4658"},"modified":"2025-10-12T16:04:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T15:04:17","slug":"lucking-it-out-with-old-c41-chemicals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/07\/lucking-it-out-with-old-c41-chemicals\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucking it out with old C41 chemicals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What do you know, it turns out that C41 chemicals last a very long time. My solution of Bellini Foto developer was two years old and had been used with 16 rolls before I discarded it yesterday. I suspect it went bad only because the plastic bottle cracked and let in air, which caused the chemical to oxidise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WIth an exposed roll of Kodak Ultramax already loaded in the developing tank, I prepared a fresh solution of the same developer from a bottle of concentrate that had been stored for more than a year. But without new bleach and fixer, I took the gamble of re-using two-year-old solutions. I transferred the chemicals to new bottles replacing the broken ones and warmed them to 41 degrees Celcius in a water bath. I tempered the film in the tank to 38 degrees for 3 minutes, poured in the fresh developer at 41 degrees, agitated frequently with a figure-eight motion for 3.5 minutes, poured in the bleach, agitated continuously for 45 seconds, poured in the fixer, agitated for 120 seconds, and finally rinsed with fresh stabiliser. I hanged the negative to dry and stowed the chemicals in the usual storage place that gives them their long shelf life\u2014the dark spot under the stairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What came out are probably the best negatives I’ve produced since starting C41 development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do you know, it turns out that C41 chemicals last a very long time. My solution of Bellini Foto developer was two years old and had been used with 16 rolls before I discarded it yesterday. I suspect it went bad only because the plastic bottle cracked and let in air, which caused the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1j9q5-1d8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3284,"url":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/2022\/08\/22\/hit-and-miss\/","url_meta":{"origin":4658,"position":0},"title":"Hit and miss","author":"Eddy Young","date":"22 August 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The results of my film development are still hit and miss. Here are samples from yet another roll that was started in 2018 and finished just this month. I set the camera to ISO 400 for the Agfa Vista 200 film. This mistake not only caused the pictures to come\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022-08-21-0002-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022-08-21-0002-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022-08-21-0002-150x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022-08-21-0002-150x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022-08-21-0002-150x150.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022-08-21-0002-150x150.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3826,"url":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/2023\/09\/27\/a-brief-appearance-of-the-nikon-fg-20\/","url_meta":{"origin":4658,"position":1},"title":"A brief appearance of the Nikon FG-20","author":"Eddy Young","date":"27 September 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Previously I wrote that the Nikon FG-20 is not a suitable camera for practising photography. I argued that its flawed ergonomics got in the way of a pleasant shooting experience and could even cause exposure mistakes. And yet I found myself retrieving it from storage, loading two fresh LR44 batteries\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-10-0004-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-10-0004-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-10-0004-150x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-10-0004-150x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-10-0004-150x150.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-10-0004-150x150.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3867,"url":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/2023\/11\/05\/more-pictures-from-expired-ferrania-solaris-100-film\/","url_meta":{"origin":4658,"position":2},"title":"More pictures from expired Ferrania Solaris 100 film","author":"Eddy Young","date":"5 November 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I developed a third roll of Ferrania Solaris 100 today, and the pictures are meh, consistent with the previous two experiments. Also, the grain in these pictures, and in the ones from previous posts, could be either because the film is old or because of over-development. The second reason is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/2023-11-05-0001-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/2023-11-05-0001-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/2023-11-05-0001-150x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/2023-11-05-0001-150x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/2023-11-05-0001-150x150.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/2023-11-05-0001-150x150.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3721,"url":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/2023\/09\/02\/playing-with-expired-ferrania-solaris-100-film\/","url_meta":{"origin":4658,"position":3},"title":"Playing with expired Ferrania Solaris 100 film","author":"Eddy Young","date":"2 September 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This evening I developed a roll of expired Ferrania Solaris 100 film, which I bought on eBay. It was ideal for testing because it had only 12 frames, which I could shoot in a single day\u2014a 36-frame roll can take months. The flowers planted by my mother and me were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-02-0003-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-02-0003-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-02-0003-150x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-02-0003-150x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-02-0003-150x150.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-02-0003-150x150.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3241,"url":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/2022\/07\/15\/trying-film-photography-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":4658,"position":4},"title":"Trying film photography again","author":"Eddy Young","date":"15 July 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I finally visited the park that opened near my house in 2020 amidst COVID lockdown. It is a former golf course that has been rehabilitated as a green area. I carried a Nikon FG-20 camera with an unfinished roll of film on my walk and took pictures of the trees\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Peach blossom flowers","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2022-07-15-0024-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2022-07-15-0024-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2022-07-15-0024-150x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2022-07-15-0024-150x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2022-07-15-0024-150x150.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2022-07-15-0024-150x150.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3315,"url":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/2022\/08\/31\/the-fg-20-must-go\/","url_meta":{"origin":4658,"position":5},"title":"The FG-20 must go","author":"Eddy Young","date":"31 August 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Another week, another series of tests with film. Regardless of their questionable compositions, these pictures are rather good for being shot on expired film. They result from following the development instructions to the letter. Three and a half minutes in the developer chemical at exactly 38\u00b0C, as confirmed by three\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022-08-30-0010-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022-08-30-0010-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022-08-30-0010-150x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022-08-30-0010-150x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4658"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5058,"href":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4658\/revisions\/5058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}