By
Bill Reid (Area 22)
With
thanks to Area One Co-ordinator, Alan Frame for sending me a free sample
of the new kit. By Bill Reid (Area 22)
Alan
kindly sent me a sample of the new kit in response to my last processing
session using the Chrome-Six kit, reported in Issue No. 79. Alan, who
works for the firm, wasn`t giving any trade secrets away so it was
simply a matter of trying the new kit for myself. Due to our recent
brevement it was July before I had enough films exposed to finally use
the kit. In spite of six months passing it doesn`t appear to have made
any ifference to the kit`s performance.
The
package looks the same as before except for the `3 +` being added to the
heading. The First Developer is still mixed from one bottle of
concentrated chemicals, as is the Bleach/Fix and Stabiliser with the
Colour Developer coming in two bottles. The Col. Dev. of course also
includes the Chemical Reversal. All brews are simplicity themselves. I
used tap
water (cold) which had gone through a water filter jug. As usual I made
the brew up a day before processing, to allow the chemicals to mix and
`mature`.
As my Jobo
Processor only requires 250cc of chemicals, I split the 600ml kit into
two lots of 300ml, not bothering to reduce further. The Jobo tank can
handle the 300ml amounts alright and there is still enough free space
for the chemicals to swill around during the continuous motorised
agitation periods. The first `three` bottles of chemicals were placed in
the processor`s holding bays, while the second three, along with the
Stabiliser, were placed to the right of the developing tank where the
stood in the shallow area of water to keep their temperatures close to
the maximum.
The only
variation I used was in aerating the Bleach/Fix solution, using a small
fish tank air pump. The two bottles of bleach/fix were aerated
throughout the whole session (in turn) and gave perfect results each
time. The aeration didn`t appear to affect the working of the fixer side
of the twin solution.
With eight
(36exp) films to process, it meant that each 300ml of chemicals would be
used twice (2 cassettes in each session). Each `first` use of the
chemicals were given the stated timings. The first Dev. 7 mins.,
followed by a three minute wash of one minute changes of water, from a
plastic bucket filled with water at 40C.
The Colour
Developer at 7 mins, followed by a minutes `rinse` then quickly followed
by the Bleach/Fix for 10 mins. The final wash is of 4 minutes, but I
usually extend this by, firstly, giving three rinses to remove as much
chemicals as possible, before starting the timer to give 4-5 minutes of
one minute water changes, therefore the total wash time is probably
nearer 8 minutes.
The film(s)
are then given one minute in the stabliser followed by one wipe from my
Paterson Squeegy and finally hung up to dry by an open window.
For the
second processings the
First Developer, only, was extended by 15 seconds, to 7¼ minutes. As
explained the second three bottles are just stood in a shallow section
of the water bath, but immediately at the end of the processing these
are swapped over to the deep water bath bays.
I
generally give a good 30 minutes interval before starting another
session, this is to allow for the tank and spirals to dry after having
beed washed and then after reloading with fresh film, a period for the
tank to warm up, as well as giving a welcome break.
I`m please
to say that all eight films processed with equal quality which I was
very pleased with and by the appearance of the chemicals I would
consider possibly trying another processing, but decided against it,
just in case!!
I have no
idea what changes have been made to the new kit, but what with the
simplicity of the mixing procedure and the uniform procession of all
eight films I can fully recommend the new kit with perfect confidence.
For those who don`t weigh & mix their own brews this is an excellent
kit and, especially on using a Jobo processor, is very economical,
though by splitting into 2 x 300ml lots, even Paterson type tank users
should be able to benefit from getting eight cassettes of film processed
from just 600mls of chemicals.
The
Chrome-Six Plus kit is available from all Jessop shops.