- JIM ROSS SUGGESTS
ONESHOT Cd1 PROCESSING

For none-weighers and mixers there are several kits on the market for the colour transparency user. This is some more readily available:
Photocolour/Paterson 3+ kit
Jessops E6 kit
Fotospeed 3-bath kit
Tetenal E6 kit
Agfa 3-bath kit
Kodak 7-bath E-6 separate baths
Kodak 3-bath kit

Most of the above are available in a variety of sizes — the larger quantity giving greater economy, provided you are going to use them up within the storage time. Your local retailer should be able to advise.

When I process colour negs and chromogenic monochrome with the C4 1 process I prefer one-shot processing. I favoured Photocolor Kits but deviated a lot from their processing recommendations. Using my own brew for XP2 which also gives satisfactory results with Fuji NPS and Reata, the solutions are as follows:

SOLUTION A                                                SOLUTION B
Water                                   300ml                  Water                              60m1
Calgon                                 1g                         Sodium Metabisuiphite    2g
Sodium Sulphite, anhyd.       10g                       CD4                               20g
Potassium Bromide              5g                          Water to make to           100ml
Sodium Carbonate,  anhyd   80g
Hydroxylamine Sulphate       5g
Water to make to                 500m1

For use I take l00mI water, 15m1 solution A, 2m1 solution B and make upto 250m1 at 40°C. The tank and film are given a dry pre-heat of 5 minutes at 40°C. The developer is poured in and agitated for 30 seconds, followed by four lots of 1 minute still and 10 seconds agitation. The tank is then drained and a water rinse poured in for 30 seconds followed by blix and washing as per normal C41 practice.

So far I’ve had no trouble with stock solutions going off and I think I’ve kept them for a couple of years.
John (Pearle) says a film needs about 1g of CD4 but I use 0.4g. I’m satisfied with the results I get, and I think I’m more critical than most. I also used Photocolour kits for printing, latterly iLl Ambient. I’ve developed 12 x 16s on Fuji MP paper using 8m1 A plus 2m1 B diluted to ISOml in a Jobo CPE2 tank. When Iran out of Photocofour developer B I substituted part B from the above formula with excellent results. Photocolour’s replenishing rates I find insufficient for low key prints.

With Printmaster RA Ambient no longer available I’m looking for a similar odourless kit or process. Any suggestions? From my processing experiences (or should it be abuses?) I have the impression that paper processing is more critical than film processing, but I’d encourage anyone with the inclination and time to experiment.