Passing Time: Walking Around Leeds and Rollei C41 Digibase Processing
I had a bit of time to spare in Leeds recently so I took a bit of a walk. If you know Leeds at all, I was around the Ibis Hotel. Whenever we drive in to town, we always have to pass by this way, but it’s a bit of a hike from the centre. I don’t get chance to walk out this way very often. It seemed like the perfect opportunity.
The second reason I took the photographs was basically because I needed a completed roll of film to test my process. I normally buy the 3 stage C41 film process, Developer, Blix, Stabiliser. (I realise I’m rambling off into a very niche interest area here, so feel free to switch off and go and have a look through the photo’s instead).
Anyway, I was ordering my chemistry this time around and messed up. I ordered the Rollei C41 Digibase kit – a 4 stage process. Separate Bleach and Fix. After it arrived, I sat staring at it for a few hours on the kitchen table. Should I send it back, or just crack it open and use it?
I chose the latter. It’s fair to say that Rollei, whilst they may make excellent cameras, make crap instructions. So after trawling the internet for development times etc. I set to work with the ‘official times’. The result was this roll. I was not pleased.
It’s taken a long time in post process to get the final results anywhere near presentable. Rollei’s official times for bleach were quite a long way off.
Rollei C41 Digibase Processing Times
I’ve been working on it and have got pretty close to what I think the correct times should be now. If anyone’s interested, I’ll post my processing times at the end of this post. For now though, here’s the photographs. I should point out that these times worked for me and gave me clean negs without any of the yesllow blotching that blighted the early attempts at using this chemistry.
Prewash: 5:00 minutes
Developer: 3:15 (Increase by 0:15 every 4 rolls – Rollei don’t mention this)
Stop Bath: 1:00 (I added this stage – 2% white vinegar)
Rinse: 1:00
Bleach: 6:15 (Increase by 0:30 every 4 rolls)
Rinse: 1:00
Fix: 6:00
Rinse: 3:00
Stab: 1:00
I’ve turned commenting on for this post. If you’ve used Rollei Digibase, Please leave a comment with any tips or tricks
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