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