Shelf life of ECN-II working solution/roll capacity

[Daniel Keating]

Hello everyone,

Let me preface this post by stating I was 25 years in the c41 lab business and a former technician for Noritsu America corp (minilab equipment). I'm buying bulk old stock of MP film and spooling that into 35mm cassettes and saving a ton of money (like getting 24exp for .09 cents a roll). Remjet removal with baking soda & water is easy-peasy

So far I have gotten quite good results cross processing in a Unicolor C41 kit. This kit most likely has stabilizing agents as you can store the mixed solution for a year or so using it intermittantly to dev film as needed.

A friend of mine put out the theory that if they look that good in the wrong chemistry, imagine how nice they would look in the right chemicals. Hmmmmm. I have zero experience with ECN-II

I can mix up ECN-II from formulary/bulk chems but was curious on 2 things:

1. How many rolls might I expect from a liter mix?

2. How long will the solution keep once mixed?

 

With C41 chems I would want to consume mixed replenisher within a week or 2. If home brewed ECN-II has a tight leash before it turns into tarry pond scum I'm thinking I'll have to shoot film, let it accumulate, mix up a batch and use it on the accumulated film so the one questions remains --how many rolls out of a liter before it's exhausted?

[John Christopher Vicera Geronilla]

I've used this resource for homemade ECN-2: http://www.apug.org/forums/forum216/37994-process-ecn-2-pictorial-use.html

 

I don't know how many rolls from a liter because I am conservative, and I split it up into 260 ml for Jobo use. But others have said the solution last 8 days to a couple weeks.

 

I do 4 rolls per 260-300 ml to be safe. I think I've done 6 and the image was still good. But using a liter mix will be different because the chemicals get put together and back within the same container. With smaller increments, it gets exhausted quicker.

 

I would do some testing. It really depends on your tolerance for grain and color variation.

[Jay Young]

According to the ECN-2 guide, you need to replinish 900ml of developing solution per 100 feet of 35mm film.

 

 

This PDF helps a bit: http://motion.kodak.com/motion/uploadedFiles/US_plugins_acrobat_en_motion_support_processing_h247_h2407.pdf

[Daniel Keating]

I've used this resource for homemade ECN-2: http://www.apug.org/forums/forum216/37994-process-ecn-2-pictorial-use.html

 

I don't know how many rolls from a liter because I am conservative, and I split it up into 260 ml for Jobo use. But others have said the solution last 8 days to a couple weeks.

 

I do 4 rolls per 260-300 ml to be safe. I think I've done 6 and the image was still good. But using a liter mix will be different because the chemicals get put together and back within the same container. With smaller increments, it gets exhausted quicker.

 

I would do some testing. It really depends on your tolerance for grain and color variation.

I saw that same apug post with the formulation and to be less wasteful I am in the habit of measuring out powdered B&W chems of just what I need for a 1 shot roll (when doing B&W). From your post it looks like I will be able to get 8-12 rolls from a 500ml mix (2 reel tank) if used promptly. Thanks for the reply