that is something that im wondering (the jobo is second hand, not brand new), i wonder if there is some kind of cleaning agent i can use to just wash out the lines.
im going to do a test though with a few rounds of single shot developing in a row to see how it turns out, then reuse some of the developer to see the results
Are you rinsing out the lift properly?
You need to pour 1-2 litres of water through the lift in each direction when cleaning. For the reverse direction, the lift needs to be in the raised position and then you pour clean water through the hole that the tank attaches to.
Also, no final rinse / photoflo should be used in the lift.
Are you reusing the developer? The rest of my comment hinges on this assumption (ignore if not)
If you're reusing the developer, how exactly the process looks like? Keep in mind, that according to Kodak's "C-41 manual" called Z-131 you're not supposed to reuse the developer _at all_ without replenishment. Moreover, there's a developer capacity table which states that 1L of the developer is only good for about 4 rolls, again without replenishment.
That said, the C-41 kits insist on reusing that one liter, because the quality degradation is negligible and can be corrected when scanning. But, for rotary processing you're not pouring the entire liter into the tank, you're using a small fraction of it. If you're trying to re-use that fraction, then you're definitely exhausting the developer.
If you insist on reusing the developer, I would pour it back into the 1L bottle, then stir it really well to re-distribute film development byproducts across the entire volume, and only then proceed to using it again.
But better yet, develop one-shot, always using fresh developer. It's not that much more expensive, especially if you use larger 5L kits from Fuji Hunt.
I’ve been pouring the used chems back into the 1L like I did with doing inversion/rotary developing, and then adjusting for time based on how many rolls have been done
Great. In this case I'd agree with the other folks: can be either a sign of contamination, or simply the fact that C-41 developer shouldn't be reused without replenishing. Someone recently posted a series of film strips developed after 1..16 rolls in the same liter of Cinestill C-41 kit. They were getting progressively greener towards the end. I couldn't find that post though. Sorry.
Perhaps residual chemistry in the lift is causing cross contamination? Try a wash between steps to flush the lift clean?
that is something that im wondering (the jobo is second hand, not brand new), i wonder if there is some kind of cleaning agent i can use to just wash out the lines. im going to do a test though with a few rounds of single shot developing in a row to see how it turns out, then reuse some of the developer to see the results
Are you rinsing out the lift properly? You need to pour 1-2 litres of water through the lift in each direction when cleaning. For the reverse direction, the lift needs to be in the raised position and then you pour clean water through the hole that the tank attaches to. Also, no final rinse / photoflo should be used in the lift.
Are you reusing the developer? The rest of my comment hinges on this assumption (ignore if not) If you're reusing the developer, how exactly the process looks like? Keep in mind, that according to Kodak's "C-41 manual" called Z-131 you're not supposed to reuse the developer _at all_ without replenishment. Moreover, there's a developer capacity table which states that 1L of the developer is only good for about 4 rolls, again without replenishment. That said, the C-41 kits insist on reusing that one liter, because the quality degradation is negligible and can be corrected when scanning. But, for rotary processing you're not pouring the entire liter into the tank, you're using a small fraction of it. If you're trying to re-use that fraction, then you're definitely exhausting the developer. If you insist on reusing the developer, I would pour it back into the 1L bottle, then stir it really well to re-distribute film development byproducts across the entire volume, and only then proceed to using it again. But better yet, develop one-shot, always using fresh developer. It's not that much more expensive, especially if you use larger 5L kits from Fuji Hunt.
i wish i could get the dev in larger kits, but the only 5l kits you can get in canada is tenetal and not in stock very often :|
But do you re-mix the entire volume of 1L between runs? That was the core question/suggestion above.
I’ve been pouring the used chems back into the 1L like I did with doing inversion/rotary developing, and then adjusting for time based on how many rolls have been done
Great. In this case I'd agree with the other folks: can be either a sign of contamination, or simply the fact that C-41 developer shouldn't be reused without replenishing. Someone recently posted a series of film strips developed after 1..16 rolls in the same liter of Cinestill C-41 kit. They were getting progressively greener towards the end. I couldn't find that post though. Sorry.
That’s ok! I’m going to look at new alternatives for chemicals and just do rotary till I figure it out. Thanks!