Alright guys, while the rest of you were bathing in the love of your valentines, Ernest and I put the starters to test, and finally the bluish tint has been suppressed to an acceptable level, and the chromes come out warmer. Patrick seems to have independently come to the same conclusion It's the closest I've got so far to the reference control strip. Not spot n yet, but the gap finally looks to be acceptable. There's probably still room to experiment with the exact amount of starters to use to close this final gap Darn, I wonder how much time and money have I spent on getting this right?
So here's the updated summary:
1. Use starters with freshly mixed first and color developers. Ernest and I started with the recommended concentration of 5ml per liter of working solution.
2. It looks to me that the development time of the first developer can be reduced by at least 15s to 5:45. Without a density meter, and sufficient repeated runs, I don't have the finalized recommendation yet. Nonetheless, this finding matches Patrick's observation as well.
3. Use 60% of the reversal bath concentration for freshly mixed chemicals.
Of course, as I continue to tweak the process, I will update the findings accordingly.
I know I've said this before, but I think we are getting things right this time round. Or until we are proven wrong again.
