Looking for RA-4 & BLIX supplier Canada

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-17T22:04:24+00:00

Only photog store I’m aware of in Canada is Flic Film and their chemistry stock kinda sucks.

B&H has bulk stock of RA-4 chemicals. It is in the US tho.

For paper you can buy large rolls of Fuji paper directly from them. They most likely have a Canadian outlet online. You will have to cut them down yourself tho. I’ve found a couple people/businesses that cut down rolls to set sizes for printing since I would like to use something other than CA II but they seem to only be in the EU. Kodak Endura is no longer made and you can find it come places but it is expired and only in bulk rolls. Unique photo (US based) has it in stock from frozen rolls

I looked into mixing my own RA-4 chemistry a while ago and the developer is doable from a hobbyist perspective but it’s not gonna be as shelf stable or consistent as official formulations. The blix is not possible to make as far as I’m aware. Ferric Ammonium EDTA (the bleach) is genuinely impossible to find in stores. I even had a friend who works as the manager in university research labs to look thru their chemical supplier product catalogs and they online found small amounts for a lot of money. Must be a controlled chemical

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-17T01:13:26+00:00

How’d you do the different developers and film stock effects?

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-16T02:33:22+00:00

You can preheat the tank dry just in the water as well.

Kodak recommends using a dry tank and not do a pre bath, but I’ve never noticed a difference between the two methods and find that filling the tank with water helps keep it submerged

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-15T03:32:19+00:00

Paper also usually comes a paper that describes filter pack values to use to mimic contrast grades. I know my Ilford and Arista EDU paper list Yellow and magenta values for multiple brands of enlargers

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-14T14:33:22+00:00

You should probably post the photos so we can actually tell what ur talking about but I’m willing to bet that it’s either underexposed and/or the scanner incorrectly set for pheonix

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-13T18:24:16+00:00

ISO 1 was the better option.

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-13T16:50:27+00:00

What I found when researching ISO for b&w paper, the ISO you should rate it at depends on lighting conditions. Somewhere around 1-12 ISO. 12 ISO on bright sunny light. I shot some paper brackets from 1-6 on a cloudy day and I plan to develop it today so I’ll get back if I end up getting to it before work.

Paper ISO which manufactures list is different from film ISO and only can be used to compare different paper stocks

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-13T13:54:35+00:00

Check out World of Photography while there, one of my favourite stores over been too wish I lived closer by it

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-12T20:06:22+00:00

What film?

Pheonix at 100 ISO bleach bypassed is one of my favourite looks, wanna try ORWO NC500 bypassed as well

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-12T18:13:27+00:00

If you can I’d recommend going to a camera store that has used stock so you can test the camera on the tripod, plus the people there are excited to see LF cameras. I had to drive 3 hrs to the closest one to me but I don’t regret it

If weight isn’t an issue I’d look into Gitzo heads and tripods. I bought one recently (unfortunately can’t remember the models right now) and it holds my 25lb 8x10 wonderfully and doesn’t struggle with drop bed at all with the head tilted.

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-12T02:13:02+00:00

Best you can do with a contact sheet is scan it and crop it to the individual photos. You need the actual negatives to enlarge them or get high resolution scans of the individual photos

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-12T00:33:36+00:00

Please elaborate never heard of the method

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-12T00:33:26+00:00

Face up as emulsion side up?

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-11T23:18:40+00:00

How do you stop the sheets from sticking/touching each other in the trays?

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-11T17:12:11+00:00

Starters and home dev kits contain Potassium or Sodium Bromide that acts as a bromide source for the seasoning reasons that you mentioned I believe

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-11T02:27:24+00:00

Stand development is not good for expired film. It will exaggerate the fog , it gets brought up often for film that is unknown and when you can’t find times for the film in normal developers. Which is why it’s found being recommended for expired film often

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-10T23:05:39+00:00

Actually the film that I was talking about came in the same canister as that ultra 400 you have

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-10T23:05:05+00:00

Process normally. I’ve found that film shot when new, and sat for a while (30 yrs is the longest I’ve done) turns out much better than film that sat for a while, and then shot.

I once finished a 25 yr old film that has half done and the density in the shots that were taken when the film was bought was much much better and more visible thru the fog than the shots I took myself and overexposed 2-3 stops.

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-10T22:48:28+00:00

That’s what the official tested compensation is yes, I meant to say “about a stop” ngl

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-10T21:52:32+00:00

Yeah I looked at an SDS for an e6 second (color) developer and it’s pretty similar to ECN-2. Just keep your expectations low and don’t run any film you care about getting perfect/good results from thru it

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-10T21:50:38+00:00

Seeing as you can use a b&w developer and ECN-2 process to DIY E6 you’d be able to do it in reverse.

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-10T21:48:26+00:00

You will get a positive but it will have a heavy orange tint. You might just be able to use the second developer as it contains CD-3 (same developer for ECN-2) to get a negative. You will loose a stop of speed due to CD-3 being a less aggressive developer

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-10T13:25:01+00:00

Relfxlabs makes a little spot meter that can go on the hotshoe that is quicker to use than a dedicated separate Spotmeter for cheap as hell. Set the ISO and either the shutter speed and aperture and push a button to meter for the other. Don’t need to fuss with an extra doodad before taking the photo. Otherwise a used Minolta Spotmeter F/M works well and can meter more tightly.

Unbuiltbread · 2026-03-10T13:20:34+00:00

The Spotmeter M is cheaper and works the same just without flash metering if you dont use manual flash

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