There’s some very exciting news coming out of CineStill today in the form of an announcement of new powdered film developing chemistry and manufacturing updates for all new film.

As I’ve noted on social media and this website before, if you’re not based on the US Mainland or in Europe, one of the biggest problems for film photographers who develop their own film is the accessibility of liquid chemistry – especially for C-41 and E-6 processes, where the nature of the chemistry and its components means that kit costs are either insanely prohibitive, or the chemistry is simply unable to be shipped.

CineStill new powdered Df96 black and white Monobath (exhaustively tested here and here on EMULSIVE), and powdered Cs41 (C-41) kits change that.

Both powdered kits will be shipping from Feb 11th 2019 onwards, with Df96 coming in at $3 under the cost of its liquid counterpart. Shipping wise, a quick comparison on the CineStill website shows me that shipping costs for liquid vs powdered Df96 is just under 60% cheaper for me.

Each kit simply requires the addition of water to get ready for use and when rehydrated, both kits provide the same technical specifications of their ready-mixed counterparts. In the case of Df96 “DEVELOPER&FIX” monobath:

  • Reusable, single-bath processing for traditional B&W films.
  • Processes over 16 rolls of film.
  • Process 1-8 rolls at a time.
  • Flexible room temperature processing from 70-80°F / 21-26°C with ±2°F / 1°C tolerance.
  • Worlds fastest process at 26°C / 80°F in just 3 minutes.
  • Can be used for normal or push and pull processing (adjust ±10°F / 5°C).
  • Extremely versatile self-completing process.
  • No special processor needed (use standard processing tanks and reels).
  • Fully archival (see below).
  • Economical.

…and in the case of Cs41 “Color Simplified” 2-Bath:

  • Processing of any colour negative (C-41) film or cross processing of any colour slide (E-6) film.
  • Ships without ORM-D ground-shipping only restrictions.
  • 3x powder parts to make 1 liter of Developer and Bleach&Fix.
  • Simple 2-bath kit (just like most black and white processing).
  • No special processor needed (use standard processing tanks and reels).
  • Flexible processing temperatures.
  • Instructions for processing and Push/Pull processing included.
  • Reusable for up to 24 rolls of film.
  • Long lasting shelf life.
  • Fully archival.
  • Affordable.

In addition to the new powdered developers, CineStill are also announcing new and improved 35mm film as they switch over to the same manufacturing production currently employed for their 120 formal roll film.

The new film CineStill 800T and 50D features an extended shelf life of 2 years, new packaging and edge printing. CineStill expects the transition to take approximately six months. In addition to updated production, CineStill will also be increasing the price of 35mm films, bringing them in-line with their 120 offerings. According to the company, this is in order to build-in increases in film production costs and is the first such increase from the company.

You can find out more about the new powdered kits and updated 35mm CineStill 800T over at CineStill’s website.

Thanks for reading and please leave your thoughts on the new developer options and films below.

~ EM

Share your knowledge, story or project

The transfer of knowledge across the film photography community is the heart of EMULSIVE. You can add your support by contributing your thoughts, work, experiences and ideas to inspire the hundreds of thousands of people who read these pages each month. Check out the submission guide here.

If you like what you’re reading you can also help this passion project by heading over to the EMULSIVE Patreon page and contributing as little as a dollar a month. There’s also print and apparel over at Society 6, currently showcasing over two dozen t-shirt designs and over a dozen unique photographs available for purchase.

Similar stuff on EMULSIVE

4 responses to “New in: CineStill “just add water” powdered developers and new improved film”

  1. Will buy C-41 kit , and if they formulate E-6 powder, that would be great too

  2. This is awesome news. After trying c41 kit I’m out off my the expense,but this could be a game changer.

  3. @cinestill Yup, great news! 🙂

  4. @cinestill Powder monobath + Lab-Box (when it comes) will be a great travel kit.
    Andre must have bee… https://t.co/Na6GYaDH2r

 

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Discover more from EMULSIVE

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Discover more from EMULSIVE

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading