Topic: DIY C41 experiment

[al]

Ages ago Ed asked if I'd write up something detailing my rather unprecise approach to colour film processing.  I still haven't got round to doing that, but you may be interested in this experiment, using a DIY c-41 kit which really is way past it's sell by date.  When the kit should be used in 2 weeks, what would expect to get if it was then stored in a warm room for over a year?

I've done this to show that DIY minded penny pinching film wasters who do their own B&W developing and maybe aren't too technically demanding should give this a go, it really is very easy and because of the cheap availability of colour film compared to B&W, it is very low cost indeed

http://alspix.blog.co.uk/2007/04/21/title~2135363

[Phil Bebbington]

Fascinating read and ought to encourage all of us to give it a try.

[Francois]

Pretty amazing...
Though I doubt that he would have been able to get similar results using a regular enlarger and filter packs...
I know C-41 has to be processed at a very precise temperature for a very precise time in order to get neutral color balance. You can adjust the time to compensate for temperature (I have a cousin who used to do it at room temperature),  but adjusting for developer age... I think it's pushing it a bit if you still do traditional color enlargements.

But when you consider that most people who do color now either do inkjet prints or send them off to a digital lightjet printer (like Fuji Frontier), I see no reason not to do it. This is especially true for X-processing.

Even though the darkroom can be nice for B&W, I sure don't miss the stink and dark green safelight of color processing.

[Ed Wenn]

Al, you the man.


Thanks so much for taking the time to start documenting your C41 processing adventure. As I said when we discussed this all those months ago, it's really refreshing to hear the truth behind some of the C41 myths...at least as far as Ballpark Photography (TM) goes. You'll obviously get a few comments here and there from the people who don't understand where you're coming from with regard to the lo-fi approach you're taking, but I think Filmwasters is the perfect home for this type of information.

Would it be OK if I nicked your text and turned it into an article on this site? I'd put a link to your original piece obviously.

[moominsean]

wowo thanks for the tip! i'm defnly going to go for it. my color film just sits cuz i hate to go take it for development and it's expensive....

[al]

Would it be OK if I nicked your text and turned it into an article on this site? I'd put a link to your original piece obviously.

Ed, I've kind of done things in a backwards order!  I did actually started writing a piece for filmwasters on the nuts and bolts of th "lo-fi" approach, a few photos of washing up bowls of warm water etc.  Then I got carried away with the 1 year old chems thing, wrote that up and posted that first.

I'll finish off the "how to do it" article and send it your way for editing etc. I'll try to get it sorted at the weekend.

[moominsean]

has anyone tried to xpro e-6 film with the nova developer?

[al]

has anyone tried to xpro e-6 film with the nova developer?

Yes.  I put some Astia through it, seemed to work fine although I'd never done xpro before so I didn't really know what to expect!  There's some examples on my flickr, which is blocked at work so I'm using google to find them, but I think these should show some examples:

www.flickr.com/photos/alspix/144718104
www.flickr.com/photos/alspix/145836788
www.flickr.com/photos/alspix/138938411

      

these were from the film scanned as positives then inverted from what I remember

Perhaps I'll shoot another roll of E6 and stick it through the "vintage" chemicals

[Francois]

I wonder about something: does the smell of the C-41 get worse as it ages?
I know fresh C-41 in a warm minilab with bad ventilation could kill an elephant

Just wondering...

[moominsean]

very cool with the e-6. now i can start using my 50 rolls of expired colr! i wonder how it does with kodacolor-x. i've read the only difference is the developing temp, but no one wants to chance contaminating their chemicals around here.

[Francois]

Isn't Kodacolor-X a C-22 process?
If it is the case, it does get processed at a much lower temperature. I would have to search around to find such information.
It also did use a different developer. If I'm correct, C-41 uses CD-3 while C-22 used CD-2. I know this doesn't say much to most but the Color Developer CD chemicals are what makes the image in color...

Processing C-22 into C-41 chemistry at lower temperature will probably produce an image. The developing times will also get a lot longer. There could be an issue with dye stability and aging. I also strongly recommend not trying to process C-22 film at C-41 temperatures since it will completely strip the emulsion from the film base and just gum-up everything (read: don't send to a minilab)

If you plan on processing your old Kodacolor, keep it for the last rolls through the soup

[Ed Wenn]

Al: Nice one. Take your time....this is something we've been looking forward to for a while so we'd rather have it right than rushed.

Sean: If I know you at all (which I don't, but you know what I mean ) this is right up your street isn't it? More opportunities to go mad with chemicals, plastic lenses and expired film. I can't wait!!

[moominsean]

ed: it's already on the way! ordered it 5 minutes after reading the blog. can't wait to try it! i have a roll of ektar 25, expired 1993, that i've been waiting to develop forever.