c41 at home

[msbarnes]

OK so I've been developing B&W for a few months and it is pretty easy. I shoot c41 from time-to-time and I send it to a lab. I never seriously thought about developing it at home because I've read that it is difficult due to the temperatures etc. but now I've come across some threads in other forums and youtube videos showing that it isn't all that hard using unicolor. Unicolor seems very universal and easy-to-follow but I'm not sure if this is something worthwhile. So my questions are:

1) Does unicolor give decent results?
3) What about the alternative kits from freestyle: Rollei and Arista?
2) Are these universal c41 kits somewhat comparable to Kodak and Fuji color chemistry?
2) Are the Kodak and Fuji color chemistry do-able as well?

I haven't looked into the costs and shelf life yet; I'm trying to figure out if c41 home-development is even doable and/or worthwhile.

Thanks!

 

[malthusiantrap]

I got some unicolor kits from freestyle photo a few months ago and I am sitting on 30 color rolls waiting to be developed. The kits are fairly cheap at $18 dollars and I think it is really good value.
I have no idea on the results but they should be pretty decent provided you store your chemicals properly and don't reuse the chemistry too much. I am accumulating all my color film so I can develop them all at the same time as from what I've read these chemicals spoil pretty quickly especially if they are exposed to air.

 

[rxmd]

Home C41 development is not a problem with newer kits that don't have the strict temperature requirements. It's also fairly cheap as malthusiantrap has pointed out. However, the one question I would look into is the relative cost of the overall proposition, if you factor in the almost-free preview scans or small prints that you get when you drop of your films somewhere, and the amount of time that you have to put into scanning a roll of film at home, or the colour processing that you have to do for making colour contact sheets on RA-4 paper at home.

 

[bhop73]

I do my own c41 and scan with my Epson V700. My local 1hr labs all suck and the one that didn't shut down, so I just started doing it all myself. I live near freestyle, so I walk down and buy the Unicolor kits. They're easy to use. You just have to be more consistent with your water/chemical temperature than with b&w. I just do it in my sink with running water, so I guess it's pretty forgiving.

I can relate to rxmd's post about the time involved with scanning.. it sucks.. so if you've still got a good cheap option for color, i'd just stick with it. I shoot a lot of film, so I just don't want to pay for pro labs and like i mentioned, all the 1hr labs near me just don't do a good job, so for me it's worth it.

I tag all my color pics on flickr with "unicolor", if I don't forget anyway, you can check them out here if you like:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=unicolor&w=66534437%40N00&s=int

 

[Fotohuis]

The official Kodak C41 standard is 100F/37,8C +/- 0,5C.

This is important because the color couplers are working in this range in the same way. If you're going to change the temperature you will get a color cast which on a certain point you can not filter out anymore.

Everybody who has done a wet RA-4 print from a CN knows exactly what I am talking about. Here you're going to filter out the color cast which is done by adding Y and or M. The values are depending on the development of the C41 film and the type of RA-4 paper. For professional C41 films in the regular C41 development these filter factors should be the same or almost the same for all the batch of these C41 films.
One of the reasons in the past professional photographers were buying a large amount of the same type of film from the same production batch.

Although the change in color cast can be easily adapted in a scan, it doesn't mean you can change the development in temperature a lot. The critical point is the C41 developer, 37,8C +/- 0,5C during 3:15 minutes. The Bleach and Fix can have a bigger deviation +2C, -3C without problems.

Good if not excellent experiences I have with the Rollei Digibase C41 chemicals. In fact a small Fuji Hunt (from Belgium) minilab C41 kit. I am using it in one shot (250ml chemicals + 10% extra water) total volume 270ml in rotary development in the Jobo CPA-2 with elevator. A Jobo 2523 tank with large reels for 2x 135-36 or 2x 120 roll film. In this way you will have the max. reproducibility. The deviation between some Fuji Reala 100 films is less then 2CC Y or 1CC M cast on different Reala films.
When doing your color printing yourself this is an important issue.

Best regards,

Robert

 

[mwoenv]

I tried the 1-liter Unicolor powder kit for the first time about 6 months ago and I think it gave excellent results. I developed 15 rolls of 135 and 120 without extending development time with successive rolls; the 16th roll was not as well developed. I developed the 16 rolls over 3 days so there was no time for the solutions to degrade. It was easy maintaining temperatures in a simple water bath using a small 6-pack cooler (I think using stainless tanks/reels is essential for temperature control).

My only complaints were 1) Significant water drying marks, even though I used distilled water in making the solutions. Interestingly enough, the drying marks occurred only with the 135 film, not the 120, so it must have something to do with the surface tension of the stabilizer on the different film bases. I wiped down the non-emulsion side of the film, when dry, with a lens tissue containing PhotoFlo at recommended strength and this took care of the marks; 2) Blix leaks from the tank when agitating (I have no such leaks when developing black and white). Both of these problems are discussed in detail in the Flickr Do It Yourself Color group and they apparently were not things only I encountered.

The attached photos were developed with the Unicolor kit and I did not have to adjust color, brightness, or contrast when scanning.

I just purchased the Rollei Compard Digibase kit from Freestyle as I have heard that a separate bleach and fix step is better than using blix.

I would use the Unicolor kit again if I don't see any advantages when I use the Rollei kit. The Unicolor results were much better than having CVS develop my color film.

 

[Particular]

My only complaints were 1) Significant water drying marks, even though I used distilled water in making the solutions. Interestingly enough, the drying marks occurred only with the 135 film, not the 120, so it must have something to do with the surface tension of the stabilizer on the different film bases. I wiped down the non-emulsion side of the film, when dry, with a lens tissue containing PhotoFlo at recommended strength and this took care of the marks; 2) Blix leaks from the tank when agitating (I have no such leaks when developing black and white). Both of these problems are discussed in detail in the Flickr Do It Yourself Color group and they apparently were not things only I encountered.

1) I have found the same thing. The marks are only on the non-emultion side of 135 film. I think it is actually the stabilizer re-crystalizing. It cleans off easily with Rexton film cleaner. I now got a $10 bottle of Kodak flexicolor stabilizer that I use instead of the powder in the kit. I have had no marks since.
2)I use a jobo tank, which doesn't leak. It is worth noting that the Blix makes gas while being agitated. You need to let the gas escape. One of the jobo lids I have has a hole punched in it for this reason. The first time I developed C-41, I did not realize this, and the lid popped off and splashed the beet colored Blix all over my bathtub. It looked like a scene from Psycho.
I usually roll the tank side to side to agitate, but I have tried doing inversion agitation, and found that I needed to take lid off every time between agitation. I could feel the pressure building up under the lid.

 

[Fotohuis]

Blix gives a heavy degassing. Also in this way seperate Bleach and Fix is better (Apart from the higher capacity). For Jobo you have to push in the Red lid. In this way small overpressure can be away.
If your Jobo tank is OK it indeed will not leak. But when using a 2523 with elevator you can not have overpressure at all because it has an open cog wheel on the elevator so you do not have to deal with these problems.

If the stabilizer is a problem you can make your own:
0,5%-1% Formalin in a wetting agent is sufficient. The only disadvantage is that Formaldehyde is crappy stuff. Wear gloves and eye protection and a very good ventilation when making it.

And to be complete: Never use the stabilizer in your elevator system. It gives heavy foaming and the whole Jobo processor gets contaminated.

Greetz,

Robert

 

[Pirate]

I've used Unicolor for a while and the results are just fine.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

somewhat unrelated.... i souped kodak ultra max 400 color film in rodinal yesterday. the negative was dense but the scanner managed to scan in the individual frames.

here is quite pic:

i scanned with the default b&w settings
rodinal stand with mid-point agitation.