Cheap C-41 processing?

Rangefinderfreak said:
Get a C-41 kit and the needed equipment, You have the quality and low price. I suggest the Maco Compard C-41 kit is the best, all components in separate concentrate bottles. lasts forever and you can repleinsh the expensive one-bleach so it lives indefinitely.
Click to expand...

i got a C-41 kit figuring if i can do b&w, i can do C-41.
the process is simple and the times are shorter but it is such a pain in the ass getting all the chemicals to 102 degrees that now the only time i dev color at home is when i want to push/pull color film. i have a roll i shot at 1600 a month or two ago and can't be bothered with heating everything up. also, blix stinks, far worse than any b&w chemical of any kind.
i like that i have the option, but i work at rite aid so it's very convenient to just bring the negs to work and scan them at home.
 
I'm in Central LA, Korea Town. The CVS stopped last year. There are still several little hole in the wall 1-hour-photo spots that do a decent job. Scanned to disc for a bout $6.

D&J Photo & Gold Photo, both on Vermont Ave.
D&J does medium format as well...
 
The only place near me is Walgreens and I stopped using them due to the cost and the fact that their processing equipment was down more then it was working.

I find it's much cheaper to do yourself. I can get 20-40 rolls out of a $20 C-41 kit (or more). If I can't be bothered to do the scans, I'll take them the uncut negatives and they'll scan it for a few bucks for me and put onto a CD.

Most places I know that do quality work, locally or online, are $10-20 a roll these days. I think that is ridiculously overpriced. If that included scans and prints, sure no problem. But when it is nothing more then processing? Or processing and maybe low res scans, no thanks.
 
I have to admit I've never looked into "pharmacy" type development, is it any good ? I send mine to a local lab here, a little expensive perhaps, luckily I don't shoot a lot of color, but the results are excellent
 
grapejohnson said:
i got a C-41 kit figuring if i can do b&w, i can do C-41.
the process is simple and the times are shorter but it is such a pain in the ass getting all the chemicals to 102 degrees that now the only time i dev color at home is when i want to push/pull color film. i have a roll i shot at 1600 a month or two ago and can't be bothered with heating everything up. also, blix stinks, far worse than any b&w chemical of any kind.
i like that i have the option, but i work at rite aid so it's very convenient to just bring the negs to work and scan them at home.
Click to expand...

I find it simple to get all the chems up to temp, just get a bucket with water in it at 40°C and a cheap fish tank heater.
You only need the developer at 38°C for 3 min 15 secs the blix and stab can be at any temp roughly 30-40°C is OK.

What i do is put all the bottles in a bucket with hot water and the heater about 30-45mins before I process, just let them come up slowly and then Bobs y' uncle; you can even use the water in the bucket as wash water if you live in an area with clean water or use a filter...
 
The C-41 kit I use, I just run the sink full of water as hot as I can get it & let the Developer and Blix sit in that for 5-7 minutes while I get my other supplies ready. Then I run a fresh container of hot water and put them into that so they are about half submerged (after having tumped them over once or twice to warm them evenly). This is coming from room temperature of maybe 75-77f.

I've never had any issues with the film coming out poorly. I just do this each time and once I've reached around 10-15 rolls I start adding an extra 30 second to each step, and do this again around 25 rolls.

Yes, Blix stinks to high heaven. That smell makes me cringe, as I am sensitive to chemical smells. But, totally worth doing yourself. To me, doing them yourself makes the photos that much more real. I can say "I shot these. I developed these."
 
Photo_Smith said:
I find it simple to get all the chems up to temp, just get a bucket with water in it at 40°C and a cheap fish tank heater.
You only need the developer at 38°C for 3 min 15 secs the blix and stab can be at any temp roughly 30-40°C is OK.

What i do is put all the bottles in a bucket with hot water and the heater about 30-45mins before I process, just let them come up slowly and then Bobs y' uncle; you can even use the water in the bucket as wash water if you live in an area with clean water or use a filter...
Click to expand...

i have a large bucket i fill with water at about 110 F (as hot as my sink gets) and by the time i have everything prepared they're up to about 85 F usually, so i don't have to hold it under the hot water for too long... it's just a pain in the ass when i can use tap water and mix my b&w chems from scratch, or in the summer, leave them at room temp and just use them. i guess i'm spoiled. it is really fun and i usually feel really proud of myself after i do it, and i can get whatever kind of results i want... i just shoot color so rarely that i hate the extra production it takes to dev color. but it's extraordinarily cheap and the kit has already paid for itself. if you are really into color and already have darkroom equipment i'd say go for it... it's just messier, stinkier and more of a commitment.
 
Mr Alien I agree. I've smelled far worse than Blix also, I have changed children's nappies and mopped up sick, for the 15 seconds you pour in the blix hold your breath 🙂

Yes the kits are good and results are OK for most people.

fungi by Photo Utopia, on Flickr

Nothing wrong with the colour, cheap film in cheap kit....
 
grapejohnson said:
i have a large bucket i fill with water at about 110 F (as hot as my sink gets) and by the time i have everything prepared they're up to about 85 F usually, so i don't have to hold it under the hot water for too long... it's just a pain in the ass when i can use tap water and mix my b&w chems from scratch, or in the summer, leave them at room temp and just use them. i guess i'm spoiled. it is really fun and i usually feel really proud of myself after i do it, and i can get whatever kind of results i want... i just shoot color so rarely that i hate the extra production it takes to dev color. but it's extraordinarily cheap and the kit has already paid for itself. if you are really into color and already have darkroom equipment i'd say go for it... it's just messier, stinkier and more of a commitment.
Click to expand...

In Britain we have kettles which literally boil water in 2 mins you can put a kettle (2L) of water in a bucket with the same amount from the tap (fawcet?) and be up a running.
I mix my kit (Tetenal) before my run, and it lasts for 15-20 films between films they sit in plastic bottles.
If I process colour in one tank and B&W in the other the colour is far quicker, normally less than 10 mins
So more chemicals but less production time that B&W, no massive dev chart or worrying about how many mins Fomapan takes in XTOL, test and test again.
Just one time for all films. I don't mind the smell, then again I've been processing colour since the late 1970's
 
alienmeatsack said:
I find it's much cheaper to do yourself. I can get 20-40 rolls out of a $20 C-41 kit (or more). If I can't be bothered to do the scans, I'll take them the uncut negatives and they'll scan it for a few bucks for me and put onto a CD.
Click to expand...


Last kit I threw out the chemicals after 26 rolls. Do you think it can go all the way to 40??

The Tetenal kit smell is not bad at all, I find it a lot less bothersome than when I did B&W back in the day.

I bought a commercial water bath off ebay to keep temps within 0.2C. Paid $50. 🙂 Worth every penny!

And for scanning, got a minilab scanner that does a fabulous job. I'll post a few samples...
 
A few from the Kodak Pakon F-135 Plus minilab scanner. These are straight out of the scanner, no adjustments. Takes about 5 minutes to scan an entire roll at highest res.

The last image I had previously scanned with Vuescan on my old Coolscan. Took me over an hour fiddling with color to get color that is not as good as the Pakon, straight out of the scanner.

This was cheapo ISO 100 Konica Centuria (expired.)

9449493216_24b26e9148_b.jpg


9446725333_7b6178ec05_b.jpg


9449530866_5a30a884b9_b.jpg
 
Here is the water bath. Stainless steel.

Pour in a few liters, flip the switch. Put the bottles in the water, come back in about 30 min and it's stable at 39 degrees C, ready to go.

8892195426_b6a76b46d7_b.jpg
 
I assume the temperature is where living in Japan come in handy. I've had a rough few years so opted out of a lot of creature comforts, but it's easy to find an apartment with a heater in your bath tub, and the definitely go up to 100F as Japanese seem to be immune to wading in hot water.
 
digitalintrigue said:
Last kit I threw out the chemicals after 26 rolls. Do you think it can go all the way to 40??
Click to expand...

I've done over 40 with mine. But I always add time to each step every few rolls to make sure it's doing its job properly. And if the roll is important I'll save it for a fresh batch.

Most of the color film I shoot is old Kodak Portra 160NC, so it comes out looking expired and awesome regardless of the bath or temperatures.

I think the only issues I had as I get near 40 rolls is denser negatives that don't appear to be fully developed or blix'd. I just usually keep loose notes and replace it around 30 unless the kit's gotten watered down a lot. (I try to make sure to rinse everything and shake out as much water as possible to avoid this with the Blix step.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

boojum
C-41 Mono vs Regular Processing
Replies
7
Views
505
boojum
boojum
x-ray
Film prices, the good old days
3 4 5
Replies
86
Views
10K
x-ray
x-ray
ped
Batch scanner in 2025 - PrimeFilm 3600pro
2
Replies
20
Views
780
Godfrey
Godfrey
K
Cheap film processing not at home.
Replies
13
Views
2K
Retro-Grouch
Retro-Grouch
J
  • Article Article
Kodachrome: Gone Forever, Or……? What would it take to bring it back? You don’t want to know!
7 8 9
Replies
170
Views
17K
Bill Clark
Bill Clark
Back
Top Bottom