color development

[msbarnes]

I have 2 questions:

1. Is there a noticeable difference in results from different color developers (e6/c41)? Online there seems to be few general developers (tetenal/unicolor) and then some proprietary ones (kodak/fuji). Do all films develop the same way? I mean if I get c41 tetenal then do I develop my kodak gold/ektar/portra for the same times?

2. Is there a noticeable difference between labs for development only? I can understand that there may be a difference when you want to print/scan or push/pull but I am interested in development only. I figured that they use the same chemistry and equipment but the operator is different, and development with the right equipment seems easy.

I do not shoot much color so I pay for development every month or so but I hope to shoot more color this year so I plan on developing my own if the quality is still high

 

[ZorkiKat]

According to Photo Engineer over at APUG, the difference between the two colour developers is that E6 dyes are meant to be seen by the eyes, and the C41 dyes are meant to be "seen" by colour paper (light passing through the negative's dyes to expose the paper) or machines/scanners.

Colour negatives when developed, even if they are all C41, will have noticeable differences. Variables like condition of chemistry, the chemistry used, the make of chemistry (Kodak, Fuji, Lucky, etc), the machine used, etc will cause these differences. These differences though are within tolerance such that the resutling negatives will produce properly colour-balanced prints on paper or through scanning.

Assuming that the lab you use have properly running machines with properly replenished chemistry the negatives you get will be good for your applications, whether you print them in a colour darkroom or scan them on your scanner.

The variance in the dye makeup of negatives is acceptable- negatives are subjected to tweaking during the printing or post processing after scanning- to achieve the proper colour balance in the final prints.

 

[mob81]

I tried processing e6 once with tetenal and it was easy and straight forward (temp has to be accurate with the 2 devs).

C-41, I did it twice. with unicolor, I develped 3 films (All Portra 160 in 120 and 35mm format) and found them very grainy unlike the Lab. So I stopped. Then I learned that Tetenal LIQUID C-41 is good, So I gave it a try. It was great and much much cleaner than the Lab. I will go through another batch of C-41 soon.

 

[Photo_Smith]

The quality of the home kits is fine, just keep to the instructions all will be well.
http://photo-utopia.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/processing-your-first-colour-negative.html

The colour dev is the most critical, but even that in reality can drift a degree or two and give printable results.
If you can process B&W colour is not beyond you.
Here are some examples:

Ektar late pm

Expired Agfa Portrait 160

All of the above processed as in the method linked with Tetenal C41 kit which I get about 15 rolls per kit which works out about £1.00 per roll.

Just do it!