First C-41 self developing

[petronius]

Today I developed a C-41 film, Agfa 100ASA, for the first time. I used the Tetenal Colortec kit and my Jobo 2400 daylight tank. The setup I use is rather simple: a tub with hot water to bring the chemicals to the (nearly) right temperature and a Jobo thermometer. After filling in the developer I laid the tank in the tub and rotated it manually for the developing time. The film came out well, I think. After 29 years of taking photos and using color labs I think there is a new way to go.

 

[petronius]

The camera was the Lomo LC-A. Scans with CanoScan 8400F, postprocessing with Graphicconverter and PS 5 LE.

 

[fidget]

They look good!
Would you say that it is fairly easy to get right (with care)?

 

[sienarot]

Looks great!! I recently started doing my own C-41 too and it wasn't as nightmarish as some people make it out to be. In fact, I seriously question whether or not people who say it's difficult have ever even tried it themselves. It's faster than developing black and white.

Now if only I can find a company that ships E6 kits to Canada...

 

[petronius]

Thank you all! fidget, taking care is not my way, so I think the process is more tolerant than the manual described. The developing temperature has to be held at 38 +/- 0,3 degrees C, they wrote. My developer temperature was at ca. 34 degrees C and I increased the developing time from three to five minutes. As sienarot said, its faster than B&W (and it smells better); doing it yourself makes you ask why you didn´t start earlier.
Double Negative, when you have an B&W darkroom, it will be not involved to make the step to color I think.
The next film will be developed asap and I will keep you updated.

 

[ampguy]

great first results! I've looked into this as well, and as far as I can tell, with the freestyle kits, the only issues are higher temps as you note, where I can use ambient temps for b/w and adjust times, and the harsher chemicals. I'll probably give it a try sometime with rubber gloves and some liquid thermometers.

Also, interesting in the pdfs of the freestyle kits is that you actually can push and pull C41!

What does the Jobo offer over standard reels and tanks?

 

[petronius]

Jobo offers this: http://www.jobo.de/web/
The Jobo tank I use lets you load the film in daylight.

 

[sienarot]

As sienarot said, its faster than B&W (and it smells better)

Ah, so you prefer the bleach smell over the vinegar? Haha


I think one thing that should be noted is that, yes there are stricter temperatures required, however because the development time is much shorter than most black and white, it's almost a none issue unless you're developing in a freezer or a sauna. I haven't experienced any drastic temperature drops in the chemicals while I've been developing. And even then, if you're using a multi bath kit, only the first bath is really temperature sensitive. Succeeding baths are more tolerant to temperature swings.

 

[petronius]

Right; Avoiding the temperature drop seems important. The short times help to hold the right temperature level.

I didn´t find the bleach smelly, not as smelly as my Tetenal superfix in B&W ;-)

 

[shadowfox]

petronius, if you would do a simple write up in your blog on how you do this with digital snapshots of the process and the equipments, that would be very helpful for others. Please consider doing so 🙂

Same goes for others who have tried this.

 

[petronius]

shadowfox, I will take some snaps next time!

 

[Borghesia]

petronius, if you would do a simple write up in your blog on how you do this with digital snapshots of the process and the equipments, that would be very helpful for others. Please consider doing so 🙂

Same goes for others who have tried this.

Temperature control is all it is with C41. The only thing you need extra over B/W dev. is a precise (digital) thermometer. And maybe a Jobo TBE tempering box. For those who haven't tried C41 dev. Just buy a C41 kit and follow the instructions. If you can bake an egg, you can do C41.

 

[shadowfox]

Temperature control is all it is with C41. The only thing you need extra over B/W dev. is a precise (digital) thermometer. And maybe a Jobo TBE tempering box. For those who haven't tried C41 dev. Just buy a C41 kit and follow the instructions. If you can bake an egg, you can do C41.

Believe me, I got the message, it's easy, just follow instructions.

But if people can see snapshots (or videos) of someone actually doing it, more of them will be motivated to try it. Because they can see what a digital-thermometer looks like, what a Jobo tempering box looks like, and how you actually use those, etc.

For example, this video is what finally pushed me to dev. my own films:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P9bNcBE_Hc&feature=related

 

[slm]

Looks great!! I recently started doing my own C-41 too and it wasn't as nightmarish as some people make it out to be. In fact, I seriously question whether or not people who say it's difficult have ever even tried it themselves. It's faster than developing black and white.

Now if only I can find a company that ships E6 kits to Canada...

Let us know if you do find E6 kits for Canada (boy I miss Agfa, I never tried it when their kits were available.)

 

[slm]

Today I developed a C-41 film, Agfa 100ASA, for the first time. I used the Tetenal Colortec kit and my Jobo 2400 daylight tank. The setup I use is rather simple: a tub with hot water to bring the chemicals to the (nearly) right temperature and a Jobo thermometer. After filling in the developer I laid the tank in the tub and rotated it manually for the developing time. The film came out well, I think. After 29 years of taking photos and using color labs I think there is a new way to go.

Those look like great results. Any plans to color wet print also ?

 

[gdi]

Congratulations on your first rolls - they look good!

I just tried Kodak C-41 after doing E6 for a while. It really is easy (esp in a Sidekick processor!), but now I can't find the one shot straight developer anywhere, except by the case! I may still buy it but, it looks like I'll go back to mostly E6.

Adorama sells the E6 5 Liter kit - won't they ship to Canada?

 

[petronius]

As requested, I added some pictures of the developing of my second C-41 film in my blog:
http://classicameras.blogspot.com/2008/09/c-41-ii.html
The second film came out well, examples will follow.

 

[petronius]

I developed the 20th roll in the same chemicals yesterday with no visible difference to the first one. Seems as if the advice by Tetenal (12-16) is a bit pessimistic. I stored the stuff in the bathroom all the time (didn´t even press the air out of the bottles).
The attached example is a scan with Canoscan 8400F; no postprocessing, only scaling

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Wow. I'm really excited about this. My chemicals were shipped yesterday; I should have them next week. Will report.

 

[Svitantti]

Nice you know you had the guts to "overuse" the chemicals that much. I've done 330 ml from a 1 liter kit and used it for 5 films with perfect results, so no wonder even a bit more is possible...

Still, you cant see easily if theres some silver left in the negatives that might have some unwanted effect later on... But I guess color negatives arent the most archival medium anyway, compared to slide films or well processed (maybe even toned) bw negatives.

I really think C-41 is not at all as complicated as people think and also the temperatures aren't that critical.

Friends have developed films in kitchen sinks with no problems. You can for example start from a little bit higher temperature (maybe 39 celsius) to make the average temperature about 38 when the tank and water will cool down.