newbie: c41 at home?

[meandihagee]

i want to process bw film the traditional way. what i discovered recently is that most of the bw films are c41. does this mean i cannot process it with a few solutions and a tank?

i'm a little confused. i bought this ilford 400 that's not c41. the guy at my local photo store says this is the only type of film that can be developped the traditional way.

thanks

 

[B.J.Scharp]

Well, he's wrong. Most manufacturers that still make B&W film only have one or two that require C41 processing, most others are `traditional'

The only B&W films I know of that require C41 are Ilford XP2, Fuji Neopan 400CN (note the CN, the normal Neopan 400 is a traditional B&W film) and Rollei Redbird, Crossbird and Nightbird (which are special purpose films anyway).

If you're in doubt, check the box of the film, or look at the massive devchart. If the film is on there, it's not a C41 film.

I hope this helps.

 

[thegman]

I think when he said "traditional" he meant "1 hour photo lab", which to some people, I guess is "traditional". In reality, Ilford make *1* C41 film, and the rest are "proper" black and white.

You can do C41 at home if you want, but most people do "proper" black and white instead. Most people consider it more fault tolerant, with getting the temperature right etc.

If you've got non-C41 black and white film, either develop it yourself (kits are not much), or send it off to a lab who can do B&W film. What lab that would be depends on where you are in the world.

 

[meandihagee]

thanks for the quick replies.

what should the box say to for the film to be "proper"? if it doesn't say c41 it's ok or does it have another name?

thanks

 

[Chris101]

He's way wrong. MOST films are not C-41. But then C-41 can be developed at home as well. It's 3 solutions, and just as easy as any other development process. I did it just last week to a couple of 120 sized rolls of Portra film.

 

[Chris101]

thanks for the quick replies.

what should the box say to for the film to be "proper"? if it doesn't say c41 it's ok or does it have another name?

thanks

Usually something like "film for b&w negatives".

 

[meandihagee]

great, thanks for the advice. tonight we're having soup

 

[smile]

how long do you guys dry your film?

 

[mugent]

I dried mine for a couple of hours, with C41, the negs look cloudy right after development, but don't panic, this clears up when drying.

MT

 

[smile]

I dried mine for a couple of hours, with C41, the negs look cloudy right after development, but don't panic, this clears up when drying.

MT

ok. thank you

 

[taskoni]

i want to process bw film the traditional way. what i discovered recently is that most of the bw films are c41. does this mean i cannot process it with a few solutions and a tank?

i'm a little confused. i bought this ilford 400 that's not c41. the guy at my local photo store says this is the only type of film that can be developped the traditional way.

thanks

Try to develop a test roll as a regular B&W film, just increase the developing time - I do XP2 super for about 21min. @ 20C with Ilfosol 3 (1:9). It looks good to my taste, although sometimes one may get some unexpected results (note I didn't said bad results) 😉

You can try the same with BW400CN in D-76 for 15 min but increase the temperature a bit to around 22C...

Regards,
b.

 

[degruyl]

Uhm... Not sure if the answers were explicit enough. I know I'm being pedantic. Bare with me.

C41 is color chemistry (1 hour photo lab, as mentioned previously). Ilford XP2 and Fuji Neopan 400CN are examples of black and white film which is developed in C-41 chemistry.

All other films that are black and white may be developed using a variety of developers. The most common of which are D-76 (kodak) or ID-11 (Ilford). Check the massive dev chart for developing times on your particular film.

As for what the the shop owner said / what you bought: If the Ilford film is HP5 or Delta 400 (these are the ISO 400 traditional films that Ilford makes), they cannot be developed in color chemistry. If it is XP2, it can.

There are a ton of other options on the market, but many stores do not carry a variety of film. Some brands which make traditional B&W films: Kodak, Ilford, Fuji (although they might have stopped -- I am not following them since the latest market abandonment), Foma, Efke, Rollei, Adox... Some of these might be the same film under different labels, but film is being produced in America, England, Japan, China, Croatia and the Czech Republic. Probably others.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about color (C-41 negative or E-6 slide) film. quality film using those standard chemistries are only produced in the US and Japan (Kodak and Fuji).