Who processes their own C-41?

[Edcculus]

Does anyone process their own C-41 at home? If so, what is your experience?

I already process and wet print my B&W film. For B&W its mostly 120. I was contemplating getting even further away from Digital, even for family stuff. I'd pick an economical consumer color negative film in 135 format (maybe Kodak Gold?), process at home with the tetenal C-41 kits, then scan. From there (hopefully) little to no image manipulation (especially once the scanner is profiled correctly) and upload straight to my Smugmug account for sharing with friends and family.

 

[BowTieGuy]

Wow, good for you! I have so far resisted the 'rabbit hole' of processing my own (of any type), but I am increasingly considering it, due to quality issues at the local (drug store) processing shop, and their total inability to do B&W. I found a place not far from here that does good work with color, and they will even do 120 in-house (oh joy!), but even they wouldn't touch B&W. (What gives?)

I will be interested in the responses you get . . . good luck!

 

[Edcculus]

Since C-41 is a standardized process, even the more "boutique" type shops can have a machine set up to process that film all day long. Its the same processing time for any film, no matter what ISO. 3 some odd minutes at 100 Degrees F. If the machine auto replinishes and is kept clean its fairly easy to run. B&W on the other hand would probably require them to standardize a developer (there are tons of options for B&W), and custom develop everyone different film.

 

[sarimento1]

I used to process my own C41 back in the 'old' days. Tetenal chemicals.
Three key elements.
Consistency in time/temp.
Fresh chemistry.
Total cleanliness and dust avoidance.


it was always difficult for me to balance demand. Either I would only have a handful of rolls each week, or come back from a project with three dozen or more...just overwhelmed.

i resisted as long as I could, but finally succumbed to digital.
Carted the 4x5 enlarger to the scrap yard, as well!

 

[Edcculus]

So is the dust avoidance more critical than in B&W processing/printing? Are C41 negs more dust prone? Or was it just your 4x5? I've heard LF can be a pain because everything has to be kept so dust free.

 

[BowTieGuy]

Edcculus - thanks for the explanation! Still thinking of maybe doing my own B&W here since otherwise it's send it out and wait. Plus I have been starting to use more 120 and the idea of making my own enlargements is enticing . . . .like I said, a whole 'nother rabbit hole. (we now return you to your original question . . . )

 

[Edcculus]

Edcculus - thanks for the explanation! Still thinking of maybe doing my own B&W here since otherwise it's send it out and wait. Plus I have been starting to use more 120 and the idea of making my own enlargements is enticing . . . .like I said, a whole 'nother rabbit hole. (we now return you to your original question . . . )

I dont mind a bit of thread derailment. Processing B&W at home is dead easy. I actually like doing 120 better than 35mm. 120 is much easier to get onto the reel for me. If you look, you could probably get an enlarger for free. As Sarimento stated, he took his to the dump. There is pretty much no market for used enlargers. Strangely enough, the very enlarger I have, which was given to me by my Aunt costs over $3000 new on B&H.

I dont have the dichro head, just the variable contrast head for silver B&W enlargements. Thats why my plan is to shoot 35mm color negative, process and scan myself. My current scanner will not scan a 120 negative unfortunately. That may be a good thing since I havent found one of the consumer films in 120 format. A 24 exposure roll of Kodak Gold or Fuji Superia is just over $2. Not too shabby. Load it into my Vitomatic II and I'm off to the races.

 

[sarimento1]

So is the dust avoidance more critical than in B&W processing/printing? Are C41 negs more dust prone? Or was it just your 4x5? I've heard LF can be a pain because everything has to be kept so dust free.

Not really. More critical in 35mm and med format, simply due to relative size of image vs dust particles. No, C41 negs are not really more dust prone than others. And, yes, LF film that is manually loaded, is somewhat more dust-prone than roll or pack film. Good news is that most scanning software these days has improved 'dust removal' processes.

 

[Edcculus]

Ah I see. I just have the default Epson software right now, which is decently capable. I'll probably invest in Veuscan eventually.

 

[Bob L.]

I used to process my own C41 back in the 'old' days. Tetenal chemicals.
Three key elements.
Consistency in time/temp.
Fresh chemistry.
Total cleanliness and dust avoidance.


it was always difficult for me to balance demand. Either I would only have a handful of rolls each week, or come back from a project with three dozen or more...just overwhelmed.

i resisted as long as I could, but finally succumbed to digital.
Carted the 4x5 enlarger to the scrap yard, as well!

That sounds very familiar. Didn't do color but my Dad and I had a great B&W set up. I went 100% digital in 2005.

 

[sarimento1]

Ah I see. I just have the default Epson software right now, which is decently capable. I'll probably invest in Veuscan eventually.

perhaps if you drill down into the epson software, you might find a checkbox to enable/disable 'dust removal'. it's on my prettty-old epson scanner software.

 

[Edcculus]

perhaps if you drill down into the epson software, you might find a checkbox to enable/disable 'dust removal'. it's on my prettty-old epson scanner software.

The epson scan software is actually pretty capable. I've just not done a lot of scanning negatives with it. There should be a dust remeoval check box in the professional mode.

What kind of chemicals are allowed to be used on C-41 after its processed. I work in the Graphic Arts industry and still have a bunch of Film Kleen antistatic film cleaner from when we used to use film at the shop. That was all B&W graphics/litho films. No C-41.

 

[sarimento1]

The epson scan software is actually pretty capable. I've just not done a lot of scanning negatives with it. There should be a dust remeoval check box in the professional mode.

Take a look, it should be there.

What kind of chemicals are allowed to be used on C-41 after its processed. I work in the Graphic Arts industry and still have a bunch of Film Kleen antistatic film cleaner from when we used to use film at the shop. That was all B&W graphics/litho films. No C-41.

I used to run C41 film through a final water bath with a few drops of Kodak wetting agent in the last water rinse. Be sure to use fresh and clean chemistry here, any residuals will get deposited on the film. I also had to use filtered water, since the tap water here in south Florida contains lots of tiny sand particles. And replace the filter material every few months. Never ending!

see notes above...