I guess we should be expecting a complete beginners guide to E6 sometime in the future! It's pretty similar to c41 but I personally think it's a lot more fun seeing your results right out of the developing tank. Any chance you'll be covering Black and White slides? I feel like most people's experience with B&W positive film is generally through Instant film but 35mm/120 is often overlooked. I know Foma is one of the few companies out there with a kit but also DR5 Lab has their own secret recipe for slides.
I really loved this guide, it covered basically all of the topics other guides have glossed over. One tip that could be worth mentioning in a future guide is around storing chemicals (especially helpful for those that don't shoot a lot or don't develop all of their work at home). Obviously, you want to reduce the amount of air (oxygen specifically) that your chemicals come into contact with. To do this you can buy "wine saver" type things. They're basically just cans of pressurised inert gas (like argon) designed to replace the air in a wine bottle. This helps prevent the wine from oxidising and makes it last longer once it's opened. The same principle applies to photo chemicals. So, if you're not developing a high volume of film at home, you can use these to increase the shelf life of your photo chemicals.
I just bought a c41 kit from Flic Film. Super excited to support them as they’re Canadian and they also sent me some stabilizer to fix an issue with a c41 kit i bought from a totally different company. Super awesome customer service to do that! Pretty cool that they use the bleach process as well instead of blix
My personal favorite method for color film development: 1. pre-warm for 1-3 min with filtered water and drain after. 2. Pour developer into the canister, place it into a 102f water bath and DO A CONTINUOUS AGITATION (four rotations one direction and then four the opposite). After time elapses, drain the developer. 3. Blix can be done outside the water bath, it isn’t as temperature variation sensitive as developer. After time elapses, drain the blix. 4. Wash with the water you have in your water bath by pouring it into your canister, agitate 5-10 time and drain. Repeat this process 5-7 times. 5. Gently wipe your film dry and hand it to dry completely. Continuous agitation submerged in a water bath during the development process became a huge problem solver and avoider for me. I get consistently great results developing film.
The main point for me regarding doing self development is the turn-around time. Going to the photoshop and dropping films, getting them back a week later is a bit long. On the other hand the chemical disposal is something to consider as you said.
I can remember doing E6 processing back in the day. That was a six step process if I remember rightly! The reason why I am going to do colour film developing is I want to be responsible for all the steps from pushing the shutter button right through to the final print. Currently, the Darkroom part is under construction so developing the film will be a logical next step for me at least.
It can be very helpful to know that you can develop c41 at lower temperatures. At 102 degrees, the margin for error can be brutal. Don’t agitate properly, or if your temps are not constant, you can easily destroy your negatives. These times differ by chemistry but 95d = 5:45s, 90d = 8:30s, and even 85d = 13:00s. Happy developing!
Processing C-41 in room temperature will result in negatives that are well off the specifications. However, if you are scanning and editing digitally, these errors (mainly strong color casts or crossovers) can usually be corrected. If you want to print those negatives optically in a darkroom, stick to prescribed temperatures.
Generally don't need stabilizer for modern color films. It was used to keep fungus et al from affecting film in hot, humid climates. Generally modern films don't have this issue. This is why some kits don't enclose the stabilizer. If you want to do it, you can buy the stabilizer separately.
Thankyou for you amazing videos , your black and white developing video gave me the push to start doing all my own developing for b&w and now I get far better results than what I was getting from my lab ! Love the content and can’t wait for more
I really appreciate that you made this video. As usual, you covered specific subjects/issues that many other RU-vidrs never talk about. Though after watching this video, I'm actually less interested in developing color at home. I live in a city and the labs around here charge 10-15 (US) dollars for developing color (35mm. I currently don't shoot medium format). Considering I shoot only one or two color rolls of film a month, that price is reasonable and saves me from a lot of possible error. Black and white, on the other hand, sometimes costs more to develop at a lab (???). And I wasn't happy with the results I was getting from the lab. I started developing b&w at home and I'm much happier with the results. It really isn't hard either. Personally, I think any photographer that shoots two or more rolls of b&w a month should try at home developing.
Thanks for the clear, informative video. 30 years ago, I had no choice but to start with both B&W and color at the same time. High School Photography class in a time when digitals were just barely hitting the market, and a good 10 years from being genuinely mainstream, meant that developing film was the first thing we learned. We spent most of the first quarter learning the chemistry and processes for a number of different types of film. The first couple of weeks of the second quarter were about developing the pictures on paper, using the enlarger, and a preview of the cool stuff we'd be learning the following year. The rest of the year was learning things like composition, lighting, and the exposure triangle. Once again thank you for the refresher course. It's been 20 years and 10 months since my last film photo, and I've been eager to get back into it. Especially since a coworker found the exact same make/model/year camera as the one I lost to corrosion 20 years and 7 months ago. I remember the loss of that camera so specifically because of how important the camera was to me. I inherited the Canon F-1 from my maternal grandfather. I also got a Pentax something or other, but, by his own admission, it was a piece of junk, so... ANYWAY. Now, my baby sister is getting married 2 weeks from today, and I have some Ilford HP5+ on the way in 400 and 100 iso. I will also be bringing my Nikon D7000, a camcorder, an action cam, and some semi professional lighting. I already have a life journal planned for their first anniversary, with the first one or two registers being taken from the wedding photos. The rest of the book being a 40 page per decade journal. All on museum quality paper in a hand-bound book. I can't tell you how stoked I am to be getting back into this one-time passion. Nor how awesome it is to have guys like you refreshing my memory. Edit: Correction, I have the Ilford Delta 100 coming, not the HP5+ 100. The HP5+ is in 400.
When I was a university student, I set a darkroom. When I tried to develop and enlarge in color it was a pain in the neck, the colors weren't right, the temperatures were always fluctuating and with ilfordchrome thing's were more complicated. I ended up buying a Nikon coolscan and taking the rolls to my trustful lab. Now I only develop and enlarge B&W.
Santa brought me a Flic Film kit with its water bath system. I’ve done one roll so far. Works like a charm. Thanks for doing this video. It gave me enough courage to ask Santa for the kit.
Hey, I would love to see a basics video on flash photography! Thank you so much for all your vides! They have been extremely useful and inspirational :)
You should do the pre-rinse for a 2-3 in the water back with water at 38-39c to preheat the tank/film. If you add warm developer to a cold talk it can impact the developing. In a small tank like this it wont affect it too much but in bigger ones it can.
I just heat the developer at a known higher temperature, so when it gets in I measure it 37.8C within limits. Also the developer should only touch a dry film in C41. Introducing water into emulsion prior developing affects the result. Opposite thing for ECN-2- it should be wet.
Stop isn't necessary at all. You can go straight from developer to bleach. You can use a stop though if you want to though. It can help extend the life of the bleach/blix.
@@seanc5718 it depends on the type of the bleach you use. If it's blix it won't last long. Basic unbuffered ferricyanide bleach requires stop bath and good washing. With Flexicolor Bleach III NR I just replenish working solution without ever changing it like the minilab does. Takes only 15ml a roll (twice the typical amount considering more developer transfer) to refresh it. Works flawless for half a year already and 50+ rolls for me. Also it likes oxygen and needs to be aerated
@@NoviSavvy You doing it in paterson tanks or a jobo? I'm using bleach iii in a jobo and I'm not really sure how to best push the life. It's the most expensive component so anything to extend the life will help. I'm currently just using 1L for 20 rolls, aerating as much as possible during the life. I'm guessing I have a lot more life left in it though.
@@seanc5718 I use a Paterson tank. Read replenishment rates for your specific bleach and replenish your working solution. I'm using Kodak Bleach III NR for C-41RA which is 50 seconds quick bleach used in minilabs. It has an opaque green color (almost black) and is nearly odorless. It only smells when comes in contact with the developer. There is another Bleach III which is yellowish. You need dark green one. It is literally eternal. To prepare working solution you need to dilute it a little bit with water like 10% water and 90% replenisher and add 10-15ml of developer. Then you just add 15ml of replenisher from your 5L canister every single 135 roll of 36 or 120 film and it works forever. Bleaching is complete in 50 seconds and you add it right after the developer. It actually needs developer transferred into it to work properly. To test the solution you can put developed b/w leader it should instantly become transparent. My 500ml solution has more than 50 rolls through it and didn't change it's properties in half a year. According to forums it won't and there is no need to ever change the working solution just replenish it. Minilabs use 7.5 ml per roll replenishment rate. For tank it is usually twice for the bleach and fixer and the same for the developer. Another Bleach III which is yellowish and which works in 4 minutes is a different Kodak bleach.
I leave mine for a couple hours in the bathroom and haven’t had any problems. There’s probably an average amount of dust in my place and it’s never been something that I’ve really had a problem with in terms of things actually drying on the negative, but it really is about the environment and where you can hang it up!
Super excited and happy to see more Canadian film stuff. Am honestly getting tired of hefty custom fees lol That water bath looks so useful! Probably cheaper than some of them used jobos on ebay at least. I only do b&w and leave all color to the lab, partly out of laziness and fear of messing up (I mess up b&w enough as is...) but also cause of the waste thing as you said. I am stockpiling used fixer to someday take to the local waste treatment place so I kinda don't want to deal with even more chemicals....maybe someday though scanning color seems like such a pain too especially if you do dslr scans but don't use light room
Without a clearing bath for that ferricyanide bleach those aren't going to be archival negatives. As for stablizier, since around 2003 all you need to use is photo flo.
Better to use final rinse for color films, because they contain a fungicide to prevent mold growing in emulsion. In black & white, this is not necessary, as silver prevents bacteria and fungi from growing. This is true that stabilizer for dyes is no more needed for C-41 films.
I would recommend using minilab chemicals like Kodak Flexicolor if you want it cheap, reliable and very long shelf life. Also it doesn't require a stop bath since the bleach is poured in right after the developer. Pre soak for C41 film is not recommended. Inverting the tank and introducing a ton of oxygen into a color developer is absolutely not recommended. So better use a rotator stick. Also the ideal timing is that if time is measured from as the developer touches the tank to stop does it (or C-41RA bleach) Make sure you know how much time will you need to pour out the solution and start pouring in another one. It's very important to control the temperature in the tank. Before getting the developer in it should be about 1C higher than required 37.8C
Ah yeah, I've started doing it this summer with the amazing Bellini C41 kit ! I was used to do it with a Jobbo & Tetenal chemistry : clean and odourless, but it was not my gear. "Handmade", the main drawback is that horrible Bleach smell (like the Fuji Hunt kit Bellini separates Bleach and Fix) even though it's the quickest step : 90 sec max. It feels like toxic, and then I discovered aerosols from the color dev and the stabilizer were way more dangerous if, for whatever reason, you have an urge to sniff them. Don't judge a book by its cover they say... And that was great to hear a RU-vidr saying something not that nice about Cinestill :)
I love you message at the end. Thank you! I haven’t exhausted my first chemicals yet but I found the proper recycling plant not far from my house, so that’s where I’ll go! I might eventually buy some of that vision film to roll and buy one of their ecn-2. I do roll my own black and white. Anyways, prob my 5th comment. May the algorithm bless you lol
I’d probably be considered the psychopath in the film community considering I went straight to E6 and I’m happy I learned on my first two rolls on how to load my spools it’s took literally 45 minutes to load them and apparently my room wasn’t as completely dark as I wanted but it was super expired anyways but yeah crazy learning curve for sure love the video Noah
E-6 is very fun especially since you can see your results immediately after finishing. I would like to do B&W slides one day, either buying Foma Kit or if DR5 chrome ever gets released.
@@areallyrealisticguyd4333 I’d love to do the Foma kit but it’s like 70 bucks and it only does 8 rolls and I’m not sure I’m ready to buy into it quite yet but I would like to cross process Tri-X or double XX to BW slides
Same here, first time developing my own film was E6, even before c41 and BW. I shoot more slides than color negs myself. When i first developed BW I was surprised at how easy and fast the process is compared to E6. My next endeavors, BW slides and Cinema film stocks on ECN2
@@marcossantana1164 I got into color by slide film in the late 1980's and did also Cibachrome from it. As it was quite expensive material to use, I changed to negatives and EP-2 paper, the then-standard for color prints, before RA-4 came in the mid 1990's. I've been shooting some black & white occasionally, and my first films and prints were B & W. That said, I have always liked more shooting and developing color. I have still a working color darkroom in my bathroom.
Also when doing 120 film, dont put two rolls on the same spool. Even if they fit the chance that they develop unevenly due to sticking together is very high. Happened to me yesterday, and it ruined the shots i was most excited about! Just a note from a mistake im not going to make again!
I put a basin in my bathtub and run hot water over it for a while and honestly it seems to rest dead on at 102 every time. I’ve never had any issues. Not gonna lie though, pretty tempted by that flic film tank
Love your explanation, and as a chemist I appreciate your attention to details and methodology. Do you ever keep a notebook to track info? Also, I'm not sure if you've looked into this things, but there are other instruments that I have used in labs for mixing/temperature maintenance that seem like they could be helpful. An orbital genie mixer would swirl a tank parallel to the reel perforations, so I wonder if that could reduce streaking. Similarly, heated sonicator baths are very good for mixing and temp maintenance that don't "swirl," but still mix quite well. I am very interested in giving all of this a try!
Forgive my ignorance, but how about adapting a process to do regular 8mm reversal movie film, eh? Thanks... Very informative... and a pleasant watch... Liked - Subscribed..!
39°C /102°F, or developing time of 3:30 are NOT standard for C-41. These are for popular, simplified kits, not for the standard process. Standard is 37.8°C or 100°F for 3:15 min., with fresh or replenished chemistry. RU-vidrs tend to use the CineStill or Arista simplified kit as reference, which is not correct. They work in different temperatures, with different times, and have often bleach and fix steps combined in "blix".Technically speaking, these cheap copies of Tetenal 2-bath "press kit" process from the 1980´s are not C.41, but other versions of the process. That said, even the photofinishing industry uses variants, such as faster C41RA, but strictly speaking, they are not the standard process. If you are using nonstandard products, use them according to instructions by manufacturers, as othei information, such as times for pulling and pushing might not be the same you get from Kodak or Fuji documentation.
My tap is at 120°F, so I just fill a tub with that and wait for it to cool. It usually stays around 105°F for development. Slightly hot, but I’ve had good results. I really like the proses. I got some V3 250D which I am going to develop at home, and evidently it is as simple as a baking soda pre-wash to remove the pesky remjet. Just out of curiosity, I have about 25 rolls of 13(, and 1 roll of 120, and I have a 5 reel tank that takes about 2 liters. Any suggestions on what kit I should use? Should I just use 2 CineStill kits?
Good evening. I was wondering what type (names) of chemicals (developer, fixer, etc) I need to develop black & white film and color film. Where to buy them? Also, all the equipment I need to develop everything. Also, chemicals to develop the black & white paper? Thanks.
Can you feed the end of the film onto the roll in daylight as you did (or was that just for illustration) and then put it in a dark bag to feed the rest on?
Do you have any issues in taking for cameras to the climbing gym? I always want to take mine to the gym but its a pretty dusty/chalky. I worry that it might get into the elements and mess things up.
It's probably not the best environment for them and I've only done it once or twice but haven't had a problem! I try and be careful with it and take one that I don't mind getting roughed up if something were to happen
I hate to be contradictory, but isn't stabilized incorporated into the emulsion in modern c41 and ecn2 films? I don't know if it's fair to say it's cutting corners not to include it.
Stabilizer is no more necessary for dyes in C-41 film, but final rinse is. It should be a product meant for color, as Photo-Flo and other products meant for black & white lack the fungicide component.
Great video! I started out with the cinestill kit but because they were out of stock I ordered the kit from the FPP store and I really like that one alot more. Idk what it is but I like the colors I get I get right out of dev from the FPP kit. How important is the stop bath? The FPP instructions just use running water for as a stop
C-22 was replaced by C-41 in 1974-1976. I doubt you can get any acceptable results from films that are almost 50 years old. The process is incompatible with C-41.
Its so easy get stuck in go for it why are people worried.. are you doing a cover for vogue probably not yet so experiment it comes with instructions ffs to many of these videos not enough talking about the passion and the feeling......
