Help developing colour film as B/W

angelpaaul · 10 Mar 2026

I have a number of 35mm colour films of unknown age or storage. It's a mixed batch of Kodak, Fuji and a single Jessops for good measure.

The ISOs are 400, 200, and 100. Should I do them as per Ilford XP2 or should I use another method for these?

So, over to you for hints on the best way to dev them

FishyFish · 10 Mar 2026

angelpaaul said:
I have a number of 35mm colour films of unknown age or storage. It's a mixed batch of Kodak, Fuji and a single Jessops for good measure.

The ISOs are 400, 200, and 100. Should I do them as per Ilford XP2 or should I use another method for these?

So, over to you for hints on the best way to dev them

I did this once with some expired Agfacolor 200 and got ok results (although they were pretty low contrast and I had to bump them up in post processing).

I used Rodinal (Adonal) 1+50 15mins @ 20°, but would probably semi-stand them in Rodinal 1+100 for an hour if I were to try it again.

A couple of examples:

Needs a spot of dentistry by fishyfish_arcade, on Flickr

Steve and Barbara's reflection by fishyfish_arcade, on Flickr

angelpaaul · 10 Mar 2026

FishyFish said:
I did this once with some expired Agfacolor 200 and got ok results (although they were pretty low contrast and I had to bump them up in post processing).

I used Rodinal (Adonal) 1+50 15mins @ 20°, but would probably semi-stand them in Rodinal 1+100 for an hour if I were to try it again.

A couple of examples:

Needs a spot of dentistry by fishyfish_arcade, on Flickr

Steve and Barbara's reflection by fishyfish_arcade, on Flickr

Did you do a pre-soak before developing?

AndrewFlannigan · 10 Mar 2026

angelpaaul said:
Did you do a pre-soak before developing?

It's a long, long time since I did this, using D76, but I just treated it entirely like monochrome film.

In those days, I was able to obtain panchromatic paper, which overcame the problem of the reddish backing on the film. Nige's results are excellent so a bit more about his technique seems like a good idea.

FishyFish · 10 Mar 2026

angelpaaul said:
Did you do a pre-soak before developing?

I honestly can't remember, sorry. I always pre-soak for around 5mins when using semi-stand though.

I believe @Kevin Allan often develops Ilford XP2 in B&W chemistry which, while it's a B&W film, is C41 process. He may be able to suggest some techniques.

Kevin Allan · 10 Mar 2026

FishyFish said:
I honestly can't remember, sorry. I always pre-soak for around 5mins when using semi-stand though.

I believe @Kevin Allan often develops Ilford XP2 in B&W chemistry which, while it's a B&W film, is C41 process. He may be able to suggest some techniques.

I used the times set out in this article to process XP2 in HC110:

ILFORD XP2 Super in black and white chemistry

Chris Moss takes us along on his journey where he develops ILFORD XP2S shot at various speeds in black and white chemistry,

www.ilfordphoto.com

Examples are in this flickr album:

Ilford XP2

Explore this photo album by Kevin Allan on Flickr!

www.flickr.com

I have also accidentally developed Portra 400 in Rodinal, semi-stand developed 1:100 for 1 hour:

Grove Rake mine in 2016 by Kevin Allan, on Flickr

Since you have a variety of film types to process, semi-stand development is probably going to be the easiest method, since you can use the same time for every film.

I didn't presoak.

angelpaaul · 11 Mar 2026

Thanks for the tips, Guys.

As I have quite a few films, and nothing to lose, I'll do one batch semi stand and another as per XP2.

I'll let you know how it all ends.