Developing C41 at home?

[FishyFish]

Now that Peak Imaging have closed shop, I'm thinking about developing my colour films at home. I already dev my own B&W so have most of the kit I need, and probably just need to supplement it with the necessary chemicals, storage bottles, and (probably) some way of regulating the temperature during the process.

For those of you here who dev C41 at home, what are your experiences, and how does it compare to B&W? Are there any particular pitfalls I need to be aware of?

It'll probably just be C41 initially, although I'll maybe consider E6 too at some point.

Thanks

 

[lindsay]

Not something I've tried, but I agree it is something many did back in the day and should be possible. One of these might help with the temperature control - I was tempted to get one but I only do occasional B&W processing so probably not worth it.

 

[excalibur2]

Well unless the kits available now can dev at something convenient like 20c, you will have to find a way of dev at the higher temp...I used to put a thermometer in the dev tank in a basin of hot water and top up if the temp dropped, of course you would have to heat up the dev before puting in the tank...other than that it's easy if you use the same method to get consistent results.

 

[FruitFlakes]

I recently started doing my own C41 (sheet film processing costs add up quickly). I use the Bellini C41 kits and a Cinestill TCS for temp control. At first I thought the TCS was a bit much but I ended up using it for my B+W developing as well. You can use a sous vide heater as well, there are some cheaper ones. Just make sure you get a big enough basin so that the water level doesn't fluctuate too much as you remove the bottles otherwise the TCS/Sous vide won't be able to circulate the water properly. Extra thermometers are also useful, I put one in the dev bottle to make sure the entire bottle is evenly heated before I start developing.

C41 isn't any more complicated than B&W once you have the temp control side sorted out, really.

 

[AndrewFlannigan]

If you have the money, this is the easier way to develop colour at home: https://tetenaluk.com/Jobo-Color-Processor-CPE3-Including-Jobo-Lift-For-CPE3

I used one of the older models for a few years in the 1980s and they do the job.

The older models come up a lot cheaper on the dreaded ebay - under £300 seems to be the going rate at the moment. Don't worry about getting one with a lift. I found it to be no more convenient than just lifting the tank out to drain it.

 

[mdpF2]

I've developed C41 and E6, both are a bit more involved than b&w but not difficult. From memory the temperature is 38 degrees, so I bought a small heater like used in aquariums. Just put it in a washing up bowl with warm water and set the thermostat to the right temperature to keep the mixed chemicals at 38. I used Tetenal chemicals and the instructions are ok, but not brilliant.

 

[FishyFish]

Not something I've tried, but I agree it is something many did back in the day and should be possible. One of these might help with the temperature control - I was tempted to get one but I only do occasional B&W processing so probably not worth it.

Thanks Lindsay. I've looked at the Cinestill heater / mixer. It looks like a good product, if a little pricey, and is one I've considered perhaps asking Santa for.

Well unless the kits available now can dev at something convenient like 20c, you will have to find a way of dev at the higher temp...I used to put a thermometer in the dev tank in a basin of hot water and top up if the temp dropped, of course you would have to heat up the dev before puting in the tank...other than that it's easy if you use the same method to get consistent results.

Knowing my ability to introduce cack-handedness to most efforts, trying to manage the temperature with hot-water top-ups would likely lead to disaster. It would be the simplest and lowest cost method though.

I recently started doing my own C41 (sheet film processing costs add up quickly). I use the Bellini C41 kits and a Cinestill TCS for temp control. At first I thought the TCS was a bit much but I ended up using it for my B+W developing as well. You can use a sous vide heater as well, there are some cheaper ones. Just make sure you get a big enough basin so that the water level doesn't fluctuate too much as you remove the bottles otherwise the TCS/Sous vide won't be able to circulate the water properly. Extra thermometers are also useful, I put one in the dev bottle to make sure the entire bottle is evenly heated before I start developing.

C41 isn't any more complicated than B&W once you have the temp control side sorted out, really.

Thanks. I looked at a few sous-vide heaters a while back when I mulling C41 development on a previous occasion. Getting one that would be reliable and sufficient for the volume of water would be the key thing, as you mention. They soon start to edge up into the dedicated Cinestill heater cost-range. I do have a couple of thermometers already, which will be handy, although I've never checked them against each other to see if they are consistent.

If you have the money, this is the easier way to develop colour at home: https://tetenaluk.com/Jobo-Color-Processor-CPE3-Including-Jobo-Lift-For-CPE3

I used one of the older models for a few years in the 1980s and they do the job.

The older models come up a lot cheaper on the dreaded ebay - under £300 seems to be the going rate at the moment. Don't worry about getting one with a lift. I found it to be no more convenient than just lifting the tank out to drain it.

This would be the luxury option (and certainly quite convenient). I looked at a few on eBay the other night, but I'm not sure I want to commit to spending quite that much at present, but I'll not discount them.

I've developed C41 and E6, both are a bit more involved than b&w but not difficult. From memory the temperature is 38 degrees, so I bought a small heater like used in aquariums. Just put it in a washing up bowl with warm water and set the thermostat to the right temperature to keep the mixed chemicals at 38. I used Tetenal chemicals and the instructions are ok, but not brilliant.

Thanks. I expect that aquarium heaters are capable of heating and maintaining more than enough water volume for film development. Do you need to circulate the water, or does it heat the entire container consistently?

 

[VirtualAdept]

I've used the tetenal c41 kit and the bellini one and find the bellini one easier to use for consistent results.

In terms of temps, I use one of those camping chill boxes, fill it with water hotter than needed to bring the chems up to temp., while the water bath drops temp and its worked fairly well for me.

 

[Andysnap]

If I can do it successfully then anyone can. The only tricky but is keeping everything at the right temperature. I did have a jobo tank but it fell to bits so I just boil the kettle and add to water in a washing up bowl, seems to work ok.

 

[Rossjukes]

Hi, I develop 35mm/120 & 4x5 at home. I use Tetenal C41 chemicals and have always been pretty happy with the results.

I use a large plastic container, fill it with water and use Sous Vide style heater to get the water to temp (38d). I leave the chemicals to heat whilst loading the film (Patterson tanks) and then pre-wash the film, then dev, Blix - I wash the film using the heated water from the tank (usually it's cooled a bit by this point) before photo flo/cleaning agent...

I use an app called 'Dev It' to help with timings, you can set the times for each stage in advance depending on your requirements and it can even leave a short gap between automatically starting the next timer - very useful when you have wet hands etc.

I tend to leave the negs to dry in a bathroom to keep dust down and usually leave them over night to dry. I put a small weight on each film to keep it tight.

Everything packs back into the plastic container so easy to store. Don't forget you'll also need some other bits like a changing bag, film squeegee, a hanging solution, as well as somewhere to store the negs after (I'm assuming you have this and it's just the developing you need to add in!).

The only other tips I would give is be sure to work clean - getting Blix in Dev will ruin it (learnt that the hard way!) and the quality of the chemicals degrades over time - so I tend to only mix up new chemicals when I have a load of film to develop or I know I'll be shooting regularly for a few weeks - I tend to get around 20 rolls of 120 out of my chemicals before I start to see problems with it - but I guess everyones milage will vary with that... I also keep records of when/how much film I've developed and when those chemicals were mixed - this will give you a good idea how your chemicals are getting on...

It's great fun and very rewarding.

Good luck

 

[sirch]

The Bellini kit from analogue wonderland is a good place to start, it seems to be pretty forgiving.

 

[mdpF2]

Do you need to circulate the water, or does it heat the entire container consistently?

I didn't do anything to circulate the water other than moving the bottles of chemicals around when taking them out...
But as said, just adding more hot water from a kettle when needed would also do the job.
I mixed the chemicals in batches of 500ml because that's what my developing tank takes, and kept it in the glass bottles with pop off lids, like Grolsch bottles.

 

[Karl.t1965]

If you can do B&W you can do C41. A sink full of water to stand your bottles in will hold them temperature wise for long enough, to make it easier I use a plastic box and a Sous Vide, when you select your Sous Vide make sure it can go down to 38°c, some can't and always set the temperature with a thermometer, Sous Vide displays can be a bit out.
I have used the Bellini kit many times and always get great results.

If you can manage that then it's easy to do E6 too

 

[yzfmike]

I used to do this regularly many years ago (also E6 for transparencies)

For those of you old enough to remember, I used generic chemical kits from Marston and Heard in Lea Bridge Road. I also used to buy film, in bulk, from them - Agfa, Perutz etc..

Perfectly straightforward, especially if you have some experience with B & W processing. I used to keep everything up to temperature by immersing the tank and chemicals in the bath.
Never had a failure.

Ah, reminiscing isn't what it used to be

 

[Flighter]

I've only used the Rollei Digibase kit for C41 to date.

I'm not sure my colour perception is good enough to recognise any colour shifts from not having the temperature spot-on but the few in-date films I've done look fine to my eyes (the majority of the films I've developed have been well time expired (and not stored in a fridge/deep-freeze) so aren't a reliable guide!)

Like yzfmikr, my temperature control is nothing more fancy than a large water bath - the kitchen sink. The hot water out the tap is 50-55°C so I fill the sink up with my chemical bottles (dev, bleach, fix & stabiliser) standing in it and let them warm up as the water in the sink cools down. Whilst doing this I load the film into the tank and then sit that in the bath as well, surrounded closely by the 4 chemical bottles so that it stays upright as it floats in the sink. I usually have to remove some of the cooled water to replenish with new hot water one or two times before the chemical bottles come up to temp. The water I take out I keep in 1 litre plastic bottles to use for washing the film between bleach and fix and fix and stabiliser in an attempt to ensure that the temperature difference between the wash water and the chemicals is not too great. Once the developer gets to 38° (and the sink water is the same temperature) I start, keeping the tank in the sink water unless inverting to keep the temperature steady, the development time is short enough that there isn't any noticeable drop in the water temp whilst developing.