Greetings and a thread starter:

I'm looking for suggestions.

After TPI in Fairfield, NJ closed its doors at the beginning of this year, I lost the last available lab in my normal travel area that processed E-6 films.

So now I'm in the process of switching over to C-41 films for most of my photo work that I can still get processed locally. I like the idea of being able to hand deliver and pick-up my work, paying out-of-pocket, without having to resort to mailing and charge-cards.

Now I've always been an E-6 film fan and I have my favorites. Many of them are discontinued but I've managed to stockpile quite a supply so that is not an immediate issue.

The problem is that no matter what C-41 films I've used to date, I simply don't seem to get the same results at sunset and after dark with these films that I get with my favorite transparencies. And yes I've tinkered with all the colors, saturation, histogram, brightness, and other controls that are available to me with my Epson 4990 scanning software.

To now I've tried a lot of different C-41 films including Ektar 100 and Portra VS but still no real comparison to RVP, RDP, RTP, and Ektachrome transparency films I've used extensively for so long. I've also tried cross-processing a few and had some moderate success with CDU II which give me some nice sunset colors.

So, I'll post a few examples later but for now I'd like to hear others' suggestions about their success with C-41 films during those witching hours of sunrise and sunset.

Bob G.