C-41 Problem—Lab or Me?

[Richard Wasserman]

After finally finding a lab that would process 4x10 C-41 with some excitement I sent them about 20 sheets to develop. A little more than half of them came back looking very weird—color is off and they're flat and just plain bad. I assume it's a processing issue, but I want to make sure before I complain. I'm thinking seriously about getting a JOBO...

[Fred L]

your scan or their scan ?

[Richard Wasserman]

It's my scan. I use an Imacon and have never seen this before.

[Richard Wasserman]

I think this may fall into the category of silly questions, but if this is a bleach problem, can that step be repeated to save these images?

I'm guessing the answer is hah hah hah hah....

[Mark Sampson]

It may be possible, but my memories of running a C-41 line are a little faded now. I'd ask Edgar Praus.

[Richard Wasserman]

I have to say I'm surprised (pleasantly/hopefully) that rebleaching is at least a possibility. I'll explore it further with the lab. Thanks!

[chassis]

Rebleach and refix is possible. I can't speak to whether it will improve things. Did you use your normal scanning settings? Sometimes when scanning multiple images I forget a step of my workflow and it shows up in the images. i.e. resolution, histogram settings, color management settings, etc.

Have you tried rescanning being totally sure your workflow is solid? I suggest this because I catch myself with this sometimes.