Processing C41

[tobonfranco]

Hey buddies,

Today I make my first attempt to develop C41 at home. I'm using a MOD54 and Unicolor 1L kit. I make all the things good, and this is the first scanned picture:



I use Portra 160 4x5 film, Shen-hao camera and Nikon 180mm lens for this one.

I only have one major concern:

During the pre-soak part (1min, with 102ºF water), this water go out of the tank like green... Not so much, but I was worried... Is this normal? The film was in the refrigerator before the processing, I take it out one hour before the process,

Any help is appreciate,

[Jim C.]

That's the anti halation on the base side washing off, b&w film will have it too.
No need to worry.

[agregov]

+1 on the nothing to worry about, you're just seeing the anti halation layer coming off. That said, while a pre-soak is crucial for some development processes (like with many Pyro developers), I don't believe it's required for C41 development. It certainly won't hurt, but I don't think much is gained from pre-soaking.

What might be helpful given you're just starting C41 development, is shooting two sheets of your first several images. Send one version to your lab of choice for development. And develop the second version yourself. If your images look about the same as your lab images scanned, you know your workflow is pretty good. Like your attached scan looks like it has a yellow cast to it and maybe a bit muddy. Could possibly be development related. The key with C41 development is controlling the temperture of your developer. Must be 100 degrees +\- 1 degree. Also, the fresher the chemistry the better. Since a lab controls chemistry well and has accurate, replenished chemistry, you have a baseline to compare your home processed negs.

[tobonfranco]

Thank you so much for your answers!

I'm happy to read that this green cast is normal,

Agregov: That yellow cast is probably cause of the scan, not the process –I must to calibrate my scan settings with this Portra films. Now I'm worried about that muddy you mention... I'll work on it,

Tks buddies!

[SergeiR]

Hey buddies,

Today I make my first attempt to develop C41 at home. I'm using a MOD54 and Unicolor 1L kit. I make all the things good, and this is the first scanned picture:



I use Portra 160 4x5 film, Shen-hao camera and Nikon 180mm lens for this one.

I only have one major concern:

During the pre-soak part (1min, with 102ºF water), this water go out of the tank like green... Not so much, but I was worried... Is this normal? The film was in the refrigerator before the processing, I take it out one hour before the process,

Any help is appreciate,

its normal - nothing to worry about. Yellow cast could be result of scanner needing calibration or blix times being off, or film being a bit on expiring side (or just heat damaged).

Welcome to dark side.. (although true dark side is to have E-6 done...).

[richardman]

Note that Kodak does NOT recommend pre-soak, nor (water) stop-bath between developer and Bleach. Unicolor recommendation may be different, but I do not think so.

I believe the theory is that the water would not be there long enough to thoroughly soak all 3 layers, and thus cause processing issues.

Currently, I do not use pre-soak nor stop, and the coloring are consistently good (quality of image is another story of course)

[devb]

The Jobo/Tetenal kit recommends a one minute presoak. I was under the impression that this was to bring the tank and film up to the proper temperature. I haven't tried processing C41 without the presoak, but so far everything has come out just fine.