Kodak BW400 CN, also T Max 400 CN

[Neil Purling]

Has anyone tried to develop this film in conventional B&W chemistry?
I have a lot of this film to chew through.
My usual MO was to rate the film at 200 ASA and have a local pro photographer develop in his C41 line. This is not a option unless I can get hold of amateur C41 chemistry in bulk.

[Clay Turtle]

Never heard of anyone trying to develop this film with b&w developer as C41 is totally different process. In fact, I started to pick up some as a last minute grab on the way out of town but then I noted the C-41 processing . . . likewise color print doesn't work with b&w chemistry other than P-30 (IlfoChrome) does seem to exhibit b&w characteristic behavior.

[Don Hutton]

I once accidentally developed some Portra in Pyrocat - I actually had scannable negatives, but low contrast and high B+F! C41 chemistry is readily available from Adorama in reasonable quantities. I have a stash of XP2 super which I'm slowly working through in the same way...

[venchka]

Rodinal is your friend. Xtol also. Other developers as well. Join the Rangefinder Forum. Go to the Film section. There are recent threads about C-41 film and B&W developers. Perhaps not perfect, but certainly useable and interesting. I'm in the same boat. I have a bushel of 120/220 C-41 film. B&W development is the cost effective way for me to use the film.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/foru...ad.php?t=62122

Good luck!

[rwyoung]

Never heard of anyone trying to develop this film with b&w developer as C41 is totally different process. In fact, I started to pick up some as a last minute grab on the way out of town but then I noted the C-41 processing . . . likewise color print doesn't work with b&w chemistry other than P-30 (IlfoChrome) does seem to exhibit b&w characteristic behavior.

The end result is different but C-41 and B&W film start out the same, latent image in silver halides... Only later in the C41 process do you replace the silver compounds with dyes.

You can develop C-41 film in B&W chemistry (D76, Rodinal, Xtol, etc) but in my experience (and I've only done this a few times so no fine tuning) you end up with a grainy looking image, low contrast and at least a stop loss of speed. YMMV

Oh, and the other issue is the orange mask, if you are using something other than XP2 (or XP1 if it is that old). OK for scanning but a booger to print through now that Panalure is gone.

[D. Bryant]

Has anyone tried to develop this film in conventional B&W chemistry?
I have a lot of this film to chew through.
My usual MO was to rate the film at 200 ASA and have a local pro photographer develop in his C41 line. This is not a option unless I can get hold of amateur C41 chemistry in bulk.

Don't waste your time unless you are interested in a special crappy looking image.

Don Bryant

[Neil Purling]

You could get away with conventional processing with the old Ilford XP1, maybe XP2 is similar?
I have offered the BW400CN 120 to anyone in the UK via the forum.

[Ash]

Hey Venchka!

Yes it's definitely possible, but requires some experimentation. Maybe lookin into Suprol or Rodinal. I've used both and have been able to pull an image from C-41 and E-6 colour films, so B&W C-41 films should yield a result. I DID develop one roll of C-41 B&W in Suprol, I believe it was pushed about 8 minutes at 1+20, but I can't remember if it was Kodak or not.

[Colin Corneau]

Is it really that hard to get C-41 developing where you are?

There are places that will take mail-orders, if geography is a problem...seems a better option than basically wasting film, as Don Bryant notes.