Good luck with predictability and reliability. Sounds like that is not the priority with "Creative Slide" processing. That term "Creative" spooks me. It tends to be a synonym for "Goofy".
Good luck with predictability and reliability. Sounds like that is not the priority with "Creative Slide" processing. That term "Creative" spooks me. It tends to be a synonym for "Goofy".
Bob,
I think there is a different issue to developing at room temperature. Obviously your developing time will have to be extended, there would have to be some testing to figure that out, however I think there is an assumption that developing longer at a lower temperature gives you a similar result to a higher temperature at shorter development time. This is not the case. One hour labs back in the day would double the temperature of C-41 to process it faster and that would significantly decrease saturation and make a noticeable change to the look of the dye clouds in the negative. I'm sure you understand this as you stated you use a Jobo. However it may be that a lower temperature will never result in fully saturated color as the temperature may not be high enough to achieve it.
Now I get it, you are not looking for technically perfect results, you are cross processing and looking for unique results. However I think you would still want to get the most out of the medium and I am concerned that a lower temperature would negatively impact that. You will also want repeatable results and I can't imagine room temperature with color chemistry will achieve that. So here is what I would suggest. I would simply create a large water bath (i.e. a big plastic tub you can place your dip and dunk tanks in) with one or more sous vide heaters like this one. Please understand I have never used this particular model, I just did a quick search on Amazon for sous vide cooker. That would get you at least very close to the temperature you normally process at and give you repeatable results.
Good luck with it. Please share your results!
-Joshua
Hi Joshua
You have a good handle on this.. I actually did use the water bath method , I was using water from the mains so it was a Real PIA . This idea of yours will probably work and I need to consider a device that could be put in a big tub to heat the stainless steel tanks. I have both tubs and stainless I just need a device that will get the water up to temp and more importantly keep it there with out constant hassel , I am sure there are self regulating devices that I am not aware of.
What I will say about my work , it is really hybrid and my subject matters though very plain take on an interesting vibe once I solarize them to light whether its BW or silver. In colour I do not get the maki line effect but what I so get is a range of colours that are quite out of the natural palette and pleasing to me. I must also say I go into LAB and twist the colours even more to create what I think are impossible renditions in the colour.
Once I have a high resolution file that I love I will do cmy colour conversions and negs and make a BW inverted conversion of the image so that I then print with gum pigments over palladium, finally I may do double hits on certain colours
I am not afraid to work with the colour pigments with a wet brush on the final print to achieve my end results.
so as you can see with these two samples the colours are quite vibrant, (these are images from the final prints) I use a lot of different coloured backgrounds
behind my subjects and I light with simple hot lights (whatever is available) and for my smaller subjects I have a portable light tent where I place the images in and light from the sides with just the lens of the camera sticking in. I can not
tell you on these two samples which one is 4 x 5 C41 film and which one is 4x5 E6 film.
There was a human on Filmwasters a few years ago who...well, here, https://filmwasters.com/forum/index.php?topic=8224.0
While not the lowest temperature, the Tetenal Colortec C-41 kit gives development times for 30°C/86°F that is somewhat an easier temperature to maintain. I have developed at that temperature with success.
I have fiddled around with E1 kits. Originally these were 68°F, the 75°F. I processed modern Provia, the color was quite good but speed dropped to about ISO of 10. I used an LED flashlight for reverse exposure (couldn't find a photoflood:-)
Sounds like you have it worked out. Solarization is fun, never the same.
Bob,
Very interesting work!
If you start with really warm/hot water I would imagine that two of the sous vide heaters would be able to maintain a really warm water bath. They are not too expensive so having to buy more than one shouldn't be too painful.
-Joshua
Yes I got a PM here and the suggestion of these sous heaters came up and I am indeed going to give that a go.
You'll be fine; can't vouch for E6, but C41 works OK at room temperature - provided you're not interested about color accuracy, but you explicitly stated you aren't, so that's fine. The drawback is processing time; as I recall, C41 development is something like 20-25 minutes (development only!) at room temperature. Especially if you work with hangers, sitting around in the dark for half an hour every time you want to run some film through a bath would get pretty old pretty quickly. So I'd suggest finding a way to raise the temperature a bit; perhaps not all the way up to 37.8C/100F, but something between that and room temperature would be nice. It would cut down development time to something like 10-12 minutes - much more acceptable, I'd say.
Strictly speaking C41 is of course not panthermic as Bernice pointed out, but that's only a concern if you want to color inside the lines. Since you don't, don't worry about it.
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