C41 Developing Fail

BCMielke · Nov 23, 2015

I have the Rollei kit and I did 3 rolls about 3 months ago and everything turned out great. I had a 35mm roll and a 120 roll that I needed developing. I had a few issues and took longer to put it in the reel when I was loading it and when the film came out it was all orange. No photos. I assumed and may have had an issue in loading or something. The roll of 120 I rolled without an issue followed the directions as before and I had the same issue. No photos all orange.

So are my chemicals old? My process wrong? What could my problem be?

Sirius Glass · Nov 23, 2015

Welcome to APUG

PE and others can help you when they see the thread.

Photo Engineer · Nov 23, 2015

Orange can mean many things.

1. No exposure.
2. Bleach before development
3. Fix before development
4. Bad chemicals

And a lot more!

PE

markbarendt · Nov 23, 2015

Welcome to APUG.

It could be old developer. C-41 developer is not know for great longevity. In this case some image info may show.

It could also be a chemical mix up, wrong order. Having no images, including no edge markings, is a classic symptom of fix before developer. I'd actually say this is the more likely culprit.

Gerald C Koch · Nov 24, 2015

Even if the developer was going bad you should have gotten some images however faint. The fact that you didn't even get edge markings too eliminates bad exposure. Most likely scenario is chemicals used out of the proper order perhaps fix before developer. If you don't already label your containers then this is a learning lesson.

BCMielke · Nov 24, 2015

The Chemicals are labeled, but only on the lids...yeah I know dumb. So how should each of them look? Thanks for the help!

Terry Christian · Nov 24, 2015

How have you stored your chemicals since they were mixed? In regular plastic Datatainer bottles, I could only get about six weeks out of the developer.
As for color, developer will darken with age but generally is straw yellow/brown, about the color of iced tea. Blix is vivid red, and fixer will probably colorless. Developer doesn't have much of a smell, blix is rather smelly and pungent, and fixer should smell somewhat acrid like ammonia.

David Lyga · Nov 24, 2015

First, test whether your developer is at least somewhat good: put an inch of film (in full room-light) in the developer and see if it turns dark after a minute or two (at ambient temp). THAT will remove much of your angst, as 'all orange' signifies that there was NO developer potency left.

I assume that you did NOT fix or bleach before development.

But did you get any bleach in the developer?

Finally, does the 'all orange' mask have any frame numbers. If so, THAT development of frame numbers indicates that development did take place and you did not expose the film in the camera. - David Lyga

Photo Engineer · Nov 24, 2015

Does your film have edge markings as to manufacturer and film type?

If not, then my last post applies. Add to that bad developer.

PE

BCMielke · Nov 24, 2015

The kit I have doesn't have a Bleach AND Fixer, just a Blix.

There are not ANY frame numbers or type of film on the edges. The film is All orange.

The other 2 that I developed are all the same way.

All 3 are from DIFFERENT cameras. 2 are 35mm and the other 120.

They have been stored in the C-fold style of container pushed down to remove as much air as possible.

Photo Engineer · Nov 24, 2015

If there are no edge markings then there has been no development. There has been fixing.

See my first post for a list of problems.

PE

pbromaghin · Nov 24, 2015

Everybody has done this at least, and usually only, once.

Sirius Glass · Nov 24, 2015

Sirius Glass said:
Welcome to APUG

PE and others can help you when they see the thread.

As promised, PE has the answer(s) to your problem.

BCMielke · Nov 24, 2015

Thanks everyone. I will have to rethink my developing in the future, but this is a good lesson learned. Thankfully I hadn't really taken any shots that were memorable as I was afraid that something like this would happen.

At least I know how to avoid it in the future.

Sirius Glass · Nov 24, 2015

My best photographs are on undeveloped film and lost film.

C41 Developing Fail

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