C41 in BW chemicals?

I'm testing a camera for focus and tranport, and I'm using up a bunch of color print film I have lying around. I don't have any color chemicals though so I used BW chemicals. The negatives developed pictures, but they don't look like they are fixed. They are much darker and milkier than machine-processed C41 negatives. Is there some special way to fix the negatives?

C-41 films may have antihalation and filter layers made of silver which is bleached in C-41 processing. So, that's why it looks dark. In addition, you still have the orange mask.

It can also be a fixing issue (if they are "milky"), C-41 films have many layers (thicker emulsion) and it's harder to fix. You can try to re-fix with 30-40% more concentrated fixer and for a longer time (7-10 minutes?). But they still probably remain dark because of the first-mentioned reason.

If they are still wet, they will look milky. They become clear upon drying.

OTOH, they do need a pretty strong fixer, truly film strength, and up to 10 minutes at 100F (38C).

And, you should not use acid fix.

PE

Will the acid fixer not work, or is it just unarchival? I don't care about the negatives at all; except that I may want to enlarge them to test for focus. What I am testing for is focus and if the film transport in my homemade camera is holding the film steady. I could use BW film but I have a big bag of old color film and the idea was to use that for testing and just look at it with a loupe or enlarge it onto BW paper for a close look. I will be throwing the negatives away when I am done. I only did one roll and used HC110 1:50 for about 15 minutes at 20C. I will try heating up my fixer in the microwave next time.

IIRC, it's unarchival for dyes, but you don't have a dye image but a silver image anyway.

Maybe it's also a problem that it's harder to fix and requires a longer fixing and washing times, but if you have only acidic fixer available, then use it, it works better than nothing . If you have to go to buy something, then you could buy simply the C-41 chemistry.

Dye images can be partially retrieved from B&W processed color negative films. BUT..... Often not in the case where an acid fix has been used. There are a number of other errors that can mess this up.

PE