Can you develop color neg film as a black & white negative?

rknewcomb · Jun 28, 2020

Can you take a roll of color negative film, meant to be developed in C41 and process it as a black and white negative? Using either black and white chemistry or change something in the c41 process?
I'm interested in 126 instamatic type film of which you mostly find outdated color negative and wondering if there is a way to make it work as b&w even if it comes out a little funky.
Thanks,
Robert

Arvee · Jun 28, 2020

Yes, you will get a negative image and a heavy orange mask.

rknewcomb · Jun 28, 2020

Is the orange mask able to be removed via chemistry? Some sort of bleach/fix etc?

cmacd123 · Jun 28, 2020

Arvee said:
Yes, you will get a negative image and a heavy orange mask.

and if you are having a bad day, you might also get a silver anti-halo layer, as that was one solution used by some makers. the silver is not a problem with C-41 as it will be bleached and fixed away.

AgX · Jun 28, 2020

https://www.photrio.com/forum/threa...from-color-negative-film.116413/#post-1539021

rknewcomb · Jun 28, 2020

Holy cow thank you!
Robert

Raghu Kuvempunagar · Jun 28, 2020

AgX said:
https://www.photrio.com/forum/threa...from-color-negative-film.116413/#post-1539021

@rknewcomb:
@David Lyga's method works fine. Unlike the naive method of developing C41 film in HC-110 or Rodinal where you end up with thick low contrast negative, David's method produces negatives that look like normal B&W negatives except for the orange-brown tint of the film base. Some examples here.

FWIW one can also develop C41 film as B&W slides using reversal processing. Fuji Superia 100 and Superia 400 give nice slides with a light yellow tint.

removed account4 · Jun 28, 2020

hi Robert
I regularly process my c41 and e6 film in caffenol and either dektol or Ansco 130 ( whatever I have on hand ). the stain from the developer usually masks the mask so you can contact/ print it with extra contrast help or scan it and remove the mask with PS. Larry Dressler over on Flickr + p net experimented for a little while using household bleach, from what I remember it sort of worked but he stopped .. chrome film has a bluish mask
have fun !
John

koraks · Jun 29, 2020

rknewcomb said:
Is the orange mask able to be removed via chemistry? Some sort of bleach/fix etc?

Nope. But other than this, it works quite well. Those negatives are a bit awkward to print due to the mask though, as much of the blue and green light you need for b&w paper is blocked.

Can you develop color neg film as a black & white negative?

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