Critical Development of C-41 Film (I'm Nervous)

Ariston

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My wife found a disposable camera that she had been looking for for years. It is the one used by her father at our wedding. Her father passed many years ago.

The film expired in 2011. I am have developed a lot of rolls of C-41 film, so I am going to develop this. I am too nervous to mail it off to a lab. I have never developed film from a disposable camera. It is a "Kodak PowerFlash" camera.

Is there anything I should know or that I should do differently? Please let me know. I want to get this right.
 

koraks

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I don't see how it would be different from any roll of 35mm film. Apart from the emotional value of course. Double check all of the steps, solutions, parameters etc. If you've succesfully developed many rolls already, I'm sure this will work out OK. 2011 is already a bit out of date so the images are likely to suffer from some degradation, but will probably salvageable, albeit with some compromise. I've processed color film that had been in a camera I got from a colleague for about 15 years and after scanning and color correction the images were sort of OK - good enough to bring back some memories and nostalgia. I mean, that's probably more important than the best achievable technical quality (which would require fresh film etc anyway), right?
 

Photo Engineer

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Make sure you open the camera in the dark. Many disposable cameras have no cassette or do not rewind the film. When you open it, the exposed film is right there on the take up spool.

PE
 
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Ariston

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Photo Engineer said:
Make sure you open the camera in the dark. Many disposable cameras have no cassette or do not rewind the film. When you open it, the exposed film is right there on the take up spool.

PE
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Is the spool loose for winding off immediately, or is there a release button I have to press?
 

mshchem

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Ariston said:
Is the spool loose for winding off immediately, or is there a release button I have to press?
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I would send it to a trusted lab. I think most have film loose at beginning, and as you advance the film, it winds back into a standard cassette. But to PE's point I would open in the dark. Still this sounds like a job for a trusted lab. I bet there's pictures there.
 
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Ariston

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I will for sure open it in the dsrk. I was assuming there is no cassette at all, but I don't know.

I don't trust any lab more than I trust myself, and I trust postal carriers much less.
 

mshchem

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Ariston said:
I will for sure open it in the dsrk. I was assuming there is no cassette at all, but I don't know.

I don't trust any lab more than I trust myself, and I trust postal carriers much less.
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I understand where you are coming from.
 

cmacd123

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Make sure to shoot any remaining shots and wind to the end. be careful not to touch the battery as if their is a built in flash, it might still have a change on it. pry open the end with the take up. MOST will have the film winding into a regular cartridge marked "Kodak Film for one time use camera process c-41" BUT as other say, they may have left the film loose. Kodak often uses a spool that has a gear on the end to fit the film advance on their cameras and discourage reloading. the battery should be removed with an insulated driver and if you open the camera further be aware that the flash capacitor can have 300Volts on it and can gain a charge even of drained for years. (fun electronics project)

when I use one, I generally remove the film and just send the roll to the lab to save postage and because I want to play with the flash.
 
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Ariston

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Thank you everyone. I had to order new chemicals and will tackle this soon.
 
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Ariston

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Tony-S said:
Let's us know how it turns out!
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It's drying now, and it has images! The quality of the photos doesn't even matter. I am so excited, and can't wait to get the film on my light table!
 

Tony-S

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Ariston said:
It's drying now, and it has images! The quality of the photos doesn't even matter. I am so excited, and can't wait to get the film on my light table!
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That's great to hear. I'm sure your wife will be super happy.
 
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