Cross-process Velvia?

TheFlyingCamera

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I'm being gifted with 20+ rolls of Velvia in 35mm. It's not my normal cup of tea, and I don't usually do E-6 (yet ANOTHER process to have to learn! I'm just warming up to C-41!). Anyone have any thoughts on IF Velvia cross-processes well, and if so, recommendations for how to do it (overexpose by how much, how to tweak the processing, if any, etc)?
 

Athiril

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I think I remember overexposing and pulling in C-41, cant remember the exact details, but it's definitely more grainy regardless of what you do.
 

Jim17x

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I always shot it at box speed and developed it in C41 chems for normal C41 times. Yes it grainy but i loved the colors.
 

polyglot

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20 rolls is nearly half of a Fuji 5L kit. You could split a kit with a friend or maybe just buy another 25 rolls or a big pile of Velvia sheet film If you have a Jobo or similar that you're doing the C41 in then E6 is easy. The chemistry keeps pretty poorly once opened though so I would recommend shooting ALL the film then processing it in a big batch. Exposed Velvia keeps in a cool cupboard for 9mo with no problem, certainly with much less degradation than the opened chemistry will suffer.
 

Jim17x

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I was able to develop 20 rolls from a quart by extending the developing times as i went along. I used the liquid kit from Freestyle but dont recall the name.
 

ME Super

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Have at least one roll of the velvia 50 processed in E-6 chemistry, if you don't want to do it yourself. Velvia 50 is magic in the correct process!
 

Dr Croubie

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Yeah, if I can do E6, then anyone can...
(I even did it well before trying C41). Tetenal 3-bath kit, Jobo CPE2, times from the Jobo website (ie, 7:30 FD).
From what I remember, shooting C41 and through E6 it's best to overexpose, eg for an 800 film set the meter at 200. So that would make E6 in C41 the other way, for RVP50 set the meter at 100 or 200 (I think I've only done RHP400 though, I don't waste my good RVP50 on Xpro).
 

trythis

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I would say xpro is an acquired taste and a pain for scanning...no idea if it printable. I wouldn't waste good film on it when so much expired low end old chrome is out there. Some people love it...maybe you will too?

Will doing this ruin your c41 chems?
 

MattKing

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He isn't around here very often, but if I had questions about cross processing I would be asking John Callow / jd callow.
 
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TheFlyingCamera

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Well, this is all Velvia that is quite well expired, although it has been frozen. The person giving it to me took it out of the freezer and put it in the fridge about three months ago, so it's still in cold storage. It should be still "good" as slide film, but it may be off optimal and need special handling anyway.
 

trythis

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If its all from the same batch, I would be worth a test roll in e6, no?
 

Athiril

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I've done Velvia 50 in a 1 stop pull that still came out pretty decently. You can always ask for a clip test and give them a short bit of unexposed film, if the base comes out black/not-fogged, then it's good to go for normal E-6.
 
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TheFlyingCamera

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We're talking about a film in an emulsion I don't normally use, a format I don't normally use, and a chemistry I don't normally use, that has a color palette I'm not excessively fond of. I might shoot some of it as E6, and give a bunch of it away, or I might invent a project to make it worth shooting a bunch cross-processed. Regardless, I know some folks here are in love with Velveeta, but it's not like this stuff is some precious commodity that is no longer available. If I want to do something different with it, and you have something to contribute to my inquiry, my thanks. If you're going to keep harassing me to shoot it as E6 slides, then please refrain from commentary.
 

mrjr

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I've actually heard the opposite – that you should underexpose slide if you plan to crossprocess in C41. That seems right to me after shooting one roll of Velvia 50, but take that with a grain of salt, since I have very little experience. I was looking for low key results with dark shadows and punchy colors, but shooting it at ISO 40-50 yielded high key results with a nearly pastel palette. I didn't love it. Next time I give it a go, I will probably shoot it at 100.

I was also sort of given a bunch of expired (2006), refrigerated Velvia 50, which is what I used.

Good luck!
 

Alan Klein

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I apologize if you think my post was to "harass". Certainly that was not my intention. I was only suggesting that since you've never tried Velvia, you might find that using it the way it was designed might actually be interesting to you. You certainly have a right to ignore my suggestion and process the way you wish. But this is a public forum and I have a right to add my beliefs as well, whether you agree with them or not. No one owns a thread including the person who started it. In any case, I hope you enjoy whatever you do with the film. That's the main point.
 

Poisson Du Jour

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X-processing RVP is one of the least desirable things I would do to it, but having done it, I proffer my own thoughts.

Re-rate RVP50 at EI125 to mute the palette and open lower tones for C-41 X-processing. If exposed at 50 and taken to X-pro, it will have a very irksome (to traditional, clinical users) Vaudevillian appearance that could be useful in terms of palette derangement using a pinhole camera where attendant effects of that type of camera (flare, indistinct edges, the effect of movement over long exposure — cloudscapes/landscape/water, etc.) can actually go some way to enhancing the overall result, if you have a creative streak. I have examples somewhere on file shot in a ZeroImage 6x9 (as 6x6) pinhole; I can remember them but where they are is not so easy to remember...

Irrespective of cold storage, Velvia (particularly 100) will exhibit derangement and loss of speed over time and this is where a judgement call of exposing it at just what speed (or several EIson the same roll) is needed. It is not a particularly stable film once taken out of long-term cold storage.
 
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TheFlyingCamera

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Alan - it wasn't your post per se that engendered the "harass" comment, but the cascade of three or four folks in a row saying, "don't do what you're asking about doing, it's sacrilege". If you want to tell me, "don't do it because it looks the same cross-processed as it does in E-6" or "Velvia dissolves in C-41 chems, you'll end up with a roll of transparent film" or something, then I'm interested in hearing what you have to say because it affects the outcome of what I'm considering doing. That said, you are entitled to your opinion, but the opinion offered was off-topic. Yes you're entitled to your opinion, but when you voice an opinion that's tangential and unproductive to the question being asked, don't go getting butt-hurt when I say that the response was tangential and unproductive.
 

Alan Klein

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I understand your point. But I thought my comment was tangential to your question and not off-topic. You'll get the best colors and results if you process normally. Any change to another process will probably give you results you won't like. But since I never used another process, I can't say you won't get a different result that may interest you. So go ahead and try. Let us know how it works out so others who have the same question as you will learn from from your experiences. Alan.
 

lxdude

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Another thing you could try with it is to use it as E-6 when color variation won't necessarily look strange. That is, sunrise/sunset or at night. A scene can look very different than it does to the eye, and still look good, maybe even better.
 
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TheToadMen

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This shot was made with my wooden 6x18 cm pinhole camera on expired Velvia 50:



The film is expired about 8 years ago and wasn't stored properly at all!! But stil very usable indeed.

So please try one film the "normal way" before you decide. It might surprise you.
 
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TheFlyingCamera

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Well, the batch of film was delivered today; I've got something on the order of 40 rolls of Velvia to play with, so there's no danger of me exhausting the supply of the film by using a few cross-processed. I probably will use some as slides as well, and give away what I don't use. There's even some rolls of Elite Chrome, E100S, Fuji Provia 100, Provia 400, some Fuji Tungsten balanced slide film, a roll of Agfachrome and a pair of rolls of Kodachrome 64. The K64 will go into my personal museum.
 
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