Cross-processing Agfa Vista 200

[daniele_vittorio]

Does anybody out there have experiences with cross-processing Agfa Vista 200 and could post some examples?

I really adore the colours in the shot below. The photographer told me he exposed Agfa Vista 200 @ 100 and cross-processed it.

Does every lab give consistent results in E6 development? I.e. if I expose a roll of Agfa Vista 200 @ 100 and let it be cross-processed, will I get the same colours? Or are the results very much dependant on the developer the lab uses etc?

I recently had some bad experiences with cross-processing other films, ending up in psychedelic colours, that's why I am a bit cautious this time.

 

[Simonh82]

Cross processing colour negative film in E6 chemistry is not something done often. The photo above looks great, but results are often disappointing. The effect of C41 film in E6 is the reverse of slide film in C41, you get lower contrast and saturation and more muted colours.

You will also have the orange mask to contend with and I would suggest that the photograph above probably had a fair bit of work done in scanning or post-production. I could be wrong, but I'd be surprised if the colours didn't need tweaking.

It is generally recommended to over expose by 1-2 stops, otherwise shots tend to be quite under exposed.

As for consistency, I think that depends on the variables you introduce. 'Traditional' E6 in C41 cross processing is always said to be very inconsistent, but personally I think it is fairly consistent for any given film. The big differences in results you see are mainly due to the different base colours you get and how a lab scans the film. In my experience the base colour will remain fairly consistent for each film, but how this is handled by a lab will vary widely.

I think the same thing would probably apply to C41 in E6. The same film, would probably behave similarly, especially if you scanned/printed it yourself, but changing films and labs, could lead to significant variation.

 

[daniele_vittorio]

Hi Simon! Thanks for your reply!

I also assumed that only Photoshop could produce such results, but according to the photographer, no post-production/colour-tweaking was involved in the above image. This is how the plain scan looks.

Regarding the over-exposure you recommend, i indeed over-exposed the film by 1 stop (ISO 200 box-speed exposed @ 100 ISO), and so did the photographer of the reference image. However, he said to have pulled the film by 1 stop in development to compensate for the over-exposure.

Obviously, I also used the same film (Agfa Vista 200 Plus).

As a matter of fact, though, I won't be able to have my film developed at the same lab, so here comes in the problem of lab consistency. I thought maybe it would be best to just get a sample roll developed and see how it turns out.