First C41 roll proceced - PROBLEMS

[kanishka]

Hi guys, I just try for the first time to develop film in my house.
I used a paterson tank with Kodak Flexicolor kit and I shoot with Portra 400


I'm not sure if the times are correct: ( I used the ones I found in the kodak guide)
Developer 3:15
wash
Bleach 6:30
wash
Fixer 6:30
wash
Final Rinse: 1:30


I inverted the tank 4 times after each step and then I used the stick of the paterson tank to agitate every 30 seconds.


Here I have a negative and the positive of the same photo. I scanned with epson 600 and made the positive with color perfect.
Can you tell me what was wrong with the procedure?

positivo by matias_farber, on Flickr

negativo by matias_farber, on Flickr

 

[Photo Engineer]

It looks like there is not enough bleaching or fixing or both, but then there should be no wash after the development step. To check for good bleaching and fixing use fresh solutions and just repeat the bleach, wash, fix, wash and stab steps and see if there is any change.

Attached is the official C41 process recommended by Kodak for small tanks. It is different for deep tank and automated machinery and it is slightly different if you are using bleach III which is green, as opposed to the red bleach which is used in the attached document. Bleach III requires less time.

With the old bleach and some rotary processors, you may need a stop bath after development.

PE

 

[Sirius Glass]

Follow what PE said. You got it started now you can work on his recommendations.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Well, I may be wrong, but the low contrast and muddy colors (if it is a good shot to start with), usually indicate what I said.

PE

 

[Rudeofus]

I am surprised to see that the image frame has a very different color from weakly exposed regions in the negative image itself. Something is either wrong with your scanning process, or there is something very odd going on in your camera. Whatever I see here can not be explained with processing faults IMHO.

PS: You could try cropping out the brown frame from your negative, then run it through ColorPerfect again, I could well imagine that the image would look much better.

 

[Terry Christian]

You said you made the positive with ColorPerfect. Are you setting your scanner to scan a color negative? The scanner should be outputting a color image, not a straight scan of a negative that you have to invert in ColorPerfect.

 

[David Lyga]

I will state with much force and little equivocation that using chemicals over again with this color process invites trouble. The uncompromising attitude that color chemicals have for even the slightest contamination is overwhelming. I dilute (you might not choose to do so) and use only one shot. Particularly the bleach (I use potassium ferricyanide) is deadly for developer, even with minute quanitites.

From trial and error I have established the following with no problems:

Developer (NO prewet!) Personally, I would diulute much (even 1 + 9) and find an appropriate time. Try about 10 minutes or a bit more with a clip test if you are going to use 100F and see if you like what results. (Why waste a whole roll of film?) This expanded timing is lots easier than the 3.25 minutes mandated by Kodak and done so for lab efficiency reasons. (The reason I am not definitive with my timing recommendations is that I add a bit of sodium carbonate and do not wish to confuse you further, kanishka.)

Stop

Fix (yes, BEFORE bleach!)
Room light OK after fixation: Wash for a minute in clean water

Bleach (I use 2 mL potassium ferricyanide for each 100 mL of water: you can use only 1 mL of PF but the bleach time will double)
Refix briefly (30 sec), but in NEW fixer that can be highly diluted (about 1 + 3)
Wash, dry

I reversed the bleach and fix because of the problems I was occasionally getting with bleaching immediately after development. The fix is kind of a "STOP-FIX" that seems to negate the possible effects of developer combining with even minute quantities of bleach.

You must be ESPECIALLY careful not to expose that film to ANY room light, loading or during development. Even a red pilot light on an extension cord can spell disaster with lower contrast and ugly border areas. (The ability for color film to see the reddish hues of light is intense.) You must get a bright orange border or something is wrong.

- David Lyga

 

[kanishka]

Thanks for all the info!
I think I don't have problems with my scanning because I have good results with photos developed in the lab.

positivo02 by matias_farber, on Flickr
negativo02 by matias_farber, on Flickr

But I realised that I need developer starter with the developer replenisher I used. Could this be the problem?

 

[Photo Engineer]

Yes, and I believe that you asked this in a separate thread.

Starter is needed with C41 Replenisher.

PE

 

[sfaber17]

I wonder if I could eliminate a stop step if using the RA rapid bleach.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[Photo Engineer]

If it is intended for C41 yes, but if it is intended for RA4 paper, NO.

This should do the job.

PE