Just for kicks: C-41 chromogenic in traditional black and white chemicals

I recently purchased some of the so-called private label XP2 from Ultrafine. There's finger prints, scratches, and dust on the emulsion side. Rather than spend the money on developing in C-41, I thought I'd give semi-stand developing it in Rodinal a try. The results are far from perfect, but I like them well enough. Negatives shot at 2/3 to 1 stop over came out much better than those shot normally. Current roll in the camera is rated at 200 instead of 400.

I hadn't developed anything in years, using DD-X and T-grained films (except for some Neopan 1600) the last time I shot in 2007-2009. Any thoughts on my process below? My next few rolls will be Arista EDU 100 shot at 50. This was all for 1 roll in a Jobo 1520 tank. Any thoughts on using more developer if I am putting two rolls in the tank?

All temps are at roughly 20C.



Presoak

• 500ml tap water / stand 5m
• Drain

Develop

• 495ml tap water + 5ml / 1 hour
• 10 gentle inversions + gentle swirl for 1m + 4 counter taps / stand for 30m
• 2 gentle inversions + 4 counter taps / stand for 30m
• Drain

Rinse

• 500ml water / 30s inversion
• Drain

Fix

• 400ml water + 100ml fixer
• 4 inversions / first 10s of each minute / 3m
• Poor back into storage bottle for reuse

Hypo Wash

• Open tank
• Tap water / 1m
• 450ml water + 50ml hypo wash / 2m constant inversion
• Tap water / 2m
• Drain into sink

Wetting Agent

• 495ml distilled water + 2 ml wetting agent / soak 5m
• Drain

I love this look!!!

What is it about color film (and apparently C-41 B&W) that look so cool in standard chemicals?!!? I love the very dense and right grain pattern, but it seems as if the grain is still very small....which is why I like it. Tonality on these is nice as well.

is there an orange mask on these? I've never tried using the C41 B&W film before, only color in DDX and HC110, which of course DO have the dark mask.

jimmyklane said:

What is it about color film (and apparently C-41 B&W) that look so cool in standard chemicals?!!? I love the very dense and right grain pattern, but it seems as if the grain is still very small....which is why I like it. Tonality on these is nice as well.

is there an orange mask on these? I've never tried using the C41 B&W film before, only color in DDX and HC110, which of course DO have the dark mask.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

I had one roll that was developed by Blue Moon Camera in Portland, OR. The mask is dark green, but pretty transparent. The second roll which I did in Rodinal at home turned out a desaturated purple—much like any other black and white film I've used.

Here's a photo of the negatives as they were drying: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dittobox/16726773393/in/dateposted-public/

I should mention these were shot with a Nikon F3. All were shot with a Voigtländer 40mm Ultron ƒ/2, except for shot of my grandma which used a Tamron 28mm ƒ/2.5 Adaptall.

Interesting... My silver B&W are almost always completely clear...more accurately very light grey....except Tri-X which has to be left in diffused window light for 8-12 hours to lose the magenta/pink tone.

do you (or anyone reading) know why the grain pattern is so different on color film processed this way in comparison to traditional B&W film? Any ideas how to get this "look" with traditional film?

You've inspired me to go pick up the cheapest 120 color neg film I can get my hands on and make a (more) serious study of mis-processed color film! I really like the tones and structure in the two coffee shots especially. Very cool and keep 'em coming!

XP-2 has no orange (or other colour) mask, so when it is processed in C-41 chemicals, the negatives are well suited for darkroom printing.

The Kodak (and Fuji?) versions of the chromogenic B&W films do have an orange mask, so when they are processed in C-41 chemicals, the negatives are well suited for minilab printing on paper which what would normally be used for colour prints. You can print them in a black and white darkroom, but it may be frustrating, as the orange mask does not play well with any current black and white papers.

The chromogenic films are designed to first film a silver image, but with the intention that that silver image be replaced with a dye image. That second part of the process really affects the apparent grainines.

the fuji (neopan400cn) doesn't have a mask, Matt