Old color films - exposing and developing in C-41

Hi everyone,

I have been absent over a decade, both from apug.org (back then) and from shooting film and developing (I had a couple of babies

I found these rolls in the basement, and decided to shoot them, they will all go in the C-41, both negative and slide films.

The only one I have good experience with is the AGFA RSX II 50 ISO, it cross develops in C-41 really well, with slightly blue colors and good contrast, but for all the others here, I might just have cross processed one AGFA CHROME 1000RS, and it came out with very thin negatives, as far as I remember, it must have been 15 years ago. I think I also shot a roll of either the 50 or 160 ISO version of KODAK EKTACHROME, also pretty thin negatives, with lots of grain, that I like, but I would like to have a little bit of contrast,.

I know it depends on which light I shoot them in, it will be mostly daylight, sun or overcast, it might be a flash here and there, but I will provide them with lots of energy for good exposures.

The question would be, overexpose in general, a stop or two, maybe three? But should I also push in developing, in general?
Like for instance, the KODACOLOR 400 ISO film, expose at 100 ISO? Or expose at 400 and push a stop, or two? I can't even see the date, it's washed out, but the others was develop before 1985, 86 and 87.

Any thoughts here are welcome, my only experience with shooting old slide film and develop in E-6 is washed out highlights, so that's why I am thinking cross. I do want the surprise from colors and grain here, the magic of analog

The 50 and 160 might be fine to use at box speed. The higher the speed, the worse they age. The ISO400 might be fine at 200 - maybe better at 100 - but then may also still be mostly fine at 400. I'd expect nothing from anything any faster than that.

And I'd say develop normally.

Thanks, yes, sounds great, the RSX II 50 is good at box speed, so I'll try overexposing the others.

Don_ih said:

The 50 and 160 might be fine to use at box speed. The higher the speed, the worse they age. The ISO400 might be fine at 200 - maybe better at 100 - but then may also still be mostly fine at 400. I'd expect nothing from anything any faster than that.

And I'd say develop normally.

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Cross-processing Kodak Ektachrome works well with a +1 exposure and normal developement. But maybe do add another step for the age....

masimix said:

I have been absent over a decade, both from apug.org (back then) and from shooting film and developing (I had a couple of babies

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Congrats on the babies, congrats on making your way back to the fridge in the darkroom, and welcome back!
I'd suggest considering processing some of those films as intended, in E6. There's a few kits around that you might like. Or does it have to be cross-processed, per se?

I would really be tempted to use E6 for the lower speed chromes, so I'm with koraks unless you want crossed process and you have more slide film than negative I would really think about E6.

There's enough of the rsxII to see how well it works in E6, that's for sure.

I would shoot one of RSXII and send it out of E6 processing, if you get a decent slide back then invest in a kit. Or sell the film, at prices you would get you use the money to buy fresh C 41 film.

Klaus Mähring said:

Cross-processing Kodak Ektachrome works well with a +1 exposure and normal developement. But maybe do add another step for the age....

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Yes, I will def overexpose +1 or more with that, as far as I remember, they were underexposed, that was probably the 160 ISO.

koraks said:

Congrats on the babies, congrats on making your way back to the fridge in the darkroom, and welcome back!
I'd suggest considering processing some of those films as intended, in E6. There's a few kits around that you might like. Or does it have to be cross-processed, per se?

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Thank you, the babies are now 12 and 16, and I turned off the light in the darkroom and closed the door when my youngest was about one, and since that I have not shot one single roll of b/w-film, but color for sure, lots! Unfortunately I sold my Contax T3 and Nikon Fm3a, what was I thinking! I still have a couple of 35 cameras, the Hasselblad needs repair, the costs for that is high afaik, but I miss it

Anyway, I like your suggestion to shot the chromes as positives and rund them in E6, I expected the suggestion actually, but what can I expect from them?

I remember shooting one roll of Agfa RSX, either 50 or 100 ISO in the studio with strobes, so the exposure was spot on with a light meter, but the whites were blown out as I remember it, does that mean the film actually gains contrast, or just loses sensitivity in the highlights, like a neg would lose it in the shadows?

I'm not really after "correct" colors here, but I would like to try, so maybe shot in very flat light, overcast or similar?

The Kodachrome films are tungsten, so expect blue tint, but maybe filter it.. or shoot indoors in artificial light, but I do want daylight.

Since both Paul Howell and Don_ih is suggesting the same, I'm keen to try, but the question is, again, how do I expose it? The RSX II 50 has 06/2004 dates, and the KODAK EKTACHROME 160 is 1984, and the 50 is 1986, that's kind of old! (My kids say I'm old, but I'm not, I'm only fifty, these films are "only" 40!) AGFACHROME 1000 is 1987, the other 100 ISO around 1999.

We have E6 dev here in Oslo, runs once a week or so, when the shop has enough films to run, I think they do JOBO. I don't think I will do E6 at home though..

I shot the KODAK 400 yesterday, at 100, looking forward to getting it back next week.

Btw, what could I get for a pack of 10 RSX II 50? Nothing has been in the fridge or freezer, at least not the last 15 years..

Thanks for all the replies!

I have good hopes for the RSX50. I shot a roll of this film back in 2016 and it was evidently expired by that time, but results were really good nonetheless. Kind of warm, but not unacceptably so.

masimix said:

the whites were blown out as I remember it, does that mean the film actually gains contrast, or just loses sensitivity in the highlights, like a neg would lose it in the shadows?

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It means you probably just didn't meter very accurately for slide film.

koraks said:

I have good hopes for the RSX50. I shot a roll of this film back in 2016 and it was evidently expired by that time, but results were really good nonetheless. Kind of warm, but not unacceptably so.

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It means you probably just didn't meter very accurately for slide film.

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Looks good those, and if I may have metered it for overexposure, that means there is no shift in highlights or contrast? (or sensitivity?)

I would shoot one roll, bracket each shot, low light, mid day, sunny, overcast, then send the roll for processing. That will give the data to meter the remainder of the rolls.

Paul Howell said:

I would shoot one roll, bracket each shot, low light, mid day, sunny, overcast, then send the roll for processing. That will give the data to meter the remainder of the rolls.

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Thanks, back to basics

masimix said:

that means there is no shift in highlights or contrast? (or sensitivity?)

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With slide film, color start to shift first; you generally get a dominant color like yellow or magenta first before the rest starts to shift as well. Photographic materials in general lose speed as they age and at the same time gain fog. So on slides you can ultimately expect shadows to get muddy; generally in a somewhat colorful way (e.g. red). Since the highlights are at the top of the curve, they're not as easily affected density-wise, but color shifts can be visible there.

Your 50-speed slide film I'd rate at 50 on a first try and if they consistently come out dark, adjust speed down a bit. If they come out with blown out highlights, odds are the problems are really in metering.

Since you have multiple rolls of the same film and want to develop in C41, bracket your shots +1, +2, +3 and see how they look to get an idea what ISO to rate it at.

masimix said:

Thanks, back to basics

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I would still send it out for processing before spending money on a E 6 kit. Although you live in colder region, 40 years is a long time for color film, it could be fogged. My bet is that the lower ISO films are going to fine, but the Fuji 1600 will be fogged.

Hi. In my experience, everything produced after 2000 can be shot at the nominal value with the native E-6 process. If the result is negative, then Push and Pull will not help, this means the film is dead to the E-6 process, in this case use cross-process or B&W.