Processing C-41/E-6 at Home

I suspect CineStill is being mindful of the conditions under which amateur photographers operate. With C41, it's better to err slightly on the side of overdevelopment rather than underdevelopment. There are many factors that can cause temperature loss after reaching 38C. Add to that issues like slightly inaccurate thermometers, developer that may not be perfectly fresh, insufficient agitation, etc. I think they are just playing it safe -- experience has probably taught them that in most cases where users complain about underdevelopment, it was caused by the actual temperature being below 38C. It's a very different approach from Kodak and Fuji who specify 37.8C +/- 0.1 because they cater mainly for professional use where there is more accurate control of the process and absolute consistency of results is important.

I am pretty sure that if you follow CineStill's instructions and aim for 39C you'll be fine. Just try and keep your workflow as consistent as possible.

Success!
I've just developed my first C-41 film.
It's still wet, so I can't post any pictures yet. At first glance everything seems to be fine. The film looks dense but not overly so, the contrast looks fine as far as I can tell (but, as you know, with color negatives it's pretty much impossible to tell), and the images themselves are clearly recognizable and detailed. My only fear now is colour balance, since that's usually the first victim of incorrect development. We'll see... Fingers crossed...
I'll be back with scans soon.

Vlad Soare said:

The film looks dense

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Let's hope for the best then...fresh and properly processed C41 looks anything *but* dense.

Color film tends to look somewhat opaque while still wet, but it clears upon drying. If that is what you meant by "dense", it's perfectly normal.

Yes, that's what I meant. Now that it's dry, it looks like all my other colour negatives.
I scanned it today. Everything looks fine. These are straight from the scanner, no post-scanning adjustments other than a bit of downsizing so I can post them here.

Congratulations! You did very well. See, it's not that difficult -- and the anxiety will get less with each subsequent film you process.

Vlad Soare said:

Yes, that's what I meant. Now that it's dry, it looks like all my other colour negatives.
I scanned it today. Everything looks fine. These are straight from the scanner, no post-scanning adjustments other than a bit of downsizing so I can post them here.

View attachment 282765 View attachment 282766 View attachment 282767 View attachment 282768 View attachment 282769 View attachment 282770 View attachment 282771 View attachment 282773 View attachment 282774 View attachment 282775 View attachment 282776

Click to expand...

Beautiful! Fire up your inkjet and make some prints.

Congrats! E6 and C41 are indeed not so difficult for home development with a kitchen sous vide device or the Cinestill one. One thing I learned from inconsistently messed up development was the importance of thoroughly rinsing out the tank or tray (every part individually), to avoid contamination for the next film.

Looks pretty good! The scanner software evidently did some "optimizations" in the background, but I bet the negatives aare just fine in the first place.