Room temperature C41

[mrred]

I have been developing C41 at 20c for about 5 or so years. While not bad, it's all I care for. I don't consider colour for any serious work and as such is usually just snaps.

I wouldn't stick your nose up too high on those "cheesy flat bed scanners". The cheese usually comes from the operator.

 

[RPC]

If I was just shooting color for snaps, I would shoot that other medium. Normally I would always go film, but why go to the trouble of developing the film if it is just for snaps, when even the other medium would be better color, compared to room temp processing, and easier?

 

[sagai]

I've been processing color film at home with some success. I'd modified an aquarium heater and could consistently get 100deg but it was a pain in the ass and took alot of time.

Well, I also was reading all those gadget rich approaches, however having a kettle, water and a bathroom gave me happy result.
https://goo.gl/photos/wbnFvMao2Jew3zst9

 

[mrred]

That "other medium" was stolen a few years ago....along with a gorgeous lens that was attached. I miss the lens. Need I say more?

 

[RPC]

That "other medium" was stolen a few years ago....along with a gorgeous lens that was attached. I miss the lens. Need I say more?

Sorry, my condolences.

 

[mrred]

Well, I also was reading all those gadget rich approaches, however having a kettle, water and a bathroom gave me happy result.
https://goo.gl/photos/wbnFvMao2Jew3zst9

The big thing for me is I have a motor base. When given the choice of manually controlling water temp and standing around shaking film with sticking the drum on my base and walking away for 18 mins........ no contest....motor base wins.

Besides, the effects are not as severe as implied. The only "stay away" film is Ektar, which will give you the blue issues.

 

[mrred]

Sorry, my condolences.

I was ecstatic I didn't bring my F6 with me, as I had originally planed.

 

[sagai]

The big thing for me is I have a motor base. When given the choice of manually controlling water temp and standing around shaking film with sticking the drum on my base and walking away for 18 mins........ no contest....motor base wins.

Besides, the effects are not as severe as implied. The only "stay away" film is Ektar, which will give you the blue issues.

I do not know how many times most of us spend per day by sitting in a traffic jam or by watching TV.
For 3 canisters tank it is more like 30 minutes actually that makes 10 minutes per canister from my lifetime. Further, comparing it with the time spent before in a darkroom to print a roll this is null.
10 minutes per canister with no worries of technical gadget issues or with lazy labs is the fair deal for me.

 

[mrred]

I rarely only do one thing at a time. Timers are the greatest invention.

 

[Crutch]

I did it in room temp with a unicolor kit. Two rolls individually, Kodak gold 200 and ultramax pushed to 1600. They look pretty good scanned without any color correction. I don't see any color shift, or if it is there it is so minor as to be unnoticeable. Here was my process for those who want to try it.
1. Prewash:3 1/2 min*
2. Dev: 16-18 min more time=more contrast
Agitation for 1min then 10sec. every 2min
3. Blix: same time and agitation as development
4. Ilford wash 2x*
5. Stabilizer: 1min. agitation for the first 15sec.
*I used tap water to really tick off the anally retentive.

 

[Wayne]

*I used tap water to really tick off the anally retentive.

Good way to start! Maybe you can post your scans before we go trying it.

 

[Crutch]

Good way to start! Maybe you can post your scans before we go trying it.

OMG! SORRY. I was so eager to share that I forgot. I've got them on my flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/129276832@N08/36233058841/in/dateposted-public/

 

[Down Under]

C41 at room temperature? Sure, why not? I've tried it before, and for me it works, if I forget about true colors, learn to live with poor contrast and color shifts, give up optical enlarging, and spend a lot of time in post-processing for results people will want to look at. No thanks...

It will suit those who are time-poor, and not particularly discerning about quality of results. If this is what you want, well, why not?

I had a fast look at your Flickr page and saw what I reckon is quite a lot of color shift in your images. Nice snaps, BTW. Your B&W conversions came out well, as they always do with scans.

 

[RPC]

If you develop at room temperature you WILL get crossover. Whether it is acceptable or even noticible depends on the individual.

 

[mrred]

I've been doing it for years..... But people have been telling me not to do things all my life.....and I am getting old.

 

[rpavich]

I did it in room temp with a unicolor kit. Two rolls individually, Kodak gold 200 and ultramax pushed to 1600. They look pretty good scanned without any color correction. I don't see any color shift, or if it is there it is so minor as to be unnoticeable. Here was my process for those who want to try it.
1. Prewash:3 1/2 min*
2. Dev: 16-18 min more time=more contrast
Agitation for 1min then 10sec. every 2min
3. Blix: same time and agitation as development
4. Ilford wash 2x*
5. Stabilizer: 1min. agitation for the first 15sec.
*I used tap water to really tick off the anally retentive.

I know that this is resurrecting a very old thread but I'd be surprised if the colors were correct with no crossover at all.

How could you know if there is or isn't unless you shot a known color reference chart?

In my experience (and I tried, I really did) room temp C-41 just doesn't compare to 100f C-41. It can look ok if there is nothing to compare to but I had to ask myself, why?

Why do I spend so much time to shoot with film and set up a darkroom to print, if I'm just going to develop the film any old way that will result in less than great negatives and make the rest of the process that much harder?

After doing it a few times and printing from those negatives and evaluating what kind of effort it took to stray from the process vs what kind of effort it took to keep to 100f I decided that it just wasn't worth messing with. 100f isn't that hard to hit or maintain.

 

[RPC]

C-41 gives parallel curves at 100F and not room temperature. It can be proven with simple sensitometry, and has been done many times before!

 

[Crutch]

I'll shoot a color chart the next time I shoot color. As to why I did it? I had the two liter kit and I live in a small town where getting a liter bottle at 10pm is impossible short of dumpster diving. Anyway I didn't have a method of heating 4 liters of fluid up to temp whatsoever. I mostly shoot B&W because that's what I'm set up for with my new enlarger etc. But sometimes I want to catch the colors of summer in the South. Anyways, I think a lot of you have missed the entire point of this thread, "C41 at room temperature is possible and here is how to do it.". It's not "here are all the reasons one should never experiment with C41." So I tried and posted the method I stitched together from several different sources. Take it or leave it, but don't turn this thread into "fifty different reasons you should not stray from the C41 pack." After all does any of that add to the collective knowledge about film photography? No, it just makes these threads annoying to browse for those of us looking for answers or expansions of the original thread topic.

 

[pentaxuser]

If you develop at room temperature you WILL get crossover. Whether it is acceptable or even noticible depends on the individual.

If you don't have the means to do 100F developing then I suppose what counts is the phrase "even noticeable" and more importantly how many individuals will notice. If most are unaware of the crossover then isn't it like the question: If a tree falls over in a forest many miles from human hearing, does it make a noise?

Not sure how "snaps" are defined here. I do RA4 at 4x6 or more often 5x7 for me and others to look at. If I and all on my friends are happy with what they see then I've achieved my objective

I process C41 at 100F as I have the means to do it but I just thought I'd support the liberal-pragmatism school which deserves more support than it gets at times.

pentaxuser

 

[RPC]

My objective in posting in these types of threads is never to say "Don't do it!", but some always seem to get that idea. My goal is to FOREWARN that it works, but does not give proper results. This can be shown. But again, the acceptability of the results is up to the individual. What concerns me is those who say they do it and it works just fine, with NO WARNING that the results are not optimum. It would be sad for someone to develop their film based on this, only to find out later that their negatives have been compromised.

I advise, WARN, TEST and COMPARE. It is for the betterment of the photographic community.

 

[Pioneer]

I develop color film with the correct temps (or pretty close) and I have developed it at room temp (whatever that happens to be.)

My development times are much more extended at room temp then others here seem to use. I do it mostly to experiment to see what I get, but I do have trouble with consistency from roll to roll.

I do prefer the results using the proper temperatures because colors are more accurate and more consistent.

However, I do understand the attraction of room temperature color development. During the summer in the desert the last thing I want to do is to stand in front of a stove cooking water to 100F.

That is why I broke down and bought a Jobo machine that brings the water to temp and maintains it. The way I figure it, at today's cost to develop color film, it won't take too long to recover the cost of the machines.

At least that is what I told my wife.

 

[Cholentpot]

I've been doing it for years..... But people have been telling me not to do things all my life.....and I am getting old.

I just did a stand dev on some expired bulk 160NC. I've been seeing how long I can use a kit before it is completely useless. I'm at 34 rolls.

In this last one I tried something different. I gave it a 1:100 rodinal stand for 10 min before going for the dev. It worked although there are some color shifts. However this film has always had color shifts so it's no big deal. I did notice a boost in speed though. I've been shooting at 80 and this method most definitely gave me a 1/2 - 3/4 stop gained. I'm going to try this with HC-110 next time.

 

[pentaxuser]

I just did a stand dev on some expired bulk 160NC. I've been seeing how long I can use a kit before it is completely useless. I'm at 34 rolls.

In this last one I tried something different. I gave it a 1:100 rodinal stand for 10 min before going for the dev. It worked although there are some color shifts. However this film has always had color shifts so it's no big deal. I did notice a boost in speed though. I've been shooting at 80 and this method most definitely gave me a 1/2 - 3/4 stop gained. I'm going to try this with HC-110 next time.

Any idea how this works?

pentaxuser

 

[Cholentpot]

The rodinal? No clue. I stumbled on it seeing someone calling it buffering before a regular development. I think they used it to push some Portra 400. For me? Why not? It's old film from a camera I don't care about and snapshot subjects. If it works great, if it fails I turn it b&w in post. So far after the 6th frame scanned it looks almost T balanced and the next strip scanned will reflect this. I shoot for fun, good results are a plus but not necessary.

 

[rpavich]

My objective in posting in these types of threads is never to say "Don't do it!", but some always seem to get that idea. My goal is to FOREWARN that it works, but does not give proper results. This can be shown. But again, the acceptability of the results is up to the individual. What concerns me is those who say they do it and it works just fine, with NO WARNING that the results are not optimum. It would be sad for someone to develop their film based on this, only to find out later that their negatives have been compromised.

I advise, WARN, TEST and COMPARE. It is for the betterment of the photographic community.

This is also my position. I didn't mean no one should ever do anything except what's acceptable!
It's not for me, and for the reasons above...that's all.