Signature Color film- so it's an ECN II process?

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TheGreatGasMaskMan

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FS0072 said:
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Here's my thought- maybe the 400 speed films are made by someone else, as my 100 and 200 rolls clearly said made in italy, finished in america.
I'd still reccomend sending it to a lab that does ecnII stills just to be safe
https://bluemooncamera.com/
https://oldschoolphotolab.com/
https://www.boutiquefilmlab.com/
https://www.thecamerashop.com/imagecenter/seattle.html
 

AgX

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The omission of any process code may just mean that their marketing was to sell plain C-41 film but still warrant the reflux of all films to their own lab, as was done with the ECN films converted to 135 in the past.
 

wtburton

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You got a good result from your films. In my opinion, as someone who does all films in ECN-2, c41 is a better process for these crappy old color films. For some inane reason, the old seattlefilmworks film would completely come out blank, and the newer kind was still thin after 8min in 130F developer. I have amazing results with older kodak color films though, I think they hold up better than fuji / other.
 

cmacd123

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AgX said:
The omission of any process code may just mean that their marketing was to sell plain C-41 film but still warrant the reflux of all films to their own lab, as was done with the ECN films converted to 135 in the past.
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My Thoughts exactly... And with the disaster that awaits if one runs rem-jet film in C-41 - only a few finishers would be willing to accept anything indicating a "special Process. the Dregs of the Seattle film works was c-41. I even sent a few rolls in with the label removed (some had a paper label, and some had a painted cassette if I remember correctly) EARY seatle was MP film.
 

AgX

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What do you mean by "the dregs"? The "later versions"?
 

Disconnekt

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Those labs cross-process the films in C41 chemicals, the only two labs in the US I found that process ecn-2 film in ecn-2 chemicals are Andrew's Analog Service (here: https://www.needfilmdeveloped.com/the-lab/p/ecn-ii) and Bellow Film Lab (here: https://www.bellowsfilmlab.com/product/ecn-2-35mm/9?cp=true&sa=false&sbp=false&q=false&category_id=9), cheaper too.
 
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cmacd123

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Anyway, If you have 35mm still film that says made in Italy and finished in USA, you can depend that it was made by 3M, (or later IMATION) and has NOTHING to do with Motion Picture film.
 

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I'm glad to see this thread up here, as I'm in a vaguely similar situation. I've got four rolls (3 Seattle Filmworks, one Kodachrome 40) of exposed film that my parents just found in their fridge. We're reasonably sure that the subject matter isn't going to be interesting enough to pay through the nose to have it developed, but I'm still curious enough about what's on it to want to give it a try myself with HC-110.

My specific question is: what's the best way to get rid of the remjet without screwing up my tank and reels? And can I avoid said screwing simply by cleaning things up right away? Important factors: a) it's just a Paterson 2-reel tank so it's not like I'm out a ton of money if it does get messed up, b) I have no means of doing anything wet in absolute darkness (I'm just gonna leave that there), and c) I'll be scanning this film once and almost certainly tossing it in the trash. The final quality of the images is also not important as long as they're comprehensible.

Thanks!
 

Donald Qualls

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I agree with @Paul Howell -- from what I've seen on YouTube, remjet removal isn't difficult. Two steps: a process temperature sodium carbonate bath with very vigorous agitation and a thorough fill-agitate-dump-repeat until clear wash before any development, then rub the residue off the base side with wet fingers after fix (may help to put the film into another sodium carbonate bath, as it does loosen the binder that holds the remjet in place.

The first carbonate bath and wash removes what's loose emough to otherwise come off in the developer and hence float around, land on the emulsion, and cause un(der)developed spots; the second gets rid of the rest.

You may also want/need to give the film a light bleaching with Farmer's Reducer to cut down the density of the filter layer. Otherwise, that layer can make color films so dark you'll have trouble seeing the negative silver image.

Another option that does work fairly well with Kodachrome is B&W positive -- in this case, you'd perform the second remjet removal after first developer and stop bath, then bleach away the developed silver (many threads on Photrio about this process) in the light, followed by redeveloping the (now fogged) remaining halide to produce a positive image. This removes the filter layer as well, and has the potential to produce decent B&W slides.
 

cmacd123

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the first thing is to look at the leader of that Seattle film. dampen a paper towel with something alkaline and rub the back.. if nothing comes off, it is NOT Movie Film. The leade of the Kodachrome will give a comparison, SOMETHING should come off on that .
 

Signature color film

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Can someone help me to find a lab where I can process a Signature Color film? It was used in the beginning of 2000s and was never developed. It would be a shame to through the memories out. At the nearest processing center I was told a lab that could process that film does not exist anymore coz none of them have required chemicals. Perhaps someone here knows such place
 

AgX

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Welcome to Apug!


There likely are meanwhile some photo labs that accept short strips of cine camera-films (what Signature Color Film is) as recently people started buying such by purpose.

Concerning a processing lab in the USA that state to process your film, "Rocky Mountain Film Lab" comes to my mind. But be sure to search for them at this forum before.


But there also are small kits for making respective processing baths for home-processing such films. You may consider this route.
 
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Signature color film

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Thank you for a great reply! Unfortunately I can't develop anything at home. I read about Rocky Mountain Film, you are right, they are completely no good. While reading I came across Seattle Filmworks lab, their order sheet names Signature Color film as one of the films they process. What do you think of that lab?

'35mm Film Size. Process: ECN-II or SFW-XL. Applicable Films: Seattle Filmworks; Signature Color; Eastman 5247 or 5294; Kodak Vision 2 or Vision 3 500T / 5218 or 7218.'​

 
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MattKing

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Welcome to Photrio.
I don't think that Seattle Filmworks exist any more.
 

Donald Qualls

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MattKing said:
I don't think that Seattle Filmworks exist any more.
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Fortunately, ECN-2 isn't the "great mystery process" that it was to most folks in the still photography world in the 1980s.
 

MattKing

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The real problem, of course, is differentiating between the ECN-2 Seattle Filmworks films and the small amount of C-41 Seattle Filmworks films.
 

Donald Qualls

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As I recall, cassettes were marked correctly (been a long time since I saw any SFW film of either type, though). Simple test -- clip a short piece off the leader, soak in alkaline solution, and look for remjet coming off.
 

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Signature color film

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Dwight Anderson said:
www.thecamerashop.com in St Cloud Minnesota lists Seattle filmworks as well as signature on their image center page
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Thank you very much, Dwight! I looked them up - on their website page they do mention Signature under the tub C. Identifying ECN-II Film :
https://www.thecamerashop.com/imagecenter/seattle.html
I called them to confirm and was told they do process Signature Color films if these films have 20 (what that 20 means I have no idea, she named it but it flew right over my head) and than she added 'which most of these films are'. Now I am worried what if my film is not from than category.. Also, this Signature film is mentioned under the Seattle Filmwork header, and I am wondering if they do not specialize on processing Signature Color. My film is more than 20 yo and I would like to make the most of it if possible, which means they should apply the most appropriate chemicals to process it. Can you please let me know what do you think of this?
 
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