Canon Elan II SLR Film Camera - - FILM DEVELOPING TROUBLE

nattywittagatty · Jul 28, 2011

Hey guys! I am having a problem with my Canon Elan II and I wanted to see if someone could help me. I called Canon but they didn't say much about this matter. I take my film to CVS to develop the negatives and then transferred over to a CD. I buy Kodak Black & White Negative Film 400 Tx 24 Exposures and Kodak 35mm Film 24 Exposures. For some reason, the 3 times I have developed this film, I only get about 12 to 14 shots and the rest are just gray. Which means I'm not getting my full 24 exposures. Why is this happening? Is there a certain way I should set up my camera? I need a lot of help. I want to know if there is a problem with the actual camera or if its the film. Please help

I appreciate it guys!!!

Josh66 · Jul 28, 2011

I posted this in the other thread you asked in too, but here goes...

Are they sending it out, or doing it in house? If they're doing it in house (you would know because it would only take a few hours to get it back, instead of a few weeks), that pretty much explains everything.

CVS can't develop B&W film...

They used to send it out (not sure if they still do) - but if the guy behind the counter doesn't know anything about developing film (pretty common problem at drug stores), and you don't tell him that it has to be sent out, they're probably going to just stick it in the machine.

I have never tried developing B&W film in C-41, so I'm not sure if anything at all would come out - but it might be possible, since you can (sort of) develop C-41 film in B&W chemicals...

If they are in fact sending it out, you probably have some exposure issues. If they are running it through the C-41 machine, you're lucky that you got 12 or 14 usable shots on a roll.

I'm not sure, but the negs might fade too... The blix they use for C-41 is like a combination bleach/fixer, which isn't the same as what you would use to fix B&W film... Development time is also much shorter than you would usually use for B&W film (if C-41 developer can even develop B&W film...). Basically, the entire process is totally different, and if that's what they're doing you're lucky anything at all came out.

If C-41 kits weren't so expensive compared to B&W chems, I would try it just to see what happens ... for now I'm going to save my color chems for color film though...

So .... Whenever you bring B&W film in, make sure they know that it's B&W and they have to send it out. A lot of the people working at these 1 hours labs don't really know much about developing film (depends where you go though), so if you don't tell them to send it out, there's a good chance that they won't know any better... Especially somewhere like CVS that doesn't have a dedicated 'film lab guy'. From what I've seen, they just grab whoever happens to be available. I don't like Walmart much either, but at least they have people that only work in the film lab. I think there would be a better chance that they know what they're doing... They at least check to make sure that it says "C-41 Process" somewhere on the canister...

KenC · Jul 28, 2011

Buy a developing tank and learn to develop bw film. I'm sure there are you-tube videos and sets of instructions readily available online. It is expensive to get it done by the few people who can do it properly and very easy to do it yourself, with the added benefit that you can adjust the parameters to get the best results. You don't need a darkroom, just a dark closet (completely dark - house lights off, towel under door) to load the film into the tank. Pouring the chemicals in and out, etc. is done in normal light.