Home film developing.

[Bob Peters 61]

Just got done with my first attempt at developing my own C-41 process film in a Paterson tank at home.

I think the pre-soak was warm and long, waiting for newly mixed Unicolor powder developer to cool down enough. Eventually used it 2 degrees warmer than the instructions specified. May have gone as much as a few seconds over on the time as well, but not much.

Scans of my negatives show a bluish discoloration except on green plant-life backgrounds. A couple of shots under fluorescent light with daylight film failed to show the color tint expected and one even had a blueish tint to a white area.

Or maybe a magenta caste. I'm colorblind but can see that this isn't right.

Examples of what I mean.

I guess this must mean that I'm over-developed just a bit based on what I know of time and temperature errors.

Anyone with more experience care to critique my post-mortem analysis? I welcome constructive criticism here.

As it might possibly be relevant, this result was with a roll of Kodak Ultra Max 400 film, 35mm shot in a fully manual SLR camera. I like that film as a go-to for everyday shooting as it gives decent quality for an economical price tag.

 

[Bob Peters 61]

Never mind. A closer look at the documentation for the chemicals confirms that it's the temperature. Apparently, too hot does that.

 

[Gary A.]

Temps and color processing have to be spot-on. (Unlike B&W, which is a bit more forgiving and you can compensate a bit with time and agitation.)

 

[Derrel]

MAGENTA cast on the two cars; green cast on the last show of the rear of the car. OVERALL, this is a LOT better than what I expected before I saw your images! Are you sure the issue is not with the scanner's interpretation of the film and the scenes? I think you are plenty close enough on time/temperature here; the scanner has to read the info,and at times, the scanner software's the culprit, not the film or the developer or the person who did the lab work.

Looking at the break room shots, the whites (on the microwave oven for example) and the flesh tones look okay. I dunno...this looks like minor,minor color issues that could be tweaked in PS a bit and everything would be A-okay.

 

[Bob Peters 61]

Thanks, Derrel. I use an Epson Perfection V600 which is physically designed in a way that let me check that out quick and easy.

I have to cut 35mm negatives into 6-frame strips for it, two of which fit side by side in the 35mm film holder. So to check I scanned 1 strip of this home-processed roll together with 1 strip of my last roll processed by my local camera store's lab in a more automated commercial machine. I can see a difference in pictures of similar lighting and exposure settings scanned from the same preview. (And both half a stop underexposed. I'm working on that bad habit with my manual camera.)

The shots inside the break room are where I had expected to see a different color caste from using daylight balanced film under florescent light. I had intended them for comparison against which to test out the FL-W filter I had just ordered and was en-route with the shipper. Oddly enough, the competing color castes appear to have neutralized each other in those shots, similar to how that filter is supposed to.

I'll know more when I use up off my currently loaded roll of film and process it with more attention paid to avoid running 2 degrees Fahrenheit warmer developer.