Professional Kodak B&W film, C-41: I just got 3 rolls of this film, and I must have been living in a cave as I never heard of this. Information I find is not complete. Now, what is the...

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Professional Kodak B&W film, C-41

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Aug 5, 2019 17:52:46 #

Leeo Loc: Oregon

I just got 3 rolls of this film, and I must have been living in a cave as I never heard of this. Information I find is not complete. Now, what is the advantage to doing C-41 process?

Aug 5, 2019 17:55:34 #

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Specifically which Kodak film?

Or check out this article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-41_process
--Bob

Leeo wrote:

I just got 3 rolls of this film, and I must have been living in a cave as I never heard of this. Information I find is not complete. Now, what is the advantage to doing C-41 process?

Aug 5, 2019 17:56:40 #

jrcarpe Loc: Jacksonville,AR

I have shot many rolls of this film with no problems.
Used the Canon AE1 program and Canon Elon 7 cameras.
In fact my Elon 7 is loaded with C41 film now.
I get mine processed in the Darkroom in California. They do a great job./
Hope you enjoy shooting with it.

Check out Film Photography section of our forum.

Aug 5, 2019 18:01:19 #

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Leeo wrote:

I just got 3 rolls of this film, and I must have been living in a cave as I never heard of this. Information I find is not complete. Now, what is the advantage to doing C-41 process?

Aaaah their chromogenic film! I preferred Ilford’s XP1 and XP2, but Kodak's worked about the same. Very low grain, great tonal range, wide exposure latitude. Been a long time since I used it, but I remember prints from 35mm looking as good as from my medium format cameras.

Aug 5, 2019 18:06:51 #

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Leeo wrote:

I just got 3 rolls of this film, and I must have been living in a cave as I never heard of this. Information I find is not complete. Now, what is the advantage to doing C-41 process?

C-41 was Kodak's standard color chemistry at the end of the film era, but they did have a monochrome variation; I believe it was an ISO 400 film called "BWC". It can be run as part of a standard color batch by professional processors, but I would think that standard B&W film would be simpler for amateur processing.

Aug 5, 2019 18:31:05 #

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Leeo wrote:

I just got 3 rolls of this film, and I must have been living in a cave as I never heard of this. Information I find is not complete. Now, what is the advantage to doing C-41 process?

Now long discontinued, it was specifically developed to give hobby photographers a way to shoot B&W images and get it processed in any 1 hour photo kiosk in the same standard C41 chemistry as their color negative film.
It was a pretty low contrast B&W film when compared to Tmax or Tri-X, but was a convenient alternative.

Aug 5, 2019 18:47:51 #

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

Leeo wrote:

I just got 3 rolls of this film, and I must have been living in a cave as I never heard of this. Information I find is not complete. Now, what is the advantage to doing C-41 process?

C-41 is actualy color dyes. There are many things that most do not know about these B&W films.

First, if you have a flat seen and/or want to pop the whites up use acetic acid stop bath (DO NOT USE Indicator type bath), this will cause some 5 to 7 percent of the silver to remain in the film after processing and will not effect the longevity of the image. It is the step after development and prior to bleach fix (Blix) and will NOT damage the Blix bath.

IF you know the true speed of your film (ISO 100 can be ISO 80 to ISO 125 or even ISO 160) you can modify frame by frame your exposures by what some think as 'overexposure'. In fact there is no such thing as 'over exposure' with C-41 films. If a scene is contrast, then alter your exposure by INCREASING the exposure by 3.5 to 4 stops greater than standard exposure. This will reduce contrast, reduce grain and increase acuteness (sharpness). What it will do is put more detail in shadows but will not increase grain or sharpness. Here in Texas Summers this is a God Send for landscape work among other issues.

Check out People Photography section of our forum.

Aug 5, 2019 19:52:50 #

Cany143 Loc: SE Utah

MT Shooter already said what could best be said about the film. Beyond that, the characteristics of ANY film can (could) be tailored to specific needs when processed specifically for those needs.

It wasn't an especially useful film, by most b&w shooter's standards.

Aug 5, 2019 20:11:27 #

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

I tried the chromogenic B&W film many years ago, and I hated it, compared to the conventional B&W film I was developing and printing in the darkroom. It remember the highlights being somewhat veiled, and when you tried to burn in detail in the highlights, it would just go gray.

Aug 5, 2019 21:09:21 #

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

JohnSwanda wrote:

The point is that you were doing your own manual darkroom work. This film was made for those shooting occasional B&W who were best served by melding that film with an automated production stream that was otherwise almost exclusively color film.

Aug 6, 2019 00:18:06 #

Leeo Loc: Oregon

There is a wealth of information here if I can retain it. I appreciate it all, keep it coming.

Now I have a ton of 400 and 800 color film I want to work on also. Just taking in all I can.

I am also considering canvas printing, but don't know yet what printer to get.

Thanks again my friends!

Check out Panorama section of our forum.

Aug 6, 2019 07:10:04 #

Fotomacher Loc: Toronto

Leeo wrote:

I just got 3 rolls of this film, and I must have been living in a cave as I never heard of this. Information I find is not complete. Now, what is the advantage to doing C-41 process?

Widely available at ALL film labs. That’s a pretty strong advantage.

Aug 6, 2019 07:10:53 #

BebuLamar

Leeo wrote:

I just got 3 rolls of this film, and I must have been living in a cave as I never heard of this. Information I find is not complete. Now, what is the advantage to doing C-41 process?

I think the main advantage was when the C41 process is widely available and if you don't process it yourself it's much more convenient to use the C41 B&W. Some offer variable speed.
Today since you are likely will have to send it out regardless whether it's B&W or C41 B&W then it makes a lot less sense to use it.
Besides if you process the film yourself regular B&W is easier and cheaper.

Aug 6, 2019 08:05:56 #

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

Leeo wrote:

... what is the advantage to doing C-41 process?

Speaking of Ilford XP-1 in “Camera & Darkroom” magazine, August 1991, Alfred Blaker wrote: “At EI 320 or 250 you got grain that I found by test to be eyelash close to what you’d get in prints from Kodak Panatomic-X film, which was rated at ISO 32.”
XP-1 had just been discontinued and the article was a review of the new XP-2. Grain was equally fine, but XP-2 was much sharper. Mr. Blaker wrote: “Ctein’s sole complaint with XP-1 was that in lab testing he found it to have somewhat low acutance. In a line-pairs-per-millimeter resolution test, he got approximately 50 lp/mm in XP-1 negatives. Not hugely bad. In testing XP-2 at EI 400, he got 90 lp/mm. Yes, XP-2 is sharper and has better acutance than XP-1. This change is, in fact, the film’s most notable one.”
Ilford SP2 Super chromogenic film is available today, might be worthwhile to give it a try.

Aug 6, 2019 08:48:00 #

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

One more thing: Since it contains no silver after processing, it can easily be scanned with “digital ice” dust & scratch suppression turned on.

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