Info on DIY Processing of Color Negative

John King · June 17, 2012

Hello all,

I am in a big bind, and am going to have to develop my own film stock. I tried to find investors for a film project, but had no luck. I got several thousand feet of fuji color negative stocks in a freezer, but it is all out of date (by a few years now-- though I have tried to take good care of it)

If possible I don't want this film stock to go completely to waste, so am thinking I will go ahead and shoot a feature with it, and develop the film stock myself. I KNOW IN ADVANCE THAT A LOT OF YOU HERE WILL TELL ME NOT TO DO IT BUT-- I really got no choice. I got to shoot this stock and do it all myself as I cannot afford a lab, and it probably is so out of date I might not get nothing anyway. So PLEASE if anyone out there feels inclined to help me with some info, I'd greatly appreciate it.

I have a good quality devlopeing tank that can do 400ft reels at a time and here are a list of the film stocks I am working with:

All stocks are Fuji film 16mm / single perf /color neg:

64D

120D

500T

500D

What process (chemistry) would be best for each stock and any other info will be greatly appreciated. Thank you all in advance :)

John M. King

Charles MacDonald · June 17, 2012

All of those stocks take standard ECN2 processing, (Unless that were REALLY OLD)

That would be the best process to use. Doing it an a tank you would probably have to do your chemistry "One Shot" so it would cost more than running it in a proper replenished process. Search this group for discussions of "REM-JET" for the reasons.

running 16mm in any sort of tank will prevent your using the Super 16 format safly as their is likly a chance for marks in the image area.

Richard Tuohy · June 18, 2012

All of those stocks take standard ECN2 processing, (Unless that were REALLY OLD)

That would be the best process to use. Doing it an a tank you would probably have to do your chemistry "One Shot" so it would cost more than running it in a proper replenished process. Search this group for discussions of "REM-JET" for the reasons.

running 16mm in any sort of tank will prevent your using the Super 16 format safly as their is likly a chance for marks in the image area.

You have a 400' tank? Never heard of such a thing. What makes you think it can take 400' at a time. Very curious to know.

If it is like a Lomo tank (which were made in 30', 50' and 100' sizes) then you can process super 16. What Charles says is correct, except with a Lomo you put the sprocket side of the film down and the emulsion side out and you won't damage the super 16 picture area at all.

let us know about the tank.

John King · June 24, 2012

You have a 400' tank? Never heard of such a thing. What makes you think it can take 400' at a time. Very curious to know.

If it is like a Lomo tank (which were made in 30', 50' and 100' sizes) then you can process super 16. What Charles says is correct, except with a Lomo you put the sprocket side of the film down and the emulsion side out and you won't damage the super 16 picture area at all.

let us know about the tank.

Thank you both for your replies, I appreciate it so much! :) Thank you Mr. MacDonald for your advice, yes, I had not considered the Rem Jet backing, but will study up on that too. And yes, the stock is pretty old now, and my only hope is that my keeping it froze has kept it in good enough shape.

Mr. Tuohy; Actually I have two tanks, the one I was talking about is a rather large (and old) stainless steel tank that (according to the advertisements) is capable developing 35mm or 16mm. I cannot recall the name of it now, but will try to get that and report back later. Just operating from memory mind you, I am going to guess the circumfrence of the tank to be a little better than 1 foot in diameter. I also have a smaller tank, that is like the one you mentioned, capable of taking 100 foot loads and having dual compartments. I have tried on several occasions to get a Lomo tank on eBay, but they are pretty popular and I was always outbid (now I know why) I'll still look for one as I desperately hope to retain the S16 format.

If I get a Lomo tank how hard will it be to get instructions to use it in a way to retain the S16 format?

Again, I thank you both so much for your advice!!

God Bless!!!

John King

Robert Houllahan · June 24, 2012

It will cost you about $220 to develop 2000' of 16mm with us ($0.11/ ft at Cinelab) and I can advise you a bit on hand processing but it will not come out as clean uniform negative like what you get from a lab, I guarantee it. Rem-Jet is hard to remove by hand and all of the hand processed ECN I have ever seen has a distinctly 'Avant Garde' look to it.

-Rob-

Gregg MacPherson · June 24, 2012

It will cost you about $220 to develop 2000' of 16mm with us ($0.11/ ft at Cinelab) -Rob-

Robert,

That's a good price! Shame you are so far away or you might get some jobs from New Zealand. US$0.36/ ft here, only one lab left.

Cheers, Gregg.

Richard Tuohy · June 24, 2012

Hi John,

right oh, the tank with two compartments will most likely be a re-wind type tank. These tanks can usually take 100 feet of film. The film is wound from one side of the tank to the other, and is only exposed to the chemistry while it is in transit between the compartments. They are very slow to use, and more of an art to use as well. Not as easy to get good results with these compared to a spiral tank. Not really suitable for colour because of the long processing times, combined with the problem of fluctuating temperature of the film as it goes in and out of the chemistry.

The stainless steel tank that is over 1 foot in diameter could well be a spiral tank - that's the most likely thing. At that diameter, it could quite possibly be a 100 foot tank, but possibly only 50 or so. If its a spiral tank, then it certainly couldn't be 400' in length unless it can take multipl films in a stack.

11 cents a foot! that is amazing. Hand processing would have a hard time competing with that.

richard

John King · July 25, 2012

Hi John,

right oh, the tank with two compartments will most likely be a re-wind type tank. These tanks can usually take 100 feet of film. The film is wound from one side of the tank to the other, and is only exposed to the chemistry while it is in transit between the compartments. They are very slow to use, and more of an art to use as well. Not as easy to get good results with these compared to a spiral tank. Not really suitable for colour because of the long processing times, combined with the problem of fluctuating temperature of the film as it goes in and out of the chemistry.

The stainless steel tank that is over 1 foot in diameter could well be a spiral tank - that's the most likely thing. At that diameter, it could quite possibly be a 100 foot tank, but possibly only 50 or so. If its a spiral tank, then it certainly couldn't be 400' in length unless it can take multipl films in a stack.

11 cents a foot! that is amazing. Hand processing would have a hard time competing with that.

richard

Mr. Tuohy,

Yes, it is a spiral type tank capable of taking multiple reels. A very old stainless steel tank (the rubber drain tube is dry rotted and needs replacing) It looks like it was set up for 400ft. 35mm to me, VERY large. Also THANK YOU SO MUCH for the info on 100ft dual chamber tanks. I did not know they did not handle color films too well, and would have guessed that because of their operation that they would have. So you saved me from making a drastic and costly error (Dang! I love this site!) So thanks for the education there! I owe you!

But over all, I have to agree that .11 cents a foot CANNOT BE BEAT, so I think I will go with Cinelab on this one!~~ haha!

Thanks again!

God Bless!!!

JMK

John King · July 25, 2012

It will cost you about $220 to develop 2000' of 16mm with us ($0.11/ ft at Cinelab) and I can advise you a bit on hand processing but it will not come out as clean uniform negative like what you get from a lab, I guarantee it. Rem-Jet is hard to remove by hand and all of the hand processed ECN I have ever seen has a distinctly 'Avant Garde' look to it.

-Rob-

Greetings Mr. Houllahan!!

You just made a sale!! ~~haha! Your price CANNOT BE BEAT! I will be contacting you soon!

Thanks and God Bless!!!

John Mark King

Pat Murray · September 4, 2012

It will cost you about $220 to develop 2000' of 16mm with us ($0.11/ ft at Cinelab) and I can advise you a bit on hand processing but it will not come out as clean uniform negative like what you get from a lab, I guarantee it. Rem-Jet is hard to remove by hand and all of the hand processed ECN I have ever seen has a distinctly 'Avant Garde' look to it.

-Rob-

Hi Rob, what's the cost for a workprint, a digital copy for editing (if I decided to edit digital instead of using workprints) and for HD digital transfer on a final cut?

I'm in Canada, but for that cost, I will send you my film in the mail. Do you process Super 8 and transfer to digital as well?

Robert Houllahan · September 5, 2012

Hi Rob, what's the cost for a workprint, a digital copy for editing (if I decided to edit digital instead of using workprints) and for HD digital transfer on a final cut?

I'm in Canada, but for that cost, I will send you my film in the mail. Do you process Super 8 and transfer to digital as well?

It would be $0.11/ft for developing (2000') and $0.20/ft for the workprint and $0.20/ft for a HD Pro-Res transfer or $0.51/ft for all three with discount for volume.

-Rob-