Developing C-41 Color Film w/ D-76 B&W Chemicals

I have never developed film before and I have read that it is best to start off with black and white developing because it is easier than color.

I just bought a large lot of vintage film cameras (over 50 cameras) to clean and sell and there are a lot of half-used rolls of film in them that I will finish using and I want to learn how to develop them. In the lot, there were developing tanks, thermometers and the like.

My question is they are all color C-41 film.

Can I use my D-76 B&W Chemicals that I just got to cross-prosses and develop these?

If yes, are there any specific instructions or issues that I need to be aware of that may be different from developing black and white film?

Also, for people that have done this for years, any tips and tricks you would like to pass along?

This would be my first roll of film ever self-developed and I am excited!! :)

Thanks for your help!

A search for this on Google, shows a large number of posts asking this question (are most of them by the OP?).

However, there is this on Developing C-41 Films in B&W Chemistry GUIDE | COLOR Films developed in B/W chemicals | Flickr

IMO, someone who is totally new to developing/darkroom work would be best served by sticking to commercial chemistry rather than jumping right into alternative processes.

They have a time and place, but using commercial materials of a known quality and consistency takes one variable out of the learning phase.

I heard from somewhere else that the Caffenol process might work great for this? I have heard of that developing process. Is this a viable option for what I am trying to do? If Yes, Any tips and tricks to Caffenol that might be different from using commercial chemicals? Thanks!

There's nothing magical about Caffenol that would make it better for something like this. Having said that, the type of people that use Caffenol are exactly the type of people that would try it. And sure enough, if you do a search using the keywords "Caffenol" and "C41", you'll get a bunch of hits.

IMO, someone who is totally new to developing/darkroom work would be best served by sticking to commercial chemistry rather than jumping right into alternative processes.

 

They have a time and place, but using commercial materials of a known quality and consistency takes one variable out of the learning phase.

I've used Caffenol to process a roll of kodachrome found in a camera I bought. It works, but I agree that it's better to have some experience before attempting it. If you haven't processed film before I'd start with a roll or two of B&W using a commercial B&W developer. Once you're comfortable with that, then move on to processing a roll of B&W film with Caffenol. Then have fun.

On the other hand, if you don't really care about the pictures that might already be on the film, this is the perfect kind of film to experiment with because honestly, the best you can hope for is mediocre results anyway. I wouldn't use it for any shot that you'd hate to miss. The problem with starting with Caffenol/C41 is that if it doesn't turn out you won't know if it's because of the film, the way you mixed the ingredients, or if it was a mistake in processing.

One tip I'd give you is that Caffenol works better on film that's 100 ASA or slower. There are recipes for faster films but it's something to be mindful of. Along the same lines, film gets slower as it gets older. A common guideline is one stop slower for every decade past the expiration date, but it's a guess since you don't really know what conditions that film was stored under.

I'm going to add one important thing. If you're going to through all of the above and learn how to process with Caffenol, you might want to consider just processing the film in color. It's really not that hard. The only thing that's more challenging with C41 processing is maintaining the chemicals at a warmer temp while you're developing and there are lots of easy ways to do that. You can keep the chemicals in bottles inside a sink or insulated cooler full of water warmed to the proper temp.

You can buy C41 chemical kits from Amazon. Search for C41 press kit.