BW400CN Processing with TMAX dev?

[james_hart1]

Hey everyone,

I took the risk of developing my C-41 films with TMAX developer. Someone on these forums mentioned it had

miraculously worked with their XP2 and XP1 as long as development times were extended about 25% of recommended

for T-Max 400 film so I figured i'd experiment.

 

So, I tried it, took the risk and i'm noticing a thick layer that is very dense on the negatives (nothing

developed completely through, but I do have the images on one layer of film, so they're not completely ruined.)

My question is whether or not you think I'll be able to develop this with C-41 process and whether I could clear

up those back layers. I realize that C-41 is a layered process (although I just now understand that), and i'm

wondering after my development process, whether or not I could salvage or make these negatives better.

 

My process:

Tmax developer - 6.75 minutes - Agitate first 30 seconds, then agitated 10 seconds every thirty seconds after that.

 

Water - 4 minutes - agitated 10 seconds every thirty seconds.

 

Kodafix - 6 minutes - Agitated first 30 seconds, agitated 10 seconds every thirty seconds after that.

 

Wash for 10 minutes, then photoflo'd and dried.

 

Thanks,

James

[john_shriver]

You might need more fixing. Try some more time in fixer.

 

More likely, it's just the thick orange mask of this film, designed to make it print "neutral" on RA-4 paper without filtration.

[james_hart1]

Alright, and it doesn't matter that I've photoflo'd already?

 

I'll do it tonight, at about 2 minute intervals and see if it fixes up the film, wash, then photoflo.

 

Thanks John.

[chris_waller]

I've devved XP2 in Rodinal 1:25, rating it at 200 ASA and giving, if I remember rightly, 12 minutes development. The negs printed OK, though the tonality was odd.

[james_hart1]

I'm thinking I should have developed it longer.

 

I fixed a couple of negatives by themselves for another 15 minutes, with minimal change.

 

Alas, I developed the prints (although rather slowly) and they're turning out fine. About 4 minutes for a 5x7 at f 2.8.

 

Another question (as I'm just getting my feet wet again in the dark room), am I able to redevelop, restop and refix from the beginning once I've already fixed the negs? I'm not suspecting I am able to do so, but it might be worth a shot.

 

But thanks for your help, both John and Chris. I appreciate it. :)

[james_ollinger]

You can try.

 

I used to use chromium intensifier, which was meant to bring out weak negatives. The process was done after fixing/washing, etc. You can buy the chemicals (it's prepackaged) from any good photo source. I don't remember exactly, but I think you had a bleach step, then a redevelopment step, then stop and fix again. I think it was development by inspection, but it's been a long time and I could be misremembering it. If you google-search on CHROMIUM INTENSIFIER, you should be able to find the procedure and more info on it.

 

The nice thing about it is that you don't have to do the whole roll. You can cut a single negative out and do them one at a time. If you don't like the result of one, you can try another. Or if you don't like the result at all, you can quit and try something else on the remaining images.

[pc_b]

I see no reason to pollute the environment with chromium intensifier and more fixer just because you are trying

to save negatives that were not worth being developed sensibly in the first place. Throw away the negs and cross

develop from now on only C-41 and E-6 films.

 

Cheers,

Pete

[gnashings]

One thing not to overlook - the XP does not have the pesky dyelayer, the cn 400 does.

[john_beneke]

<p>I've recently developed two rolls of BW400cn with Tmax, both came out ok, I developed the first one for 14 minutes at around 75F one minute consistant agitation, 5 sec every 30, and the second at 13 at 75F, 30 sec consistant agitation 5 every 30. Both were fixed for 6 min with Ilford Rapidfix The second roll came out much better, it actually looks pretty good, lots of contrast, the results are similar to that of the film developed C41.</p>

<p>Gotta love experiments...</p>

[jose_torre]

<p>Hi there!<br /><br />A couple of questions for those of you who speak film.<br />Recently bought an Asahi Pentax SP1000 at a local antique's fair that happens once a month. <br />I had never tried film and was eager to do so. Bought the first B&W roll I could find - a Kodak BW400CN.<br />The camera lightmeter's battery is dead and I have yet to source a suitable one (has to be one of those zinc-air cells) so I either used sunny 16 or my sekonic, when I had it with me.<br /><br />I shot through the roll and when it ended I stopped by a store to know if they could develop it. They said it would take ONE week. I said goodbye.<br />The next day I ordered a developing tank, Kodak TMax developer, ilford ilfostop and rapidfixer, clamps and everything else needed for me to develop my own B&W film.<br />I knew BW400CN should be processed with C41, but I read this thread, where John said he developed with TMax and having good results. So I gave it a shot.<br /><br />Without ever having tried anything of the sort, yesterday evening I developed my own film. Everything went OK for the most part. TMax is recommended to be used at 75F, I used it at ambient temperature of 76,46F. Darkroom timer on my android helped me with the timing after I inputted the sequence described above by John, that had good results (13min @75F 5sec agitation every 30sec, stop, 6min fixer).<br /><br />Now for the reason I'm posting this: <br />I tried scanning the negatives several ways but did not get good results.<br />I picked up my 350d with a 35mm Carl Zeiss Flektogon f/2.4 and shot the negatives against window light. This yielded better results, but not great.<br /><br />Below you can find a couple of the negatives after I shot them, one after I took it through PS and the link to download the RAW files, if you wish.<br /><br /><br /><br />(Please ignore light hotspots, dust or water marks, I just picked up the hand held the negatives and camera against some window light and shot them. After I figure out what is wrong I'll do it properly with a tripod and a homogenous light source.)<br>

<a title="IMG_7835_before por soundsk, no Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/soundsk/7979879622/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8310/7979879622_91429d4f46_z.jpg" alt="IMG_7835_before" width="427" height="640" /></a></p>

<p><a title="IMG_7835_after por soundsk, no Flickr" href=" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8456/7979885296_b466fd7f05_z.jpg" alt="IMG_7835_after" width="585" height="640" /></a></p>

<p><a title="IMG_7845_before por soundsk, no Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/soundsk/7979886642/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8451/7979886642_9178b0fd17_z.jpg" alt="IMG_7845_before" width="640" height="426" /></a></p>

<p><a title="IMG_7845-after por soundsk, no Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/soundsk/7979887597/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8448/7979887597_ee81c6641e_z.jpg" alt="IMG_7845-after" width="640" height="426" /></a></p>

<p><a title="IMG_7837-before por soundsk, no Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/soundsk/7979895233/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8321/7979895233_57d71e2c18_z.jpg" alt="IMG_7837-before" width="592" height="640" /></a></p>

<p><a title="IMG_7837-after por soundsk, no Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/soundsk/7979893253/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8042/7979893253_9a30f2575e_z.jpg" alt="IMG_7837-after" width="592" height="640" /></a><br>

<br />My question is, why are the images so fuzzy/hazy?<br /><br />- Did I mess up the exposure settings on the camera?<br />- Did I mess up the developing?<br />- Am I doing something wrong on the PP?<br />- Is it due to the BW400CN being for C41?<br />- Is something wrong with the camera?<br /><br /><br>

Any ideas? Thanks!</p>