I recently started doing Color (C41 process) 35mm film development at home. This page is primarily for my own note keeping. I have more experience and better documentation with the B&W process.

I use a 290ml tank, but use 500ml bottles of working solution since the kit I use gives recipes for 1L and I just half everything. Double everything below to make 1L of working solution.

After use, I keep all used chemicals so they can be used later. I remove as much excess air as possible from my developer.

I used a Bellini C41 Kit (KITC41/1) which includes the following:

I diluted 130ml concentrate with 370ml water.

The bleach is ready to use. I poured out 500ml into my own container for easier use, and to heat it as part of the process.

50:50 ratio, so I used 250ml fix and 250ml water.

This looks, acts, and smells just like my Adox Adoflo II wetting agent. Although it is called stabilizer, I suspect it is only wetting agent and nothing special. I don't generally measure this out, I just guesstimate approximately 5ml straight into the tank and then add water. I've never had any unexpected affects doing it this way.

This is what I did, which is almost identical to what the C41 standardized process calls for:

• Prewash with 38-40 Celsius water for 3 minutes. (good for bringing the tank up to temperature too)
• Developer for 3m15s at 38 Celsius.
• Bleach for 45 seconds at 38 Celsius (32-38C should be ok)
• Fixer for 1m30s at 38 Celsius (32-38C should be ok)
• Rinse with water for around 1 minute, (temperature and time probably not strict), aim for 32-38C
• Stabilizer/wetting agent for 1-3 minutes at 30-38 Celsius (probably not strict at all)

For the sections which include an image, note that they are heavily compressed for sharing online so some quality loss is due to that.

All digital versions below are scans of the negatives using a Plustek 8200i at 3600DPI. Unless otherwise stated, the images have minimal post-processing. Color correction was done by me manually during scanning, so if the colors are off it might be due to that rather than a technical issue with the film/development.

Shot at 400ISO. Didn't use strict temperature regulation. I also didn't use an accurate thermometer so my temperatures could have been off by up to 2 Celsius. Developed for 3m45s, 1m30s bleach, 2m20s fix. Noticed some color shifts. Developed on 14-10-2024.

Shot at 200ISO. Used a waterbath with thermometer (with no active heating) to maintain 38 Celsius. Due to the volume of water, the temperature only dropped slowly so no heating seems to be required. Started developing at 38 Celsius, and saw a drop of 0.15-0.2 Celsius over the process.

Developed for 3m42s, 1m14s bleach, 2m45s fix. Didn't use stabilizer, and instead used a film squeegee to remove excess water during drying; this caused some scratches on the negative. Only agitated once per minute (by mistake), instead of the instructed once per 30 seconds. Developed on 17-10-2024.

My camera jammed requiring me to rewind the film, which caused some double exposures. See below:

Shot at 200ISO. Used same waterbath as documented earlier, once again saw a 0.15-0.2 Celsius drop in temperature during development. Developed for 3m45s, 1m30s bleach, 2m20s fix. Used stabilizer and no squeegee this time. Agitated once per 30 seconds. Developed on 18-10-24.

Shot at 200ISO. Used same waterbath as documented earlier, saw a 0.2-0.25 Celsius drop in temperature during development. Developed for 3m56s, 1m30s bleach, 2m19s fix. Used stabilizer. Agitated once per 30 seconds. Developed on 20-10-24.