Film processing

Thirdfox

Hi guys,

I was wondering if I get B&W film would a normal film processor be able to print it out properly (that sentence sounds a bit awkward - basically can the Costcos, Walmarts etc. do the prints or will it come out incorrectly?)

DotOrg

regular colour printers won't print it the same way it would look on true black and white paper but may suffice depending on what you do with your prints

Colour labs don't give the same tones and often have a blue or brown tint on them

Fajitas!

You can get C41 b&w film, it's black and white that you can process in normal chemistry.

A friend of mine that develops all of my colour film reckons putting normal b&w through colour strips it - I haven't done it myself, but from what I've read, the chemicals are a lot more abrasive than the chem's in b&w - I think it's the bleaches used.

Valentia

I don't know if you are looking for somewhere to get it done but Gunne's in Wexford St. are the biz if you do.

DaireQuinlan

Fajitas! wrote: »

A friend of mine that develops all of my colour film reckons putting normal b&w through colour strips it

Yep. The developer stage in C-41 first develops the silver (as with a normal B&W developer) and then activates the dye couplers which effectively creates the dye clouds in the emulsion corresponding to where the silver has been developed.

The next step is the Bleach step which is specifically there to strip out all the developed silver (and unactivated dye couplers) leaving only the dye behind. Then the fix does the same thing as B&W fix, removes all the unexposed silver.

So any normal B&W film will come out blank because of the bleach step.

Thirdfox

I see - well thanks for the help guys - I'm in the US so no Gunn's for me

I might just scan the negs and converted to b&w in photoshop (though my print would still be in colour :pac: )