C41 – Koraks tinkers

Feet of clay – My first impression of Harman Phoenix

The recent introduction of a color negative C41 film by Harman Technology (of Ilford fame) was both unusual and gutsy. Entering the market with a color product with a strong reputation specifically in black & white is a surprising move to begin with. Doing so in a way that resembles a 2020s startup more so than a firm rooted in the early 1900s is even more surprising. But what gives? Let’s look at some pictures! In particular, some optical RA4 enlargements.

Skyfall – A first impression of 4×5″ Kodak Aerocolor IV

Shooting color in large format is for the rich and very dedicated. I’m certainly not the former, and the latter…nah. Well, I can always try to cut a corner here and there, so I splurged on some Kodak Aerocolor IV film, conveniently cut to sheets by Reflx Lab. Here are the results of my first four sheets shot on this film.

Upside down – How color film and paper are fundamentally different

This is a story about chromogenic color film and paper that’s not a secret at all, but it remains untold much of the time. Perhaps because it’s rather technical and it goes beyond what an analog photographer or darkroom printer needs to know. But once you start thinking about the structure of C41 (and ECN2 and E6) film and RA4 paper in particular, it becomes an unavoidable topic. It’s the question how massive color crossover is in these materials. And in RA4 paper in particular, despite the absence of substantial color filtering in the emulsion layers.

Who’s afraid of cyan, yellow and magenta? Using color C41 and RA4 chemistry at home

I regularly speak to people who would like to start doing color development (film or prints) at home. Often, they’re shunned by the prospect of having to deal with color chemistry in a home darkroom setting. Please don’t let it stop you, though. Doing color work in a home darkroom is really pretty easy. And it doesn’t have to be very expensive, either.

Ginkgo leaves on expired Vericolor film

Rainy Sunday. Had the studio strobes setup for a bit reproduction. Some ginkgo biloba leaves I picked up in my parents’ backyard were sitting in a tiny vase, waiting. Some old Kodak Vericolor film loaded in cassettes. Heck…why not?

Peaks or plateaus – Light sources for DSLR scanning color negatives

Many people like to shoot film, but enjoy their images in the digital domain and the possibilities it warrants for post-processing, printing, etc. This means that the film images need to be scanned, and using a DSLR to do this has become very popular in recent years. But it does bring up some questions – mainly: what’s the best way to do this? And in particular, if you photograph a backlit negative, what kind of backlight would be preferable? I’m going to reflect on this for a bit on a theoretical basis.

Balancing act – A brief look at ECN2 vs. C41 colors

When ‘Cinestill’ film came around, I just had to try it – although I have mostly used the original Kodak Vision3 stock instead of the remjet-less Cinestill variants. Frankly, I didn’t get along with it, and I’ve been quite vocal about it on the forums, too. But a couple of years after my initial bout of experimentation, I felt it was time for a re-assessment. Here’s a brief reflection on color balance of Kodak Vision3 250D film. After all, color balance is perhaps the most pressing matter when it comes to using Vision3 films for still photography.

Color me purple – Some color developer formulas including C41 and RA4

Despite the modest resurgence of interest in film photography, supply issues remain a concern. This is nothing new; a few years ago, I already worried about this and figured that I wanted to expand my options when it came to in particular color chemistry for C41 negative development and RA4 printing. I started collecting formulas I found online, purchased the necessary chemistry and mixed quite a bit of (mostly) developers myself. Now seems a good time to share my findings with you. If anything, it might be convenient to have some key formulas in one place.