Developing Color Film in Black and White Chemicals by Jennifer Stamps

Develop Color Film in Black and White Chemicals by Jennifer Stamps on Shoot It With Film
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Written by Jennifer Stamps

What happens when you develop color (C41) film in black and white chemicals?

Technically, this process is called cross-processing. But usually cross-processing refers to C41 film developed in E6 chemicals (or vice versa).

There is some information out there, but not a ton. So I knew I’d be experimenting…especially with how long to develop.

I developed three rolls in Kodak HC 110 dilution B (find on Amazon). The first two were Lomography Color 100 in my Holga and the third was Fujifilm Superia in my Canon Sure Shot. I wasn’t really sure what would happen, but overall I’m pleased with the results.

And be sure to check out our other article on developing black and white film if you want to learn the basics or need a refresher course.

How to Develop Color Film in Black and White Chemicals
Develop Color Film in Black and White Chemicals by Jennifer Stamps on Shoot It With Film
Lomo Color 100 developed in cold chemicals and scanned as black and white
How to Develop Color Film in Black and White Chemicals

How to Develop Color Film in B&W Chemicals

Developing Times

Figuring out the development times was trial and error. I developed all the color rolls based on how long a black and white with the same ISO would be developed. Then, I added about 30 seconds to be safe.

For example, I developed:

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Using Hot or Cold Chemicals?

Black and white is developed cold, but color is developed hot.

I didn’t measure the temperature, but I developed one Lomography 100 roll at cool and the other in hot temps. The Fujifilm Superia at hot temps.

The verdict? Develop hot!

Here are some photos developed in cold chemicals:

Develop Color Film in Black and White Chemicals by Jennifer Stamps on Shoot It With Film
Lomo Color 100 developed in cold chemicals and scanned as black and white
Develop Color Film in Black and White Chemicals by Jennifer Stamps on Shoot It With Film
Lomo Color 100 developed in cold chemicals and scanned as black and white

Here are some photos developed in hot chemicals:

Develop Color Film in Black and White Chemicals by Jennifer Stamps on Shoot It With Film
Lomo Color 100 developed in hot chemicals and scanned as color
Develop Color Film in Black and White Chemicals by Jennifer Stamps on Shoot It With Film
Lomo Color 100 developed in hot chemicals and scanned as color
Develop Color Film in Black and White Chemicals by Jennifer Stamps on Shoot It With Film
Lomo Color 100 developed in hot chemicals and scanned as color

Scanning Tips

You can scan as black and white or color negatives. After doing both, I think I prefer scanning color.

Scanning black and white is pretty simple and straight forward: just scan like you would any other black and white image and change the contrast/brightness as-needed.

Scanning color is a little different. Scan like you would your color film and adjust the “saturation” until it’s black and white.

From there, adjust contrast as-needed.

Here are a few from the Fujifilm Superia scanned as black and white:

Develop Color Film in Black and White Chemicals by Jennifer Stamps on Shoot It With Film
Fuji Superia developed in hot chemicals and scanned as black and white
Develop Color Film in Black and White Chemicals by Jennifer Stamps on Shoot It With Film
Fuji Superia developed in hot chemicals and scanned as black and white

Here are a few from the Fujifilm Superia scanned as color:

Develop Color Film in Black and White Chemicals by Jennifer Stamps on Shoot It With Film
Fuji Superia developed in hot chemicals and scanned as color
Develop Color Film in Black and White Chemicals by Jennifer Stamps on Shoot It With Film
Fuji Superia developed in hot chemicals and scanned as color

Final Thoughts on Developing Color Film in B&W Chemicals

One of the best things about film, to me, is experimenting.

I have a bent towards black and white, so I might do this with future rolls I have in my refrigerator. I may not go out of my way to buy color film just for the sake of developing black and white. But I do still have a good amount of color film that would be fun to continue to experiment with.

So, to sum it up, develop in hot chemicals, add about 30 seconds onto developing time for it’s b/w counterpart, and scan color!

Or, if you like to live on the edge, use this as your guide and play with it! If you do, I’d love to hear what you tried and see how it turned out for you.

Thank you so much, Jennifer! Jen is a regular contributor here at Shoot It With Film, and you can check out her other articles here, such as 5 Tips to Get Out of a Creative Rut and Olympus OM-1 35mm Film Camera Review. You can also check out more of Jennifer’s work on her website and Instagram.

Leave your questions about developing color film in b&w chemicals below in the comments!

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Jennifer Stamps

Jennifer Stamps is a toy camera and travel film photographer and a regular contributor for Shoot It With Film. Find her other articles here, such as Olympus OM-1 35mm Film Camera Review and 5 Film Cameras Under $50.

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Blog Comments

I really enjoyed your article. I’ve tried developing a few rolls of expired Fujifilm Pro 400 that I had in the frig. I used Cinestill DF96 Monobath. Didn’t have very good results, the negatives are very dense, not transparent, but there are images on the film. The only way I was able to get anything out of the them was to scan them as photos rather than negatives. They also look very dirty, lots of black specks.

Hi Don! Glad you were able to scan them as photos, at least. Expired film can be so fun to experiment with, but also so unpredictable.

Interesting article, thanks. I wonder what would happen if you developed the color film in a b&w developer, but then used bleach and fixer like in the normal C41 process? Would you get a color image? I want to do stand development of C41 at room temp, which rodinal is best for.

When you use the term “hot” how hot do you make your chemistry?

Great question, Rick. For better or worse, I didn’t measure my temperature (bad, scientist – I know!). But I just used hot tap water – not as hot as 105 degrees that color is usually developed at with color chemicals. But if I had to make an educated guess, I’d say developing color with b/w chemicals at the same temp as you normally would with color chemicals is probably your best bet.

Do not waste you time. Get some Fomapan film and you will be happy.

I’m an old timer
When color film came out in about 1950 it was developed at normal room temperature water
Was this something new developing hot ?
When I was young I worked for Eastman Kodak Company at one of their local stores in their dark room but we did not have any thing to do with color film.

Hi Gerald! Developing color film in hot water seems to lead to less color shifts and more consistent results, but I’m not sure when that practice become standard. Or if changes in the developing chemicals led to the film needing to be developed in hot water. Here’s an interesting read with a comparison of developing in hot vs room temp that you might enjoy: https://emulsive.org/articles/darkroom/developing-color-negative-film-at-room-temperature-the-best-option-that-nobody-uses

I also developed Kodak Gold 200 in caffenol and I was very happy

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