benefits of c41 at lower temp?

[wilfbiffherb]

im into developing my own film and the rollei digibase kits i use are come with instructions for lower temps. i have always processed at 37.8 but was wondering if there are any benefits of developing at lower temps at all??

[Photo Engineer]

The results at lower temperatures can be quite inferior to those at 100F (37.8C).

PE

[Greg Davis]

I did a practical test and posted it in the thread about the Digibase chemicals using the various times and temps they give. The cooler the process, the worse the color. It got uncorrectable, even in photoshop, at 68F.

[James in GA]

I worked C41 & C41RA keep it at 100F hight or low you'll color will shift.

[Photo Engineer]

Y'all make my point! Thanks.

PE

[keithwms]

Ron, I was wondering about this the other day, how come there is no room temp c41 process? It seems possible. I realize it's probably a complicated issue of solubility, but maybe with a more aggressive solvent... it just seems that room temp c41 would be very convenient. Do you know if any serious thought was ever given to this?

And when you're done with that can you please invent a c41 monobath?

[Rudeofus]

The biggest problem I have with "room temperature" processes is that my room temperature changes between 18°C and 35°C over the year, so a true "room temperature" process will never be consistent. In my opinion it's about as tricky to keep something at 38°C as it is to keep it at 20°C, except when room temperature is reasonably close to processing temperature.

@wiffbiffherb: the biggest advantage of lower temp processing is that it is slower and therefore less likely to exhibit uneven development in home processing setups. Remember that b&w folks tell us to stay away from film&dev combos which require less than 5 minutes and bamm! C41 asks for 3:15 ... like you I have had rare problems with yellow streaks across blue sky (never happens with E6 which devs for 6+ minutes) so my next C41 will happen at 30°C. I'll report what I notice when it takes place.

[keithwms]

@wiffbiffherb: the biggest advantage of lower temp processing is that it is slower and therefore less likely to exhibit uneven development in home processing setups. Remember that b&w folks tell us to stay away from film&dev combos which require less than 5 minutes....

I am not disagreeing at all, but let me offer an interesting counterexample, just for fun. Monobath developers for b&w do their good work on the film in a minute or so, and one of the really nice things is that you can focus on agitating well for that brief period and get very good results. If I remember correctly, Haist makes the argument that monobath gives less problems with uneven development (which is why I started playing with it for larger formats). Now, that's partly because you agitate a lot for a short period and the solution is hardly ever stationary, but of course there are also technical reasons why it works so well with monobaths i.e. the way the developer quickly finishes its work and the fixing action starts right away, locally, so you can't really get overdevelopment. But in general there are more problems with uneven dev reported by people who do stand and semi-stand.... just something to think about for those working with really big negs.

[railwayman3]

I was told by an old-time lab operator, who could remember the C-22 process at "room temperature", that C-41 was far better.....you just needed a suitable stable heating system to bring the solutions up to the right temperature. Presumably, with C-22, you would have potentially needed heating, and cooling in hotter climates?

[keithwms]

Hmm. So do you remember what wasn't good about C22? I just wonder, with all the post processing that many people do now, maybe certain issues aren't as critical as they once were...