B&W Prints: Disaster!

[adamothirteen]

Was wondering if I could get help/advice from seasoned photographers who've worked with loads of Black & White film.

Here's the situation. I shot a roll of Lucky ASA 100 B&W film. Sent it for processing. Uncle said they could only process it with C-41 and thus the images will have a slight monochrome (not pure B&W) colour to it. I said okay since that's the best they can do and I'm in a rush to see the results since its my first B&W roll.

I came back. He showed me the negatives. And its CLEAR. You can see through it. How come???

What i could think of.
1) B&W cannot be processed with C-41.
2) They can be. BUT only certain B&W film.

Do advice. Thanks in advance!

 

[hongsien]

Blame it on the uncle........sorry, but sometimes you need to learn the hard way: black and white film can not be processed in C-41 chemicals.

He may have thought you were using those films that CAN be developed in C-41 but it should be written on the roll itself. I think Lucky film is not a C-41 film?? Not a so Lucky film after all........Hope you had no important images on it?

Hong Sien

 

[SniperD]

1) B&W films are b&W films and can only be developed with proper B&W film developing solutions. C41 is more for color films. If you want C41 developable B&W film, try Kodak's.

2) Try going to FEE FEE or Ruby if you want to develop your B&W films. If not, you can learn developing them yourself which makes it all the more fun.

 

[wahgongzai]

you can learn developing them yourself which makes it all the more fun.

Yap, its lot of fun if you can develop it yourself. Try once during a photography lesson in 2002. The part whereby you need to extract the negative from the roll in total pitch dark environment is exciting.

But getting a dark room with proper equipment is another issue...

 

[adamothirteen]

Thanks all! I feel more powerful now. Gonna get another roll soon and make sure i do it right this time!

Thanks again!

 

[iggy]

Thanks all! I feel more powerful now. Gonna get another roll soon and make sure i do it right this time!

Thanks again!

Sorry to hear about your film. It's quite likely that the Uncle made a mistake by thinking that your roll was a C-41 "friendly" B&W film that builds an image using dye (rather than silver).

However, do note that traditional B&W films CAN be developed in a C-41 developer. Just don't look forward to the results.

Your clear film is probably a result of the bleach fixing in the C-41 process.