Developing your own color film takes precision, patience and the right tools.
Even professional photographers rarely developed their own color film unless they needed it fast. Developing color film takes precise temperature control and can be time-consuming. However, for a hobbyist, developing color film at home can provide a creative challenge and provide the opportunity to tweak the processing in ways that a computer at the one-hour photo counter at the local department store does not.
Darkened Room
Although you no longer need the traditional darkroom to develop film, you do need a darkened room for the process of loading film into film tanks for development. You cannot have a red or orange safelight on when you load film, despite the depiction of photographers in movies and old television shows. Since at least the middle of the 20th century, film has been too light-sensitive to allow any light to hit it without ruining it. So you need a totally dark space for the beginning of your developing process. You can use a closet, because you will not need much space. But you will need to cover all the cracks around the door to prevent even the tiniest light leaks.
As an alternative, you can purchase a changing bag in which to load your film. This is a specialty plastic bag in which you place the film canister, the film reel, the film tank, a bottle opener and your hands. Once you have these things inside the bag, you can perform the operation in subdued room lighting.
Hardware
The most important piece of hardware you need to develop color film is an accurate thermometer. A thermometer made for photo developing is ideal. You need to be able to control the temperature of certain chemical baths very precisely in order to produce the best color negatives. You also will need a stainless-steel film tank and stainless-steel film reels to fit the type of film you plan to develop, 35 mm or 120/220. Stainless-steel reels are not adjustable and only come to fit one size of film. However, you can get larger film tanks that hold multiple reels inside to develop at the same time.
Next on the list, you will need brown plastic bottles to hold all of the chemicals you will mix for the process. A graduated cylinder or two and a glass stirring rod will come in handy as well. Get four developing trays, because you will need to pour the chemicals from the film tank rapidly. Trays make it easier to do this than trying to quickly pour the chemicals back into the brown bottles. A precision, photographic timer also is mandatory. A simple wind-up kitchen timer will not be accurate enough.
Chemicals
Most often, you can buy color film processing chemicals in a kit for negative or slide film. Such a kit consists of color developer, bleach, fixer and stabilizer. You will need to wash the film in water between the fixer and stabilizer, then again following the stabilizer. You can also purchase these chemicals separately, which is useful if you intend to develop a lot of color film. If you need to develop only a few rolls in the C-41 negative chemicals, a kit will suffice. A 1-liter kit will develop approximately eight rolls of 35 mm film. The added advantage of a kit for the beginner is that it will provide specific instructions about processing times and temperature.
Other Supplies
One thing many people do not initially think of when it comes to developing film is a running water supply. You will need to run water into your film tank between the fixer and stabilizer, and you will need to run water again into and out of the tank for at least 40 minutes for the final wash. For all of that time, you will need to keep the temperature relatively stable. You can use a sink or a tub as long as the water can freely enter the film tank and flow back out of it. You will need a rope or length of twine hung up where you can hang your film to dry. You also will need two film clips per roll of film. These have sharp teeth and work like clothespins. Clip them to either end of the film, then hang it on the twine to dry. The bottom clip helps weight the film down to keep it straight. If you process a lot of film, you might want to consider a film dryer for more consistent drying than open air.
Tags: will need, film tank, color film, color film, fixer stabilizer, your film