Cross-processing in ORWO C-5168

Let’s explore color negative developing kit ORWO C-5168 and how it behaves on a concert with different emulsions, most of them not designed for such a duo.

I was planning for some time to cross process various films in old recipes and the darkroom gods smiled down upon me this January. In my quest for unseen results I engaged the following emulsions:

Svema DS-5M
Svema LN-9
Fuji Superi 100
Kodak 5247 cine color negative film
Fuji Eterna 500T cine color negative film
Fuji Reala 500D cine color negative film
ORWO UT-21

ORWO C-5168 is an old color negative developing process that was created to give birth to colorful images from old ORWO (and the like) materials. This process uses the following baths:

Color developer C-14
Stop bath C-37
Bleach C-55
Fixer C-71

(Steps, times, temperature and recipes for C-5168 I have posted here)

In most cases people would be looking for easier ways to develop old materials and normally efforts are spent to find how to get good results with C-41 or E-6. These two processes use higher temperatures and much shorter times, mainly due to improved emulsions’ structures and more aggressive developing agents.

Color developer C-14 is using an old color developing agent, CD1, known also as N,N-diethyl p-phenylenediamine sulfate. It is being used in the past as a color developer for ORWO NC and Svema color negative films, so then Svema may be said to be developed in close to their native chemicals and not cross processed. However, Svema CND process uses slightly different steps (on this process please see here).

Such old materials normally come with some foggy edges. To avoid this as much as possible I have added 0.03 g of benzotriazole to 1 l of C-14.

To compensate for the less aggressive developer I overexposed some of the materials up to 3 stops and increased development times and agitation.

So let’s have a look at the results.

Film: Svema DS-5M

Shot as: ISO 12
Color developer: time: 10 min; temp: 24°

This film is color balanced for daylight. I have tested another few rolls of it in its Russian CND process and the results you may find here.

I was surprised by the level of grain I got here.

Film: Svema LN-9

Shot as: ISO 25 + yellow filter
Color developer: time 12 min: temp: 24°

Another old friend, also tested in CND process (results here). As this film is balanced for tungsten light I used an yellow filter to warm up the colors.

Film: Fuji Superia 100

Shot as: ISO 25
Color developer: time: 10 min; temp: 25°

This is a well known film, easily available in the past from any drug store. I like its colors when shot as ISO 100 and developed in C-41.

Film: Kodak cine film 5247

Shot as: ISO 25 + yellow filter
Color developer: time: 10 min; temp: 24°

Another emulsion tested in the past in C-41. Its original process is ECN-2. My results in C-41 are here.

Results in ORWO C 5168 follow:

The foggy spots on the upper left side of the image are due to rem jet not being washed out.

Film: cine film Fuji Eterna 500T

Shot as: ISO 1000
Color developer: time: 15 min; temp: 24°

Tungsten balanced film, designed for ECN-2 development process.

I was planning to use this roll for another test and that’s why it was shot as ISO 1000. Hence, it went bathing in C-5168. The level of grain is probably due to underexposed negatives auto-corrected by my scanner.

Film: cine film Fuji Reala 500D

Shot as: ISO 1000
Color developer: time: 12 min; temp: 24°

I have developed this film before, here is a brief article on how things went back then.

Underexposed, obviously. For such a test I would expose it now as ISO 25 – 50.

Then I developed another roll of this film only to found that it has been already shot (I guess at ISO 250). Second exposure was at ISO 25.

All cine films above have rem jet. I removed this layer by simply soaking the films in a bath of 20 grams of soda in 1 L of water. Just left the film in it for 20 minutes with aggressive agitation. Rem jet was not totally washed out, just soften and did not pollute my chemicals.

Film: ORWO UT-21

Shot as: ISO 12
Color developer: time: 10 min; temp: 24°

This is a color reversal film. Its original development process is ORWO Chrom C-9165. I have shared my experience with this type of film in another article, please see here.