Some notes from yesterday’s darkroom session

Yesterday I spent some time scanning, developing film and printing in the darkroom. While I was taking notes, I took the opportunity to re-evaluate my analog workflow. Lately I’m more and more tempted to cut reliance on external services for developing color film. As for now, when I have color film, I send them to a lab, but the rolls consistently come back scratched. It’s a recurring issue: I’ve pointed it out to them before, and their response is always that it’s Kodak’s fault. That’s hard to believe, considering when I develop Kodak black-and-white films at home (using the exact same canister, just with a different emulsion), I never encounter problems of this kind. This is seriously pushing me to consider making the leap and handling the C-41 process at home. The main issue for me is that for color film you have to be stricter with temperatures, and I’ll probably need to get some more gear, like an immersion heater to manage the water bath. Yesterday I did some “freestyle” film…