Agfacolor CNS

I showed my son some of my old cameras and films, including a 126 cassette and a roll 120 of Agfacolor CNS. He asked me if it could still be developed.
I knew that there are some labs that still do C-22 for insane prices, but what I wanted to know was if it could be done at home.
What I found in the net was a manual for mixing the chemicals an advice to develop the film as a B&W (which I had done before, getting blank negatives) and some discussions about using C-41 chemistry. The advices were very academical and controvers. Some told to harden the film before developing, some said the temperature had to be hold low to avoid damage, some told to harden the film before blix, some said the blix of C-41 would loosen the emulsion.

To make this short: I put the film (120) onto the reel, filled in my expired developer at room temperature and let it stand for one hour - no agitation! I did the same with the blix. On the film, that I had bought with a Agfa Box, I found four frames, somewhat underexposed but visible. They hang to dry now, scans will follow tomorrow.

Summary at this point: Stand developing at room temperature in the C-41 process gives useable negatives from C-22 films.

The examples show the color aberrations that can be expected from a film that was stored in the camera for 20 years and then on my shelf for another 15 years, estimated time!





7 comments:

  1. As cores dão um ar de sonho e de fantasia ás fotos, brilhante!
    deixo um convite para visitares http://tiagophotografy.blogspot.com/
    abraço

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  2. I know that the post is a bit old, but Agfa CNS goes also in ORWO 5166/5168 color process. Times are same as for ORWO NC19. Comes out fine if You add a bit more potassium bromide (KBr) to the original recipe :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you very much for these informations!

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  3. Altough considered as very toxic and unhealthy, TSS/T-22 (when it`s fresh, still can be bought as new in chemistry stores...at least in Poland) can develop everything thanks to it`s primitivity and low working temp, even C-41 negatives (altough it enchances green color, but it can be corected properly) - checked and prooved :)

    I wrote that, because I had the same problem with CNS and I looked for weeks in the internet for solution - could be useful for "those whoo seek" :)

    Cheers!

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    Replies
    1. Where exactly can you buy T-22? Do you have a link?

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  4. This film has to be processed with original Agfacolor process, not in C-41. The main developing agent is TSS (or T-22 in ORWO chemistry, or CD-1 in KODAK). TSS can be substitued with T-32 which has lesser toxicity than TSS, but colours will worse. There were some other recipes, during the years of production. You should to use correct procedure. For example, very old Agfacolor films were developed at 18°C, not at 20 or 25°C as newer one.

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  5. Ive been having a clearout in the darkroom and ive come across a box of CNS\CNS2 POWERED CHEMISTRY. has anybody tried processing C41 or E6 in it?
    Be a shame to just throw it away

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