How to Self-Develop Your Colour Negatives

Many amateur photographers, just like us, are usually convinced that developing colour negatives on their own could represent a true "mission impossible".
Fortunately, kits are still available on the market allowing an easy development of colour negative film without the need of specific and expensive equipment.
Nova Darkroom produces a C-41 chemistry kit called Nova ProSpeed 41 to make 1L of developer and bleach-fix with no need of intermediate wash or stop bath. Nova ProSpeed 41 was originally thought as a press kit for the worlds leading press photographers specifically designed for occasional colour film processing. Unlike colour film chemistry designed for lab processing, Nova ProSpeed 41 is best suited for tank processing with inversion agitation and can thus be easily used with conventional b&w equipment. 1L of Nova solution can process up to 12 film rolls (35mm or 120). No replenishment is needed and the chemistry can be stocked and reused until exhaustion. When kept refrigerated the solution featured an exceptionally long shelf-life assuring consistent results even after weeks of storage.
According to our experience, the main advantage of the kit relies on the flexibility of the colour film developing temperature with respect to the canonical limit of 37-38°C degrees. Nova ProSpeed can actually being used within a wide range of temperatures (i.e. from 26 up to 43°C) making the entire process realistically more "home-friendly" without the use of cumbersome and expensive thermostatic bath developers (such as Jobo processors).
Besides, in the instruction booklet provided with the kit is reported a table comprising the developing times for each temperature including those for negative pushing and pulling (i.e. +3 to -1 respectively).
Our colour films are processed with the Nova ProSpeed 41 kit at 33°C. As stated by the producer this is the ideal temperature for the chemistry in order to produce the best results -negatives are less grainy, balanced and rich in colours-.
If you are interested in giving it a go these are some useful tips:
1) Pour the required volume of Nova developer and bleach-fix working solutions into separate plastic or glass bottles.
2) Use a water bath to warm the chemistry up until the temperature reaches 36°C (even a simple mercury thermometer would be fine for this).
3) Once ready take the bottles out from the water bath and pour the developer into the tank containing the negative.
4) Agitate continuously for the first 15" then 2 inversions every 30" (according to the instructions).
5) After 5.15' development is done and you can empty your tank and use some fresh water as stop bath. If you check the temperature of the developer now it should approximately be around 32-33°C (we initially warmed it at 36°C to take into account cooling during the process).
6) Pour the bleach-fix into the tank and agitate continuously for 3' (it depends on the temperature you are carrying out the process; 3' would be fine at 33°C).
There we go! You have now developed your first roll of colour film on your own. Wash the negative with water and have a look at the results. You would be amazed by the quality of your work!

Here there is a troubleshooting guide of common errors encountered in developing colour film. If you are not completely sure about your results, have a look at this site to find out what possibly went wrong with your film.

We have personally checked the consistency of the process by means of a densitometer. By sticking on the manufacture’s recommendations a log density of 1.20/1.25 above negative B+F (i.e. Base plus Fog) has been measured for a "Zone VIII" grey card shoot on 35mm colour film. If you are going to print your pictures on Kodak Supra Endura paper using a colour enlarger a Zone VIII value of 1.20/1.25 can ensure a rich tone gradation reproduction. Although, in case of shooting low contrast subjects the negative could result “too soft” and the use of a paper with higher contrast and colour saturation such as Kodak Ultra Endura might be necessary.
The following represents a pattern relating developing time with temperature using the Nova ProSpeed 41 kit.

Those of you that can not to be bothered with water bath and temperature control can take the "easy way" and use the mathematical equation reported on the graph to work the appropriate developing time out for any desidered temperature below 26°C (the lowest temperature value for which a developing time indication is reported on the producer instruction booklet). Nevertheless, be aware that the quality of the results would be acceptable but undeniably poorer compared to the colour reproduction delivered by higher temperatures.