SFW-XL Seattle Film Works film processing

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djs - 14 Feb 2006 01:55 GMT

I hate to admit it, but I founds four rolls of exposed film with
Process: SFW-SL on the canister. Where does a person send these to get
them developed? I searched several photograph news groups but there is
very little information that isn't over 6 years old.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Some advice that I find says the film is old movie film. Others have
stated that it is C-41.
The local labs won't touch it. What is a person to do to get these
rolls developed?

Thanks in advance,
djs

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Lawrence Akutagawa - 14 Feb 2006 02:07 GMT

That Seattle filmworks film is indeed commercial movie film. As I recall,
it has a nondissolving anti-halation layer that comes off and messes up the
processing line of equipment not designed to process it. That's the reason
why local labs won't touch it. I would think that your best bet would be
someone that processes commercial movie film - DeLuxe? Technicolor?
Problem would be that such concerns probably don't want to bother with just
a 5 foot or so long piece of film...but you never know.....

>I hate to admit it, but I founds four rolls of exposed film with
> Process: SFW-SL on the canister. Where does a person send these to get
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> Thanks in advance,
> djs

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Bernie - 14 Feb 2006 04:51 GMT

Seattle Film Works used to repackage left over movie film and sell it cheap.
This was for process ECN-2 (Eastman Color Negative) and had a rem jet
carbonized antihalation coating on the base side of the film.

The first step in ECN-2 is an alkaline bath to soften this coating, and
rotary buffers and water spray to remove it before the film entered the
developer. The actual development process is a little different from C-41,
but if you manually remove the rem jet backing so it doesn't fowl the
processor, you can get good results developing in C-41.
About 8-10 years ago, SFW stopped using motion picture film and began using
a private brand C-41 film from Agfa. I'm surprised the film cassette doesn't
state Process C-41 or ECN-2 instread of SFW-SL.

The easiest way to determine which film you have is to retrive the leader
from a cassette, cut off an inch or two of the tongue, and soak it in warm
water for a few minutes. If a black particulate coating comes of the base
side, it is motion picture film and you will have trouble finding someone
who processes and prints that. If there are just some colored dyes which
wash off, it is C-41 film and your local minilab can process it.

>I hate to admit it, but I founds four rolls of exposed film with
> Process: SFW-SL on the canister. Where does a person send these to get
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> Thanks in advance,
> djs

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Richard Knoppow - 15 Feb 2006 00:44 GMT

> Seattle Film Works used to repackage left over movie film
> and sell it cheap. This was for process ECN-2 (Eastman
[quoted text clipped - 40 lines]
>> Thanks in advance,
>> djs

You can tell if its motion picture negative from the
perforations. Motion picture negative film (camera film) has
Bell & Howell perforations that look like this:
__
(__)

Both negative and slide film for still cameras have Kodak
Standard perforations that look like this:
__

|__|

Signature

---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@ix.netcom.com

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djs - 15 Feb 2006 10:27 GMT

Thanks for the info. I found a local lab that said they can handle it.
They send it out somwhere, but they said it takes four weeks. I will
let you all know how it works out. Thanks for the info.
djs

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Rod Smith - 15 Feb 2006 23:42 GMT

> About 8-10 years ago, SFW stopped using motion picture film and began using
> a private brand C-41 film from Agfa. I'm surprised the film cassette doesn't
> state Process C-41 or ECN-2 instread of SFW-SL.

I think it was more like 10-13 years ago that they stopped using the ECN-2
films. I'm pretty sure of this because I noticed the change at about the
time I started a postdoc, which was in 1994. I *THINK*, but I'm not 100%
positive, that the "SFW-XL" films were C-41; their using that unusual
process type was just a way to keep customers "locked in" to their
service. If customers *THOUGHT* that they couldn't have the film processed
elsewhere, they wouldn't try, and the mainstream photofinishers wouldn't
touch it because they wouldn't know what it was. Note that I'm not 100%
positive that SFW-XL was really C-41, though; it's possible they changed
the process type label while still using ECN-2 films (probably to keep
people from sending films to Dale Labs or others who'd process ECN-2
films) and then switched to C-41 films later. My memory of the sequence is
simply a bit foggy.

> If a black particulate coating comes of the base
> side, it is motion picture film and you will have trouble finding someone
> who processes and prints that.

If it's really ECN-2, check with Rocky Mountain Film Lab
(http://www.rockymountainfilm.com). They do ECN-2 processing, but it's
slow and costly -- $25.85 per roll plus $4.00 per order, with a turnaround
time of 2-6 *MONTHS*. Note that I've never used their services; I just
know what I've read on their Web site and from people who've posted about
them.

Alternatively, if you're set up for it, you could try processing it
yourself in C-41 chemistry. I've seen conflicting stories about how much
of a problem the rem-jet layer is, and since I've never tried this myself,
I can't speak from experience. At best, you'll get something that'll be
pretty close to normal. Given that the film is probably about a decade
old, you're unlikely to get perfect color balance anyhow.

Signature

Rod Smith, rodsmith@rodsbooks.com
http://www.rodsbooks.com
Author of books on Linux, FreeBSD, and networking

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Peter Irwin - 16 Feb 2006 00:09 GMT

> If it's really ECN-2, check with Rocky Mountain Film Lab
> (http://www.rockymountainfilm.com). They do ECN-2 processing, but it's
> slow and costly -- $25.85 per roll plus $4.00 per order, with a turnaround
> time of 2-6 *MONTHS*. Note that I've never used their services; I just
> know what I've read on their Web site and from people who've posted about
> them.

That's pretty expensive. The Camera Shop <http://www.thecamerashop.com>
lists their price as $9.95 for 24 exposures and $13.99 for 36 exposures
develop and print on 4x6 paper.

I understand that Dale Labs may still offer the service at their
normal price, but they don't mention it on their website any more.

I have not used either of these.

Peter.

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pirwin@ktb.net

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Mike King - 19 Feb 2006 14:07 GMT

I just browsed the site and say nothing but black and white and C-41,
nothing about ECN-2

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darkroommike

> >
> > If it's really ECN-2, check with Rocky Mountain Film Lab
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>
> Peter.

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Peter Irwin - 19 Feb 2006 14:39 GMT

> I just browsed the site and say nothing but black and white and C-41,
> nothing about ECN-2

Sure they do. Google finds it easily:
<http://www.google.ca/search?q=site%3Awww.thecamerashop.com+ECN>

Peter.

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pirwin@ktb.net

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Mike King - 19 Feb 2006 14:03 GMT

If it were MY one-hour lab I'd still tell you to go elsewhere, my
experiences are that all bulk loaded films are suspect and that color
balance is also a big issue with the weird stuff. Mini-labs are production
driven not custom labs. You need custom work? Take it to a custom lab,
you'll be much more satisfied with the results.

Signature

darkroommike (who had to clean gunk out of his C-41 machine one too many
times)

> Seattle Film Works used to repackage left over movie film and sell it cheap.
> This was for process ECN-2 (Eastman Color Negative) and had a rem jet
[quoted text clipped - 29 lines]
> > Thanks in advance,
> > djs

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