I have loads of expired C-41 film which I have been shooting in various cameras mainly to test if the cameras I buy are working ok.
I have read on the web about all the different things that can be done when processing both B&W and colour films be it cross processing or caffenol type stuff and came across developing C-41 with standard B&W chemicals.
So I loaded up my T90 with some Boots 200 film that expired back in 2008 and went out for a walk.
I shot the film at box speed and processed it in Ilfotec HC for 10 minutes agitating 4 times every minute and then standard stop/fix/wash as per my normal B&W developing.
When the negs emerged from the tank my 1st thought was that there was nothing on the film as it looked totally black but when unrolled and held up to the light I saw there was something there albeit darker than what I usually see.
Once dry the curl was horrendous and the scanning was hard work as the software could not identify the frames so I had to scan them individually but the epson software did a good job.
I was very pleased with the scans even though the sharpness was not the best which is typical of most cheap expired films they often look slightly unsharp unlike Ektar.
I did slightly increase the contrast and pull down the highlights in Lightroom as the negs were pretty flat but the look they produced reminded me of Fomapan 100 with the glowing look to the images.
I think I may shoot more C-41 and process it this way maybe varying the exposure and developing times just to see what I get, obviously I am never going to get the quality of genuine B&W film but I like the unpredictability of this experiment.
I think I will try a roll or Ektar next so then at least I know how sharp the negs should be when processed normally.
Thanks for looking…..
I have a film only blog over at https://usingfilm.wordpress.com/
if you are interested in having a peek 🙂
tim dobbs photography 
Depending on how brave you are you can dunk your freshly fixed negatives into a C41 bleach or BLIX for around 5-10 seconds to clear out the dark base and be able to make a wet print from it, obviously you should have some water near by to immediately dunk the negs in to thoroughly wash them.
Here’s a post I made about it back in 2013: https://streetlifeedinburgh.wordpress.com/2013/09/08/black-and-white-colour/
Thanks I will check it out 🙂
And again very beautiful results and interesting experiment! I have some “stock” of expired Superia and have to try this by myself !! Thank you for the info
When the negs are processed they are very dark and flat but I had a tip that if you have some c41 blix then a quick dip will clear the negs, I tried it with some expired blix I had and it worked a charm.
I have the only BW chemivals but may be i will get this blix for this procedure. Thank you for the tip !
you don’t have to blix but it does make the scanning much easier
I have a couple of rolls of cheapo C-41 that have sat on my desk for a month, waiting for me to send the off for processing. I might just crack out the Ilfotec.
Those negs don’t look too dark when held up to the light… (?)
They were pretty dark but still scanned ok but I re dipped them in some used Blix(C-41) which took off some of the orange base without effecting the image and re scanned and they were great.