A concentrate kit for developing colour negative film in the ORWO C-5168 process — enough for 4–5 rolls. Four bottles of concentrate make up 500 ml of each working solution. This is the process for older ORWO stock and Soviet colour negatives such as Svema DS and LN, which give unpredictable colour in C-41.
What is in the kit
Four bottles of concentrate packed as 50 + 50 + 50 + 50 ml in a zip-lock bag with a printed instruction sheet — the complete set of solutions for the C-5168 process, making up 500 ml of EACH bath — a full set of solutions for the stated yield. Take the stage order, times and temperatures from the instruction sheet in the kit; it is written for this kit specifically.
Which films need it
C-5168 is the native process for ORWO colour negatives and the films built to the same formulation: Svema DS and a number of other Soviet colour negatives. Cine stock (Svema LN among it) is a separate case: it carries remjet, which must be removed with a prebath before development, and this kit has none. Those emulsions are designed around a different colour developer than C-41, and in the modern process they give shifted colours and crossover that is hard to recover in a scan. If you have such a roll and want to see the colours it was designed for, this is where it belongs.
How far it goes
The kit covers 4–5 rolls, roughly 105–140 ₴ of chemistry per roll. The exact figure depends on your tank volume and whether you rotate the solutions. The figures above are for the default size; the larger kits on this page work out cheaper per roll, and the selector above recalculates both price and yield.
What else you need
A tank and reel, an accurate thermometer, measuring vessels and a water bath. Old film is almost always expired, so it helps to have some margin for a test roll: density in these emulsions is unpredictable and is found by trial. The equipment is in the darkroom and accessories sections.
Frequently asked questions
Can I develop these films in C-41?
Technically the film will develop, but the colours will be shifted. These emulsions also carry no orange mask, which is what a C-41 scanner profile assumes — so the colour curves diverge and are hard to straighten in a scan. For expired film that has already lost speed, that is a double loss. C-5168 gives the result the emulsion was made for.
The film expired 30 years ago — is it worth it?
Yes, but with no guarantees: colour emulsions degrade unevenly over time, so the typical result is a shift towards one channel and noticeable grain. A 4–5 roll kit is about right for shooting a test roll and correcting exposure on the rest.
How long do the diluted solutions last?
The shelf life is in the kit instructions. The colour developer oxidises fastest — keep it in a tightly closed container with no air space.
If you would rather not do it yourself, we develop ORWO C-5168 and Svema DS film.
