Anybody here doing your own E-6? I'm thinking of using either the Kodak or Tetenal 5L 6-bath, leaning towards the big K simply because I've never used anyone else's chemicals. Any opinions?

Thanks,

-- Jeff Stuart (jstuart1@tampabay.rr.com), November 04, 2001

Answers

Jeff:

I did E-6 years ago, along with E-4. It is nothing more than a series of steps to follow. Of critical importance is temperature stability. A water bath to maintain all of the chemicals at the same temperature is very important. Of similar importance is a place to dry the film in a dust free environment.

Good luck

Mark J.

-- Mark A. Johnson (logic@gci.net), November 04, 2001.

It's also important to do a final rinse or two with distilled water, to avoid the drying marks that can be left by hard water residue. If you do this, there's no need for a squeegee.

-- Ray Moth (ray_moth@yahoo.com), November 04, 2001.

It's been about 10 years since I've processed E-6 film. I did use the Tetenal chemistry. It was easier to run small batches. You can mix up a batch to run as few as 2 rolls of film. I strongly agree with the above posts. Temperature is very critical to insuring proper color. I recomend running a test strip before running any film you value. I've got 6 rolls of Velvia taken on a horse backpaking trip in the Wilmore Wilderness Park in Alberta that have a heavy green cast because I trusted the thermostat on my Jobo rather than use a good thermometer. I ran test strips ever since. If you take Ray's advice you won't have to worry about drying marks or the enevitable scratches that you get from using a film squeege. Regards

-- Steve Belden (otterpond@tds.net), November 05, 2001.

Thanks for the advice guys. I’m shopping for a Jobo CPE or CPA. I hear you about measuring the solution temps directly though. I have an old color thermometer in a box here somewhere....

I plan to use distilled water to mix all the working solutions. I can’t find the Tetenal instructions, but Jobo & Kodak both imply the final rinse contains a stabilizer and wetting agent and no further washing is required. But if I do use another water wash it will be distilled water too. I definitely don’t want to use a wiper or squeegee, never needed one for B&W.

Steve, taking care not to contaminate the concentrates and keeping air out of them as much as possible, how long did the unmixed Tetenal concentrates last?

I appreciate your advice. Thanks again,

-- Jeff Stuart (jstuart1@tampabay.rr.com), November 05, 2001.

Jeff,

If my memory serves me correctly it will last at least 60 days. As you pointed out it is important to keep any air out. I used to fill the open bottles with glass marbles to keep the fluid level at the top. By the way, I still use a Jobo CPE that I bought almost 20 years ago. It gets used every week and has never given me any problems. I mostly use it for processing B&W film and the occasional Ilforchrome print. Out of curiosity, why do you want to process your own E-6?

Regards

-- Steve Belden (otterpond@tds.net), November 06, 2001.

Steve,

Thanks again for your reply. I decided to start developing my own E6 because I have been through three local “pro” labs (two Q-star) which are all, in one way or another, unsatisfactory. I was getting along pretty well with Fuji Arizona and Kodak New Jersey mailers, but I’m concerned with all the radiation abuse the film might get. Besides, mailers take 3 weeks. no push processing, and you know sooner or later some rolls will go missing.

To top it off, I’m a (amateur) geek who used to do all my own film processing and I’m thinking I’ll probably enjoy it. And I miss shooting real B&W.

The E6 process seems tolerant (plus/minus .5 degree C), I plan to use the chemicals one-shot, I’m patient, so I expect I can manage it. We’ll see, ey?

My main concern has been the shelf life of the concentrates after they’re open. Marbles are a good idea. I was conjuring up this helium apparatus with check values and, well nevermind.

I’m excited. I guess the bottom line is I expect this to be fun. To each his own.

Thanks again for your thoughts,

-- Jeff Stuart (jstuart1@tampabay.rr.com), November 06, 2001.