ADOX C-TEC E-6 3-bath kit now listed at FotoImpex!

[ADOX Fotoimpex]

We have invested into a new bottling machine and have higher capacities now. It is still thinkable to make a 500ml kit in 100ml conc. bottles. We would need to invest in cardboard boxes and the respective cutting die. If the 500ml kit was sold at 70% of the price of the 1.000ml kit who would be in?
We are taking votes here: https://fotolaborforum.fotoimpex.de/d/3315-c-tec-e-6

 

[paddycook]

We have invested into a new bottling machine and have higher capacities now. It is still thinkable to make a 500ml kit in 100ml conc. bottles. We would need to invest in cardboard boxes and the respective cutting die. If the 500ml kit was sold at 70% of the price of the 1.000ml kit who would be in?

How about selling a 2.5 or 5 liter kit in the US?

 

[ChrisGalway]

I would buy one 500ml kit for every 1,000ml one. Sometimes I only have a few films to process, but other times I have enough films for the larger kit. I don't like keeping the half-used 1,000ml concentrates for more than 4-5 weeks, even if you claim longer lifetime (up to 12/24 weeks). So having a small 500ml kit on hand would be good and 70% of the price is OK.

But I'm a sample of one person!!!

 

[ant!]

Even though I am rarely shooting E6 and never developed it by myself yet: The large packaging sizes makes most kits for my less interesting instead of giving my few rolls just to a lab. So yes, for me, even though I would not buy it all the time, a 50% sized kit for 70% price sounds definitely interesting!

 

[ADOX Fotoimpex]

How about selling a 2.5 or 5 liter kit in the US?

Thats the oppopsite way of my question
I think pros or semi pros will choose a 6 bath kit.

 

[Richard Lawson]

I would definitely be interested in a 500ml kit. It took a while to get 10 films finished to be worth ordering the 1litre version I purchased from you last Wednesday.

 

[mshchem]

Thats the oppopsite way of my question
I think pros or semi pros will choose a 6 bath kit.

I will continue with the 1L kit. I have always had great results with the Tetenal 3 bath kit.

 

[mshchem]

I bought a 3 bath Adox kit from Freestyle a couple months back production date was about 15 months prior to my receiving. I never had any problems with factory sealed Tetenal 3 bath kits. Shouldn't Adox be similar to the Tetenal, if not identical?

 

[ChrisGalway]

I bought a 3 bath Adox kit from Freestyle a couple months back production date was about 15 months prior to my receiving. I never had any problems with factory sealed Tetenal 3 bath kits. Shouldn't Adox be similar to the Tetenal, if not identical?

I've never had a problem either with the lifetime of the factory-sealed kits.

The "problem" is that I make up 500ml of working solution (from the 1 litre kit), leaving half-empty stock bottles. Even though I use Protectan or similar, I do not like keeping them more than 4-5 weeks, despite the fact that Adox (and Tetenal before them) gave a lifetime of 12/24 weeks for these half-empty solutions/concentrates.

That's why a 500ml kit is attractive to me for smaller film batches.

 

[ADOX Fotoimpex]

I bought a 3 bath Adox kit from Freestyle a couple months back production date was about 15 months prior to my receiving. I never had any problems with factory sealed Tetenal 3 bath kits. Shouldn't Adox be similar to the Tetenal, if not identical?

If the Tetenal kit worked for your ours will as well.

 

[mshchem]

How about 2 L kit with 4×500mL 1st and color developer and 2x1L Blix ? I might be the only one in the world who would buy. Being able to buy 4x500mL of the developers separately would be cool even if you would throw the small bottles in a plain carton with a label/seal.

 

[ADOX Fotoimpex]

If you want the 500ml kit you need to vote here: https://fotolaborforum.fotoimpex.de/d/3315-c-tec-e-6-fuer-500ml
I will try to manually count the replies here but oh boy....

 

[mshchem]

I've never had a problem either with the lifetime of the factory-sealed kits.

The "problem" is that I make up 500ml of working solution (from the 1 litre kit), leaving half-empty stock bottles. Even though I use Protectan or similar, I do not like keeping them more than 4-5 weeks, despite the fact that Adox (and Tetenal before them) gave a lifetime of 12/24 weeks for these half-empty solutions/concentrates.

That's why a 500ml kit is attractive to me for smaller film batches.

I shouldn't admit this but I divided the old Tetenal 5L kits, under inert gas, in properly sized bottles this lasted me for years.

 

[ADOX Fotoimpex]

I shouldn't admit this but I divided the old Tetenal 5L kits, under inert gas, in properly sized bottles this lasted me for years.

But it does. OK I harden my quote: It depends on the oxygen let into the bottle with each opening ;-)
I wrote a white paper on this years ago here: https://www.adox.de/haltbarkeit-von-entwicklerkonzentraten/
My wife Lina deleted the cross references to englisch- so you have to read it in German

 

[lamerko]

Have you ever considered selling the components of the E-6 kit separately? They wouldn't even need to come in cardboard boxes. I also have another suggestion - in the one-liter kit, the two developers could be split into two separate 500 ml sets. This would give customers much more peace of mind regarding storage life. Fuji do something similar with their lab chemistry, and I really appreciate that.

 

[Prest_400]

Genuinely curious how E6 is doing nowadays so please share insights you get from the industry! Definitely set up and funnel voting in that site rather than counting us here.

I've got to do a batch, probably shared with some other photographers, so 1L works quite well. Tenetal kit worked very well a few years ago; this next time am undecided if 3 or 6 bath, but the latter is more "complete"... With the very expensive prices of E6 and limited availability (Fuji looking at you) it feels quite an event to do E6. Ironically enough, last time I did something wrong with the 6 bath which I suspect was not warming well the tank so the slides were slightly "off"; thus the simplicity of 3 bath might be better.

I've observed many labs just run E6 in batches using Jobos, so it's not that far off what one can do home.

 

[Samu]

We have invested into a new bottling machine and have higher capacities now. It is still thinkable to make a 500ml kit in 100ml conc. bottles. We would need to invest in cardboard boxes and the respective cutting die. If the 500ml kit was sold at 70% of the price of the 1.000ml kit who would be in?
We are taking votes here: https://fotolaborforum.fotoimpex.de/d/3315-c-tec-e-6

Not interested.
The problem with kits meant for general public are too small sizes, and therefore very large costs per roll, often with compromised processes aimed for "easy use". No 3 bath kit produces the same quality in E6 you will get with properly done standard 6 step process. Also, the claims manufacturers make about chemistry being fine for many reuses without replenishing are simply not true.

 

[YoIaMoNwater]

Have you ever considered selling the components of the E-6 kit separately? They wouldn't even need to come in cardboard boxes. I also have another suggestion - in the one-liter kit, the two developers could be split into two separate 500 ml sets. This would give customers much more peace of mind regarding storage life. Fuji do something similar with their lab chemistry, and I really appreciate that.

+1 on this! I would love just to be able to get the First Developer and Color Developer by themselves as the rest components last bit longer.

 

[richyd]

Have you ever considered selling the components of the E-6 kit separately? They wouldn't even need to come in cardboard boxes. I also have another suggestion - in the one-liter kit, the two developers could be split into two separate 500 ml sets. This would give customers much more peace of mind regarding storage life. Fuji do something similar with their lab chemistry, and I really appreciate that.

And me too +1. I have accidentally disposed of both FD and CD a few times after a run meaning to keep it. One time I was able to get some Cinestill FD and used that, it was OK. The other issue is the tendency for Blix part2, the fixer, which tends to sulphur out, unopened or opened, so I started to make it into a separate bleach and use a neutral fixer according to the instructions by Rudeofus in Resources.

I have found the whole kit lasts a surprisingly long time if gas is used, both mixed and part unused. I use now mostly for sheet film and for peace of mind a 500ml kit would work well using it straight. I have had great results for the old Tetenal and the current Adox kit.

 

[ADOX Fotoimpex]

Have you ever considered selling the components of the E-6 kit separately? They wouldn't even need to come in cardboard boxes. I also have another suggestion - in the one-liter kit, the two developers could be split into two separate 500 ml sets. This would give customers much more peace of mind regarding storage life. Fuji do something similar with their lab chemistry, and I really appreciate that.

Selling the components separately is actually doable. I will consider this on the next production run. If they don´t sell within a months we can still make kits out of them. Splitting the developer in two bottles is a whiole different story. This mens extra solutions, extra bottles extra machine setup time. This cannot be done without increasing the price so I think your other proposal is more realistic.

 

[YoIaMoNwater]

Selling the components separately is actually doable. I will consider this on the next production run. If they don´t sell within a months we can still make kits out of them. Splitting the developer in two bottles is a whiole different story. This mens extra solutions, extra bottles extra machine setup time. This cannot be done without increasing the price so I think your other proposal is more realistic.

If you had to estimate, what price would you put for the FD and CD separately?

 

[dmtnkl]

I have written previously a few times about the necessity of kits that are smaller than 1L. I would buy a 500ml kit without thinking too much. In fact, it is the product that i need the most over the last couple of years.

- I started with the small Tetenal 250ml kit that was offered a few years ago. At the time it was perfect because it allowed me to get into E6 development without having to juggle large quantities of chemistry. The price was a bit steep however, and one couldn't do medium format with it. As time went by, the kit disappeared from the market.

- I then tried 2.5L Tetenal kits that i split up in smaller bottles with glass marbles, filled to the rim. For a while it worked well but as time went on, free time became more scarce and i was shooting less. In the end, it was somewhat of a hassle managing the chemistry.

- I currently use the Adox 1L kit and develop once a year, usually after summer holiday when i shoot more. I buy the kit and then develop all 12-14 rolls successively within a week. In this way i do not have to worry if the chemistry is working.

The 500ml kit would be the best balance. I would be more motivated to shoot and develop 5-6 rolls more often, than having to wait and combine them with the rolls from holidays and then develop everything with the bigger kit. I also think it would be more effective into getting more people into home E6 development, as the process is very easy and managing the chemistry quantities for low volume shooters is the biggest complication.