1960's Ektachrome-X

[wrench]

Hi all,
I recently found an Argus C3 at a thrift store, and to my delight inside it was an old roll of Kodak Ektrachrome-X dating from the 60's as far as I can tell. It says "process E-2 or E-4" on the canister. I really want to process it, but I'm not quite sure what to do. I know there's a place in Colorado that does it, but I don't have $50 kicking around "just to see."

I've heard that you can process color film with black and white chemistry, but I'm not too sure about this, so if it's possible please let me know, and also how to do it. I have access to D-76, Rodinal, and also the standard stop/fix/hypo stuff.

I also have a seemingly very old E-4 kit. Obviously, this would be the first choice, but I've heard so many nasty things about E-4 chemistry and I would really prefer not to contaminate my entire darkroom. Also, since the chemistry is so old, I have my doubts about whether or not it's even still good anymore.

So, if anyone has any suggestions on what to do, I'm all ears. Perhaps a color/b+w chemistry combo? I'm pretty clueless about color processing so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a bunch.

-Laura

 

[John Shriver]

Say 9 to 11 minutes in D-76. You'll get something scannable, if not optically printable.

 

[mts]

Processing as B&W you'll likely have very high fog/high Dmin. Likely you'll get nothing useful processing as color because the latent image properties are quite poor in this old film. The old E4 chemistry isn't worth keeping in my opinion, at least the developers are not. The bleach and fixer aren't particularly useful with any current films either.

 

[wrench]

Do you think it's possible to develop w/D-76 and use the bleach from the E-4 kit to clear the base a little?

 

[mts]

If you develop the latent image and then bleach it, you convert the silver back to halide and it will disappear (along with unexposed grains) in the fixer!

 

[panchro-press]

If you can find some E4 chemicals; I'd say, 'Go for it!'. I found several boxes of 8X10 E3 Ektachrome a few years ago and a box of E3 chemicals. My friend and I made photographs and processed it. The results were surprisingly good. Shift in color, of course, but not so bad that the images were unusable.
Processing was a real work out. Reversal had to be done with a re-exposure to a flood lamp.

 

[wrench]

If you develop the latent image and then bleach it, you convert the silver back to halide and it will disappear (along with unexposed grains) in the fixer!

oh dear! that is certainly not the result I was hoping for.

 

[wrench]

If you can find some E4 chemicals; I'd say, 'Go for it!'. I found several boxes of 8X10 E3 Ektachrome a few years ago and a box of E3 chemicals. My friend and I made photographs and processed it. The results were surprisingly good. Shift in color, of course, but not so bad that the images were unusable.
Processing was a real work out. Reversal had to be done with a re-exposure to a flood lamp.

How do I determine if the chemistry I have is 'good'? The cans appear to be from the 60's or early 70's at best. I wouldn't mind a color shift, but I'm worried about getting an image at all if the developers wouldn't work because they're so old.