26 year old Ektachrome fading!

StorminMatt · Apr 28, 2009

I recall going to a store 26 years ago to buy slide fiom because I was going to the beach. And I remember the salesperson telling me how much better Ektachrome is than Kodachrome. So, not knowing any better I bought a roll. Now I am paying the price, it would seem. I haven't actually looked at these slides for a few years. But when I looked at them just the other day, I could not help but notice that they are going bye-bye. Blue sky is already starting to turn magenta. All of this makes me wonder about one thing: Just how archival is modern E6? Kodak says nothing, but Fuji says that processed film to be stored over 20 years with minimal color change should be stored in a climate controlled environment at below 10C (50F) and between 30%-50% humidity. Does this mean that room temperature stabilty of modern E6 is no better than 26 years ago? Are the shots that I took recently with E6 NOT going to survive to my golden years?

glaiben · Apr 28, 2009

Sorry to hear your Ektachromes are fading. My dark-stored Ektachromes from 1974 (and subsequent years) are aging quite well without significant color shifts. They have never received any special storage treatment other than a box in a midwest closet with typical humidity and temp fluctuations of the area.

nickandre · Apr 28, 2009

As I recall the stability vastly increased at about 1983 when new couplers were introduced. If you can, I would make dupes onto modern E6 film or at least get them scanned. Modern color emulsions are very stable, supposedly 150 yrs in the dark or something ridiculous like that.

PHOTOTONE · Apr 28, 2009

My Ektachromes from the late 1960's to now are just fine. Of course I have always processed them myself. The 1960's and up to late mid-70's were E-4 process.

panastasia · Apr 29, 2009

PHOTOTONE said:
My Ektachromes from the late 1960's to now are just fine. Of course I have always processed them myself. The 1960's and up to late mid-70's were E-4 process.

That's interesting. I noticed that all the color materials I processed myself look better than those process elsewhere, in most cases, and some are beyond repair even when scanned and run through PS. It's only a matter of time before they're all junk, IMHO (50 years maybe). What's strange is that it's such a mixed bag. I no longer process color film for that reason. Another reason is that I can't print on FB paper in color, only on that plastic crap, also called paper for some reason.

Heinz_Anderle · Apr 29, 2009

Several Ektachrome 64 and 400 slides from about 1980 appeared still unchanged, when I recently examined some family treasures.

Poor processing (insufficient rinse) or the simplified three-bath processing instead of the standard six-bath E-6 process appear however to reduce the dark fading stability of E-6 slide films, as shown by Henry Wilhelm.

PHOTOTONE · Apr 29, 2009

I have always used Kodak chemistry to process my slides, and I always used the stabilizer or final rinse, and all my commercial transparencies, from the 1970's, and personal 35mm work is just fine. My personal slides have not been stored ideally either, some spending time in slide trays in my attic, but now they all reside in my studio, but not in archival sleeves or anything.

Poisson Du Jour · Apr 29, 2009

How do you store your transparencies?
My 20 year old Kodachrome slides are in beaut nick: plastic sleeves in folders in turn in a sealed art box, aired occasionally if only for nostalgia (i.e. "we look young in those days...!").

I used Ektachrome very briefly. My recollection of the time is that I didn't like the palette compared to Kodachrome; it seemed too blue. After Kodachrome I switched to Velvia and what you are told by Fuji relating to archival stability is true: my first shots are still beautiful to look at from May 1996.

benjiboy · Apr 29, 2009

I've been looking recently at some colour slides and prints recently I shot around twenty years ago, and notice that the ones that were processed at a professional lab seem to have lasted a lot better than the others.

Ektagraphic · Apr 29, 2009

Sorry. I am not that suprised. Ektachrome has improved it image stability 100% since then.

Ian Grant · Apr 29, 2009

My fathers Kodachromes from the 60's have faded appreciably, they have been stored in the dark, my Ektachromes from the early 70's are fine, no noticeable fading, same goes for some Ferrania slides I shot &processed around 69/70. However commercial Ferrania slides (the type sold to tourists like postcards) my parents bought in the Summer of 54 have faded very badly indeed.

Ian

nicefor88 · May 1, 2009

Like several members said earlier, the quality of processing does make a difference. Storage does not seem to affect fading or dye loss. Your sky turning magenta just indicates the cyan said goodbye.
I have always shot with Kodachrome 64 and rejected Ektachrome which had a poor reputation of giving cold, blue-like colors.
My last slides, dating back from 1991 are fine even though I kept them in a simple closet when living in tropical Asia (a stupid thing to do, I thought afterwards), but they resisted both high humidity and occasional air conditionning.

Prest_400 · May 2, 2009

I guess the processing the lab did has a big influence in the archival proprieties of the slides.
The Agfachromes my father shot back in the 70s/80s are perfect, very few seem to have light fading. I think that the dark drawer in mountain climate must have helped a bit. The room where the slides are is like a refrigerator most of the year; Nice place for storing film.

Pupfish · May 3, 2009

Some paper mounted Kodak processed 200 ASA Ektachromes that I shot in about 1978 and promptly sleeved in "protector" pages (PVC), but which accidentally got stored in high heat had some sort of chemical bleed within a few years. Because of this I steadfastly shot only K25 and K64, nearly exclusively up until Velvia 50 in 1990. All my Velvia still looks great from then.

26 year old Ektachrome fading!

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