Alternatives to Tetenal Colortec E6 Kit (in Europe)?

As you know, the Tetenal Colortec E6 kits have been unavailable for some time now and I might be forced to use another kit. Does anyone have experience of the Bellini E6 kit, or the CineStill one, or any other one? I'm reluctant to change from Tetenal, since I have got used to it and it's been excellent, but if it's not available I have no choice.

I got a box of the new Jobo E6 chemistry and plan to try it soon.

I'd rather have Tetenal, as my bottle volumes are matched with it. But maybe Jobo is CR56 (as it says Made in Japan), so maybe RVP50 has real 50ISO in it, that would be a big advantage. We will see.

I used many times the Bellini kit with excellent results, I used to order it at ars-imago.

Thanks to both of you. I'll look at the Jobo kit as well. (Yes, my bottle sizes are also matched to the Tetenal kit!)

I don't have the strips anymore, but it seems to me (I haven't measured) but the proposed time according to the instructions of 6:15 seems too short.
Maybe other colleagues can share their experiences?

You could check with Brendan in Trim (thephotoshop.ie). His website says that 5 litre kits are available to order.

I have used the Bellini 5 litre kit with good results in a Jobo processor. The slight negative is that the packaging of the bleach is a 5 litre ready-to-use item, but left to rattle around in the cardboard box with the smaller components the kit is supplied in, so there is a possibility of leakage, depending on how the kit is handled.

Thanks all for replies.

Ballinderry-Michael said:

You could check with Brendan in Trim (thephotoshop.ie). His website says that 5 litre kits are available to order.

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Thanks Michael, yes, I order from ThePhotoShop but the Tetenal kit is not currently available anywhere in Europe. I've been told by Tetenal that it should be available again this summer ... fingers crossed.

I also got fed-up waiting for the Tetenal E6 kit to become available, so went with Bellini.

Mixes really easily (I used deionised water). Followed all the dev instructions, except I use a pre-rinse to warm up and flatten the film.

Shot with Ektachrome E100.

MKHardy said:

I also got fed-up waiting for the Tetenal E6 kit to become available, so went with Bellini.

Mixes really easily (I used deionised water). Followed all the dev instructions, except I use a pre-rinse to warm up and flatten the film.

Shot with Ektachrome E100.

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1st developer time? How are you processing? Jobo, hand agitation etc?? Nice looking photo

mshchem said:

1st developer time? How are you processing? Jobo, hand agitation etc?? Nice looking photo

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Developed in a Paterson Orbital. Had to float the orbital in a bath of water at 39 degrees, and used two pre-rinses at 39 degrees to warm up the film.

The big anomaly was the film curling up at the corners when transferring from the holders to the Orbital (B&W film never did this). Maybe it was the change in temperature? This led to uneven development in the corners. The fix was to agitate during pre-rinse to make sure the entire film was soaked in warm water and laid flat.

1st developer time was six minutes. Continuous agitation for first 15 seconds, and then agitate every 30 seconds.

ChrisGalway said:

As you know, the Tetenal Colortec E6 kits have been unavailable for some time now and I might be forced to use another kit. Does anyone have experience of the Bellini E6 kit, or the CineStill one, or any other one? I'm reluctant to change from Tetenal, since I have got used to it and it's been excellent, but if it's not available I have no choice.

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We have revived this Product in 2024: https://www.fotoimpex.com/chemistry/adox-c-tec-e-6-3-bath-kit-for-12-films-to-mix-1000-ml.html

Photomultiplier said:

I got a box of the new Jobo E6 chemistry and plan to try it soon.

I'd rather have Tetenal, as my bottle volumes are matched with it. But maybe Jobo is CR56 (as it says Made in Japan), so maybe RVP50 has real 50ISO in it, that would be a big advantage. We will see.

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If the JOBO E6 is as good as their C41 then it is very good. Once opened the chemicals seem to be very stable and don't 'go off' as quick as some.

ADOX Fotoimpex said:

We have revived this Product in 2024: https://www.fotoimpex.com/chemistry/adox-c-tec-e-6-3-bath-kit-for-12-films-to-mix-1000-ml.html

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That's great news!

I plan on trying this when my current chemicals expire...

ADOX Fotoimpex said:

We have revived this Product in 2024: https://www.fotoimpex.com/chemistry/adox-c-tec-e-6-3-bath-kit-for-12-films-to-mix-1000-ml.html

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Yes, I know, I've got your 1 litre E6 kit here and plan to use it in late April/early May on 5 or 6 rolls of Provia 100f (120 size) that I plan to shoot on a photo-trip to the south of France. Will provide feedback then.

I've just completed a run of processing 8 Provia 100f (7x120, 1x35mm) in the Adox 3/4 bath kit. I'm very pleased indeed with the results.

I made up 2 batches of 500ml, and processed 4 films sequentially in each 500ml, with all films processed over 5 days total in a Patterson tank. I prefer processing the films one by one, as each film is marked as normal, push 1/2 stop, push 1 stop etc, and I process them in the order I took the photos, adjusting the 1st dev time as necessary.

As with the old Tetenal 3/4 bath kit, and the Bellini 6/7 bath kit, I find that the "normal" 1st development time at "38deg" (as measured by a digital thermometer) in fresh solution is around 7mins30sec, not the recommended 6mins15sec. There could be many reasons for this, the actual temperature may be low, and my agitation scheme (12 inversions/minute) or I might be systematically under-exposing the film (I think not) ... I think others have found that the recommended 6mins15sec is too short ... perhaps it's OK in a continuous agitation immersed tanks Jobo?

The instructions say the kit is good for 12 films. I processed 8 (in the two batches of 4), and cannot detect any degradation of the colour, dynamic range etc over the 4 per 500ml batch. Possibly there is a measurable change, but I cannot detect it, and certainly any change is small compared to finding a good subject, good composition and getting the exposure right.

Thank you Adox for offering this kit.

So now I have a dilemma, as when the Tetenal kit became unavailable, I switched to the Bellini kit, which is also excellent. I'm solving my "problem" by ordering both kits from FotoImpex ... just for variety. It's great to have two excellent 1 litre kits available.

ChrisGalway said:

As with the old Tetenal 3/4 bath kit, and the Bellini 6/7 bath kit, I find that the "normal" 1st development time at "38deg" (as measured by a digital thermometer) in fresh solution is around 7mins30sec, not the recommended 6mins15sec. There could be many reasons for this, the actual temperature may be low, and my agitation scheme (12 inversions/minute) or I might be systematically under-exposing the film (I think not) ... I think others have found that the recommended 6mins15sec is too short ... perhaps it's OK in a continuous agitation immersed tanks Jobo?

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Do you pre-soak with 38C water to warm the tank up? If not it will cause an immediate drop in temperature which might lead to this result.

I've done a 3-film batch in a Paterson tank with the Adox E-6 kit, so far I'm impressed with it, but want to see its longevity.

loccdor said:

Do you pre-soak with 38C water to warm the tank up? If not it will cause an immediate drop in temperature which might lead to this result.

I've done a 3-film batch in a Paterson tank with the Adox E-6 kit, so far I'm impressed with it, but want to see its longevity.

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Yes, I pre-soak for 4-5 mins (they recommend 2mins). The water bath is around 40deg. But the tank is submerged in the water bath to a bit above halfway up, and the 12 inversions (once a minute) take around 20s, so the tank spends only 2/3 of the time in the water bath, and then it's submerged only to about halfway up. the room temperature is typically 18-22deg (winter/summer). I'm pretty sure that the 1st Dev temperature decreases from the initial value (of around 38.5deg), and that might well explain why I seem to need 7mins30sec instead of the stated 6mins15sec. I know I should do some measurements and experimentation, but I have a routine that "works".

I've processed about 150 Provia in the past 5 years using the Tetenal/Bellini and now Adox E6 kits, and I've always had to give the longer 1st Dev time for all three kits. That does not worry me: I just do exactly the same process every time, adjusting the 1st Dev time for pushing the speed (or not) and as I develop more films in the same solution.

I make 3-4 short photo trips a year around Europe, taking 5-8 rolls of (mainly, 90%) 120 film, so I use the 1 litre kit in one extended processing session over a few days. I have never kept the diluted and partly used solutions for more than 3-4 days, and rarely kept the opened half-empty stock solutions for longer than 2-3 months (using Protectan or equivalent). (I used to buy the Tetenal kit in the 2.5 litre version.) So I don't really know about the longevity and would be interested to hear your experience (later this year?).

By the way, Adox recommend an extra 2mins in the 1st Dev to push by one stop, so that gives you an idea of the tolerance on the 1st Dev time. People make a big issue of saying the 1st Dev time should be exact, but a "sloppiness" of 30sec is the equivalent of 1/4 of a stop on exposure ... hardly noticeable by most people including myself. I'm not recommending anyone be sloppy in the timing but I feel it's best to focus your energy on getting the temperature "correct", or at least the same temperature for every film you process.

My photos are medium format stereo using cameras like the Sputnik and TL-120, and the stereo transparencies are viewed in an optical viewer (like a very large ViewMaster).

MKHardy said:

I also got fed-up waiting for the Tetenal E6 kit to become available, so went with Bellini.

Mixes really easily (I used deionised water). Followed all the dev instructions, except I use a pre-rinse to warm up and flatten the film.

Shot with Ektachrome E100.

View attachment 337812

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As far as I am aware, Tetenal are no longer in business.

BMbikerider said:

As far as I am aware, Tetenal are no longer in business.

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Tetenal is kaput.

The Adox E6 C-Tec kit is rumoured to be "the same" as the Tetenal kit. It's 3-bath + stabiliser like the Tetenal one. If someone prefers the original 6 bath (+ stabiliser) process, Bellini make a great kit, as do Jobo, and there is a Kodak branded version coming soon as well.

We are spoilt for choice.

Apparently, Adox has acquired the Tetenal portfolio and is releasing their old products under their own name. Or in other words - only the box is different. I wonder if they have also acquired rights to the Tetenal brand itself...

ChrisGalway said:

I've always had to give the longer 1st Dev time for all three kits

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It's hard to track down all the places where a slight inaccuracy could change your "personal number" with slide. And good to test and arrive at your adjustment.

However my output is digitization and for most films the slides digitize well even 1 stop underexposed, with the added benefit of less chance of highlight burn.

I'll go with +30 seconds in first developer and +1 minute in other chems for each 3 film batch with this kit and see how it goes.

The ADOX 3-bath kit is essentially the same as Tetenal Colortech, but if you ask me, I would suggest using either Bellini or Jobo 6-bath chemistry if you are in Europe. These are widely available.

Samu said:

The ADOX 3-bath kit is essentially the same as Tetenal Colortech, but if you ask me, I would suggest using either Bellini or Jobo 6-bath chemistry if you are in Europe. These are widely available.

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I know, you've expressed this preference for the full 6/7 bath process before, but do you actually have any evidence that it gives "better" quality, or has other merits such as solution longevity?

I can't tell the difference between Tetenal/Adox (about 110 films) and Bellini (40 films), but that's just a subjective impression and not based on any careful comparison. I can certainly believe that the 6/7 bath process is "better" but would love to see the evidence.