Alternatives to Tetenal Colortec E6 Kit (in Europe)?

[Samu]

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.

Main issue is the combined bleach-fix, and reusing it in the kits. The times get very long, and there have been issues with longevity of the slides, as some of these kits omit the stabilizing. Weak bleach can lead to retaining of silver. In most cases, this does not affect very much the look you will get. but I have slides processed with press kits from 1980's, that do have already problems with fading colors.
Making corrections if needed is also harder, because almost all reference available is for the official process. As you may know, I also have been promoting the use of chemistry with separate bleach and fixer for C-41.

The Tetenal (ADOX) is the original formula for a 3 bath press kit, and it is the best of those. This can't be said about every other kit there is available.

For longevity - no. E6 chemistry does not keep very well (compared to C-41 for instance). There is no difference I have noticed between the press kits and 6 bath E6 in this sense, that I have noticed.

In scientific sense, I can't provide you with hard evidence on this. I don't have densitometers, or have the means of standardizing the process up to a point this would be possible.

 

[ChrisGalway]

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.

UPDATE:

I bought another Adox E6 kit and processed five Provia 100f 120 films in 500ml of solution this week, as before one by one in a Paterson tank. As far as I'm concerned, the 5th one is as good as the 1st, they all came out well. Of course a critical comparison might reveal some trend, but honestly things like the proper exposure, subject matter and composition of the photos are all more important to me. These are stereo slides, viewed in an optical viewer, so no post-processing is possible and the exposure is quite critical.

Based on my experience, I'm sure that Adox's suggested limit of 6 rolls per 500ml is OK. Perhaps the only point to mention is that I processed the films in 2.5 days (one in the morning, one in the afternoon) so that solutions did not stand around for a long time, but were freshly made up.

I'll use the remaining part of the kit to process films in 4-5 weeks time ... well within the "use by" date of the opened stock solutions (half-full bottles with Protectan gas).