I have been going back and forth on diving into colour film, and debating taking a dive into it this spring.
One of my biggest hangups to experimenting with colour slides has been reliable sources of chemistry here in Canada, as the online retailers I typically use either list E6 chemistry for in-store pickup only, or have consistently been out of stock any time I've gone to look for it.
However, a local retailer has been keeping a seemingly reliable stock of Arista E6 480ml kits in stock for the last while, and I'm tempted to finally try diving in.
But, as I use Paterson tanks, I'm not sure what would be the most viable and reliable method to use such kits, given that I shoot 120 film, which uses 500ml of chemistry per reel.
- Is the E6 chemistry tolerant of the slight extra dilution required to make up 500ml batches to ensure film coverage, or should I plan to buy and use 2 kits? [Or 3 kits, if I want to use a full litre and my typical two reel developing setup?] From the directions I've read online so far it didn't seem like this was a 'mix-to-stock and dilute-to-working-strength' chemistry.
- For my black and white work I often double-load my reels such that I can develop four rolls of film at a time. Is there any noticeable risk in E6 for doing this? [The kit claims support for up to 4 rolls of 120, with options for extension beyond that, but I've not gotten my hands on those details, and none of the instructions I've read have mentioned 220 film.]
One of my biggest hangups to experimenting with colour slides has been reliable sources of chemistry here in Canada, as the online retailers I typically use either list E6 chemistry for in-store pickup only, or have consistently been out of stock any time I've gone to look for it.
However, a local retailer has been keeping a seemingly reliable stock of Arista E6 480ml kits in stock for the last while, and I'm tempted to finally try diving in.
But, as I use Paterson tanks, I'm not sure what would be the most viable and reliable method to use such kits, given that I shoot 120 film, which uses 500ml of chemistry per reel.
- Is the E6 chemistry tolerant of the slight extra dilution required to make up 500ml batches to ensure film coverage, or should I plan to buy and use 2 kits? [Or 3 kits, if I want to use a full litre and my typical two reel developing setup?] From the directions I've read online so far it didn't seem like this was a 'mix-to-stock and dilute-to-working-strength' chemistry.
- For my black and white work I often double-load my reels such that I can develop four rolls of film at a time. Is there any noticeable risk in E6 for doing this? [The kit claims support for up to 4 rolls of 120, with options for extension beyond that, but I've not gotten my hands on those details, and none of the instructions I've read have mentioned 220 film.]