Badly fogged E6 film?

Today I developed E6 film for the first time, using a Tetenal Colortec E6 kit, the 3-bath type.

The two rolls of fresh Ektachrome 100 came out very good (at first look, at least), so I am pretty sure the chemicals are good.

I got some very old 4x5” Provia 100 from a friend, expired in 1999. He had got the film from another friend, but since he doesn’t do large format, he gave it to me. Storage conditions are unknown, but probably very bad.

I have shot a handful of sheets, bracketing to check if it had lost sensitivity. It seems the film is so badly fogged that after the 1st developer, not much silver is left for the color developer to work on. The slides are really thin and the “rebate” is reddish-brown.

Two questions:

1. Is my assessment any good? I mean, is it true that a badly fogged reversal film will give too light of an image after properly processed?

2. If so, can I try to make this film give better images or should I just give up on it?


Thanks,
Flavio

fdonadio said:

. Is my assessment any good? I mean, is it true that a badly fogged reversal film will give too light of an image after properly processed?

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Yes, but I'd have expected a bit more image than you describe given the characteristics of the film.

Assuming your chemicals were still OK (i.e. not too much time for them to deteriorate between processing the "good" Ektachrome and the Fuji), I think that you can assume that the Provia is past being of use, Perhaps, to be sure, worth just one more try when you next have a fresh mixing of chemicals ?
Outdated film of any kind is unpredictable, and 20+ years in very bad storage conditions is probably asking too much. I'm currently using some Ektachrome from around 2012 which has been frozen in dry conditions since purchase and there are hints of a cold/magenta-ish tint, although correctable (at the moment) with a slight warming filter......but it's time now to use it up, I think

railwayman3 said:

Perhaps, to be sure, worth just one more try when you next have a fresh mixing of chemicals ?

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I forgot to say the chemicals were freshly mixed and the films were developed one right after the other, although in different tanks.

My bet is the film is too bad to be of any use. I’m gonna try to post an image later.

So, here they are, in all their dry glory:



The 35mm slides are good enough. The top one a little underexposed and the bottom one really good. The 4x5” one has no cyan in it and the yellow layer is almost totally gone too, leaving this magenta image.

I don’t think this film can be “salvaged”. I’m just gonna trash it, after fixing the silver out with some old fixer.

fdonadio said:

I don’t think this film can be “salvaged”. I’m just gonna trash it, after fixing the silver out with some old fixer.

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I have couple rolls of very expired slides from the late 80s. Similar to you, I got them without knowing how they were previously stored. There's a thread here that talks about alternative E6 process: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threa...-6-transparencies-with-c-41-chemicals.160510/

I'm hoping that by lowering the temperature of a highly concentrated 1st developer that I can minimalize fog. It might be interesting for you to try before throwing your old films away. Just my 2 cents.

YoIaMoNwater said:

I'm hoping that by lowering the temperature of a highly concentrated 1st developer that I can minimalize fog. It might be interesting for you to try before throwing your old films away. Just my 2 cents.

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I may try it. I’ve been through that thread before, but don’t remember anything about fogged films. I’ll have to read it all again.

Strange thing the red sensitive layer (which will give cyan pigments in the final image) is the most fogged. I am not sure if it’s the outermost layer...

fdonadio said:

Strange thing the red sensitive layer (which will give cyan pigments in the final image) is the most fogged.

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The red sensitive layer might be the the most likely to be affected by infrared/heat.

MattKing said:

The red sensitive layer might be the the most likely to be affected by infrared/heat.

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It’s a very plausible explanation... I didn’t think of it.