E-6 bleach

glstr1263 · Feb 23, 2009

Hello,

I was given several large bottles of Kodak E-6 bleach last week and I was wondering if the stuff is still OK to use. They are about 3 years old and have never been opened.

The gentleman also gave me a partially used E-6 5 litre kit. I have used this kit many times before and am familiar with it. It, too is several years old, but the only chemicals that seem to be off colour are the First developer, which is darker yellow, and the part B Colour Developer that's turned very dark. All the other chemicals essentially the same colour as my new E-6 chemicals. Would some of the chems be Ok to use as well? Thanks in advance.

Peter

domaz · Feb 23, 2009

Bleach is supposed to be very stable so it's probably ok. If the first developer is mostly clear it's supposedly ok. Color Developer is dark at first then clears if I remember correctly. No way to tell without testing the chemicals on some film though. The proper way to tell is to use a Kodak test strip and then plot the results with a densiometer but I kind of doubt you have test strips or a densiometer.

Photo Engineer · Feb 23, 2009

Yes, the bleach, if clear and reddish in color is most likely good.

The First developer, Color Developer and Reversal Bath are the ones that seem to go bad first. The description in the OP sounds like the first two of these are bad. The Reversal Bath gives no indication whatsoever that it is bad until your pictures turn out bad!

PE

PHOTOTONE · Feb 23, 2009

My personal experience with E-6 bleach is this. I have been using a cubetainer of E-6AR bleach replenisher for six years now, as replenisher for my tank solution. It still works good.

glstr1263 · Feb 24, 2009

Once I have lots of slides to process I will test the older chemicals. Thank you very much for the replies. You guys are the best!

Mike Wilde · Feb 24, 2009

I use e-6 bleach on c-41 with a few rinses and a separate fix afterwards and it works just fine for me. There has been discussion on this in other threads in the past.

Photo Engineer · Feb 24, 2009

You will find that the E6 bleach is a bit stronger than the C41 bleach due to the heavier silver load. OTOH, the C-41 bleach is optimized for films with DIR couplers which slow both bleaching and fixing.

So, it will probably be a wash since both bleach and fix go to completion and you can visually see the reaction take place.

If you do it right, both bleaches and fixes are probably interchangable, but remember that the E6 prebleach + bleach combination activates the chemistry in the pre-bleach for dye stabilzation.

PE

Mike Wilde · Feb 25, 2009

Yes, I am up on this tip, Ron. I have a well capped bottle of formalin that gets tapped for a few mL to make up a fresh final rinse with the photo flo when the need arises, and only when the vent fan is on 'high' speed.

DarkroomExperimente · Mar 1, 2009

don't use Chlorox

I tried it once to amuse myself...and ended up with clear film

nickandre · Mar 3, 2009

DarkroomExperimente said:
don't use Chlorox

I tried it once to amuse myself...and ended up with clear film

But useful for reducing density of shadows on RA4 prints

Athiril · Apr 4, 2009

Photo Engineer said:
If you do it right, both bleaches and fixes are probably interchangable, but remember that the E6 prebleach + bleach combination activates the chemistry in the pre-bleach for dye stabilzation.

PE

So I take it that pre-bleach is only necessary if youre interested in longetivity of the positive?

Photo Engineer · Apr 4, 2009

It also containes some new chemistry that I am not familiar with and which might speed up bleaching. IDK for sure.

PE

Athiril · Apr 6, 2009

I also found this little piece of information online "BM3 performs the same function as ferric
EDTA in colour processing."
http://nicnas.gov.au/search/cache.c...ar/new/na/nafullr/na0000fr/na15fr.pdf.pan.txt

"Trade Name: BM3

The notifier has requested and received exemption from
publication for the chemical name, CAS number, other names
identifying the compound, molecular and structural formula,
molecular weight and spectral data."

Agfa is mentioned.. anyone know what BM3 is?

Photo Engineer · Apr 6, 2009

I have not seen BM3 enter this discussion before, but Kodak is replacing Ferric EDTA with Ferric NTA and it is used in C-41 bleach III. It is greenish in color.

PE

Athiril · Apr 7, 2009

So NTA is better for the environment, but Id assume less so for home-mixing? - 'There is sufficient evidence for the carcinogenicity of nitrilotriacetic acid and its sodium salts in experimental animals.'
http://www.inchem.org/documents/iarc/vol48/48-12.html

Why is citric acid never used for its property as a chelating agent in bleach?

Photo Engineer · Apr 7, 2009

I am not trying to equate NTA with BM3.

We had no carcenogenicity data for NTA when we were working with it 10 years ago. AFAIK the results were positive back then.

PE

E-6 bleach

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency