E6 home processing - am I crazy?

[Rudeofus]

I've looked for the Tetenal kit and come up with nothing. Looks like they aren't making it anymore. Looks like I can get the Kodak from Calumet

B&H does carry the Tetenal kits, but they seem to be more available in continental Europe. That may also explain why Europeans mostly recommend the Tetenal kit while UK/US folks mostly recommend the Kodak kit (which is barely available in continental Europe, and no, I won't pay for shipment of a dev kit across the ocean).

 

[Photo Engineer]

All you probably ever want to know about formalin and (dye) stability of color films:

http://photo.net/film-and-processing-forum/00FuCx
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Marco

Marco;

I have summarized the role of formalin in old and new color films in a new "myths" section on Photo Net. You may be interested in that as well. AFAIK, the new section has not been added to the older portions though. It exists as separate threads.

PE

 

[Sirius Glass]

Wow, thanks everyone. I guess I should have expected nothing but encouraging advice in a forum such as this. I think I wanted to be talked into it.

I've looked for the Tetenal kit and come up with nothing. Looks like they aren't making it anymore. Looks like I can get the Kodak from Calumet.

I probably won't get around to running a batch for at least a month or so (Calumet says 7-14 days before available), but if I have problems or anything interesting to report, I'll do so here.

Happy to keep the discussion alive...

Check FreeStyle, also an APUG supporter. FreeStyle is probably cheaper.

Steve

 

[drumlin]

Okay, so I bought the Kodak kit and the solutions are warming up now. Great way to spend a Friday afternoon off with the wife gone...

One critical question -- what's the waste management protocol for each of these chems?? I keep my B&W fixer and take it to a local lab that does C41 (not the one that spurred this post/adventure in the first place), but what about all this other stuff I just mixed up? I looked at the Kodak environmental recommendations, and they seem to say everything but the fixer (pre-Ag recovery) is fine for the drain. What do you folks do?

 

[drumlin]

Just finished processing 4 rolls of stuff I popped off casually at a state park.

Conclusion --- If you are reading this wondering if E6 processing is overboard or too hard, it's not and it is WAY COOL to unroll those slides and see the actual image in gorgeous saturated color jumping out at you. I'm a convert.

I bought a cheap roaster from Wally world, and I'm taking it back, since it didn't have very good temp controls. I ended up just using a water bath in a cooler just like I do for important B&W work, except I was using a kettle of hot water more than ice. It took a couple hours to get everything pretty stable temp-wise (probably me being over-careful.... could have probably dialed it in sooner.) My hot tap water is around 120* F, so that's a good starting point for a bath to get things warmed up.

I still might look into some kind of cheap, semi-automated temp control like a roaster oven or aquarium heater, but now that I've done it once, I'm not scared of the process. Thanks again all for the advice.

 

[Marco B]

Just finished processing 4 rolls of stuff I popped off casually at a state park.

Conclusion --- If you are reading this wondering if E6 processing is overboard or too hard, it's not and it is WAY COOL to unroll those slides and see the actual image in gorgeous saturated color jumping out at you. I'm a convert.

Thanks for reporting your positive results. When the last color pro-lab goes bust here in Holland, which may not be a long time away, I may give this a try once.

Actually, I mostly or almost always shoot B&W nowadays, home processed, but in the back of my mind I still have some ideas lingering for some color project...

 

[michaelbsc]

Okay, so I bought the Kodak kit and the solutions are warming up now. Great way to spend a Friday afternoon off with the wife gone...

Where did you buy the kit?

 

[drumlin]

Where did you buy the kit?

Calumet.

 

[drumlin]

a few scans: Link.

 

[Marco B]

a few scans: Link.

 

[darkroom_rookie]

No, you're not crazy. What IS crazy is being paid to develop someone's very important 4x5 slides - and doing E6 for the first time ever. No Jobo processor, just a 3010 drum with a modified lid, a tweaked aquarium heater, a large table and a bunch of plastic containers. And a precise timer with a loud alarm. And the experience of developing C41 4x5s (OK, that's probably a bit more than many people have at hand or have done). And the joy when the slides were pulled from the drum.............. It was Velvia 50.