e6 mixing and storage

[Peter De Smidt]

I developed my first E6 film (4x5 RVP50) yesterday with Kodak chemicals in a Jobo cpp2. I mixed up just what I needed from the 5 liter kit. My question is, would it be better to mix up the whole 5 liter batch, perhaps in half the total amount of water, and then store in glass bottles filled to the rim; or is it better to store the original Kodak solutions with some dustoff gas added?

One advantage of the mix it all up method would be that small measuring errors would be minimized. The downside, of course, would be introducing oxygen into the solutions.

 

[Volvospeed]

I store my chems un-mixed. I start to feel guilty if I have un-used mixed chem after 4 days. As an aside I would not use Dust-off for your shielding gas. Its not pure by anymeans. Also most of the new cans have a bittering agent that you do not want in your bottles. A better solution is Agron you can get at any welding store. If you cannot justify large tanks of shielding gas check out Bloxygen. I did a review on it a few years ago for paint. http://volvospeed.com/Reviews/bloxygen.html

At 150-250 a gallon shelf life is a major issue with auto paints. It just so happens the same product works wonders on photo chemicals. After a week there is a major visible difference between purged and unpurged bottles.

 

[Peter De Smidt]

Hi Volvospeed. Thanks for the tip. I think a fairly close by woodworking store carries the bloxygen. I've looked into getting some argon in the past, and it's fairly expensive, more for the equipment than the gas, but if I find myself doing a lot of e6, it would probably be worth it.