Late night and I just finished a couple of rolls of E6. Not that it took that long to process I just soft start until after the Boston NHL game.
I shoot a lot of E6 probably more than I should. After a dispute with a popular lab out on the West Coast I said it was time to do it myself. I was sending 6 rolls in addition to some B&W plus Color.
I use the Tetenal E6 kit. I'm lucky i still have four kits left. I think or hope they will be back in stock. The kit cost me around $68 each plus shipping. I forget the shipping cost but it was inexpensive. I can process 30 - 36 rolls of 35mm per kit. It has always worked out with no problems.
So just from a cost stand point it runs me about $104 to process, that includes cost of the kit, shipping and mounts for 30 rolls. Sending them out was costing me $658.25 for thirty rolls. I did get free scans but I didn't have the choice to not want them. The cost breaks down like this, developing and scanning - $12, mounting $3 and shipping was $5.95 for the six rolls that I would send at a time.
The kit is very easy to mix in quantities of 500ml. I use 500ml Brown bottle, they came from some energy drink my daughter drinks. I needed 4. You have a First Developer, Color Developer, Bleach Fix then Stabilizer.
I load in Paterson one reel tanks. I could do larger tanks but this works for me since you have to adjust times after doing every two rolls. Very, very easy to load these tanks, just cut the corners off the front of the film. I do have SS have reels but just like the Paterson. I have far more tanks than one person needs so there was not extra cost.
I did buy the CineStill temp control system for $100. Yes you can keep the water at temp the old school way. However this makes it so easy when your processing as much as I do. Great, great product. You probably can buy a Sous Vide for half the cost at Wal-Mart to do the same thing.
Processing takes me about a half hour a roll. If I wanted to I could do two at the same time. If I mixed 1000ml then I could do 4 at a time. The only reason is that you have to add time, for example using 500ml I have to increase time for every two rolls. You can develop 6 rolls total with 500ml and if you are using 1000ml then you can do 4 rolls before increasing time.
I'm not going to go through the full process as it is pretty easy.
So the more important question is what are the results? I think they come out far better than what the West Coast Lab was putting out. I have processed Fuji Provia, Fuji Velvia 100, Fuji Velvia 50 and Ektachrome. The colors are vivid, rich, accurate and just outstanding. In addition I don't get any watermarks, streaks etc. Now I accept the final product is in the eyes of the beholder. Just trust me you can't get any better results from a lab.
The only part that I don't like is the mounting process. Slow or at least I am. I wear gloves and hand cut each slide then mount. Just a boring process. Oh how long do I let them dry? Well I process in the evening and generally mount them the next evening only because I have to go to work during the day.
If you have any questions on the kit or the processing just ask I would be happy to give you an answer.
One side note I had gotten lazy and was shipping my B&W out for processing too. Now I do my own again but I use a ten reel tank for that. Im a little backed up on the printing as i just set up my three enlargers and that part of the darkroom is not yet ready to run.
I shoot a lot of E6 probably more than I should. After a dispute with a popular lab out on the West Coast I said it was time to do it myself. I was sending 6 rolls in addition to some B&W plus Color.
I use the Tetenal E6 kit. I'm lucky i still have four kits left. I think or hope they will be back in stock. The kit cost me around $68 each plus shipping. I forget the shipping cost but it was inexpensive. I can process 30 - 36 rolls of 35mm per kit. It has always worked out with no problems.
So just from a cost stand point it runs me about $104 to process, that includes cost of the kit, shipping and mounts for 30 rolls. Sending them out was costing me $658.25 for thirty rolls. I did get free scans but I didn't have the choice to not want them. The cost breaks down like this, developing and scanning - $12, mounting $3 and shipping was $5.95 for the six rolls that I would send at a time.
The kit is very easy to mix in quantities of 500ml. I use 500ml Brown bottle, they came from some energy drink my daughter drinks. I needed 4. You have a First Developer, Color Developer, Bleach Fix then Stabilizer.
I load in Paterson one reel tanks. I could do larger tanks but this works for me since you have to adjust times after doing every two rolls. Very, very easy to load these tanks, just cut the corners off the front of the film. I do have SS have reels but just like the Paterson. I have far more tanks than one person needs so there was not extra cost.
I did buy the CineStill temp control system for $100. Yes you can keep the water at temp the old school way. However this makes it so easy when your processing as much as I do. Great, great product. You probably can buy a Sous Vide for half the cost at Wal-Mart to do the same thing.
Processing takes me about a half hour a roll. If I wanted to I could do two at the same time. If I mixed 1000ml then I could do 4 at a time. The only reason is that you have to add time, for example using 500ml I have to increase time for every two rolls. You can develop 6 rolls total with 500ml and if you are using 1000ml then you can do 4 rolls before increasing time.
I'm not going to go through the full process as it is pretty easy.
So the more important question is what are the results? I think they come out far better than what the West Coast Lab was putting out. I have processed Fuji Provia, Fuji Velvia 100, Fuji Velvia 50 and Ektachrome. The colors are vivid, rich, accurate and just outstanding. In addition I don't get any watermarks, streaks etc. Now I accept the final product is in the eyes of the beholder. Just trust me you can't get any better results from a lab.
The only part that I don't like is the mounting process. Slow or at least I am. I wear gloves and hand cut each slide then mount. Just a boring process. Oh how long do I let them dry? Well I process in the evening and generally mount them the next evening only because I have to go to work during the day.
If you have any questions on the kit or the processing just ask I would be happy to give you an answer.
One side note I had gotten lazy and was shipping my B&W out for processing too. Now I do my own again but I use a ten reel tank for that. Im a little backed up on the printing as i just set up my three enlargers and that part of the darkroom is not yet ready to run.