Fotospeed E6 kits discontinued

I tried to order some more Fotospeed 3-bath E6 chemistry yesterday and several suppliers didn't have the most economical 5 litre kits, but could offer the 1200ml ones.

I rang Fotospeed to see if they could supply me directly and the lady said that they are no longer producing E6 chemistry. She explained to me that they bought in another company to supply the product, these then moved production to Spain, had quality control problems and decided rather than address the issues, just to stop production.

Having had great results from the Fotospeed chemistry, I am saddened by this loss of another film photography based product.

Having spoken to my old pro-lab, they recommended trying Fuji-Hunt 3 bath E6 chemistry, so I now have some of this on order. It has worked out considerably cheaper too. About £37 instead of £52 for a 5 litre kit. Fingers crossed!

Thanks Baxter, for pointing that out.

BTW, are you putting something in Light & Land's "Working the Light - Landscape Photography Masterclass" book. I just got an email about it.

I haven't planned to submit anything Robert and haven't been pestered to do so either!

My main focus at present is trying to process a backlog of film in the new (to me) Jobo ATL-2300 which I got running properly for the first time yesterday after lots of headaches. After a couple of test runs with water in chemical bottles and no film, I bit the bullet and it did one roll of 120 fine, which had nothing special on it. Then moving to 6 sheets of 5x4 velvia from Old Harry Rocks in Dorset, it promptly had issues sucking out the chemistry. Streaks on all sheets. Fortunately I do have Quickload second sheets for each - and I think you might like them!

Am intending to investigate further today, might be a seal fault around the tank lid. Shall possibly use B+W since I have loads of this to do!

Sorry to hear you have been having problems with your film development, but I think you will soon get it worked out. I would like to see you images, when you get time, I'm not familiar with Old Harry Rocks - at least I can't remember seeing any images of it - and, I've never been to Dorset. Hopefully, in 2007.

I haven't even taken my camera out in 6 weeks or so. The weather has been really crappy here; last week we had an major storm which flooded 111 homes and several schools. This coming Sunday, if it doesn't rain, I am taking someone from work (who is in Hawaii on a temporary basis) to one of my favorite shooting locations - she shoots a Hasselblad. I rarely go out with anyone, so that will be fun.

I've got a couple of submissions to do to other places, and had not intended to submit to this one (just don't have the time), nor do I have anyway of sending them a check for £20 even if I wanted to - it is a bit difficult to get British pounds in Hawaii!!!

Baxter, you mentioned that Fuji Professional (UK) was going to run a feature on you using Fuji film in their 'Connect' magazine - how is that coming along? Can we see this online or in print? I enjoy your work and would be interested in seeing it in print.

Hi Sanjay

Thanks for asking about the Connect feature. It came out about 2 weeks ago. Just a single page in the end using two pictures of the same scene, one using RTP64 with an 85C and the other using RVP50. So no great shakes, but it does get good circulation. They gave out an additional 5000 copies at the recent Focus exhibition in Birmingham (UK). I don't know if Connect is available online. The Fuji people seem very happy with the feedback they have received. I haven't had any directly! The spooky thing is that there is another feature in the mag, about a project called Mercury Rising. Here a number of photographers went out on Aug 12 2005 since this was predicted to be the hottest day of summer. Checking back, my picture was also made on that day.....

If you can't get hold of a copy, I can probably post the comparitive images in the Technical gallery.