Freezing Kodak E-6 chemistry

I use the Kodak 5L single-use chemistry kit for all my E-6 processing. Up until now I have always made sure I have shot enough film to get through the 5 litre kit in a month or two. I notice that if I keep stock solution any longer than this I tend to loose D-MAX (gets grainier and lighter in the blacks) and there is a slight shift in colour balance. Fuji Velvia 100F shifts to red for example.

My question is this: Is freezing a good solution to keeping the chemicals for much longer? Is it better to freeze stock solution or mixed solution? I hear that freezing, whether it is stock or mixed, can negatively affect the solution properties.

I would like to use the chemistry when I need it vs shooting enough film to get through 5 litres.

David

David S. Nardi Photography
www.davidnardi.com

Easily answered...

Do..not..do..it!

PE

Alessandro Serrao said:

Maybe you can displace the air in the bottles by using inert gasses like propane o n-butane.
Be careful that they are highly flammable.

Click to expand...

Given the "kaboom" factor....

Perhaps instead, one of those vacuum thingamajobbies that folks use on half finished bottles of wine?

Is that wine thing a vacuum device or is it nitrogen dispenser?

David Nardi said:

I use the Kodak 5L single-use chemistry kit for all my E-6 processing. Up until now I have always made sure I have shot enough film to get through the 5 litre kit in a month or two. I notice that if I keep stock solution any longer than this I tend to loose D-MAX (gets grainier and lighter in the blacks) and there is a slight shift in colour balance. Fuji Velvia 100F shifts to red for example.

My question is this: Is freezing a good solution to keeping the chemicals for much longer? Is it better to freeze stock solution or mixed solution? I hear that freezing, whether it is stock or mixed, can negatively affect the solution properties.

I would like to use the chemistry when I need it vs shooting enough film to get through 5 litres.

David

David S. Nardi Photography
www.davidnardi.com

Click to expand...

Do NOT freeze the chemistry.

Better idea. Buy a 5 litre cask of wine. Drink the wine.

Wash out the silver bag that used to contain the wine. Remove the spout and now slowly and carefully add the 5 litres of developer to the bag. Put the spout back on and slowly force out any air that is in the bag.

Bingo. You now have an airtight, light tight storage container for your developer that will not let air in, but will let you decant as much developer as you need when you need it.

Just be sure to label the cask so someone does not assume they're geting a shot of Fruity Lexia when it may be d76


Graham.

For those of you who are advising against freezing E6 chemistry, I hope you have tried this first hand and have evidence to back up your assertions.

I have been successfully freezing my E6 working solutions for about 2 years now with nothing but success. I have found no adverse effects from the freezing and no observable difference in the trannies I have processed.

David, if you want more details, I (and others) have posted our results in various threads here and on Photo.net.

Here's a prior thread I ran across:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Kino said:

Is that wine thing a vacuum device or is it nitrogen dispenser?

Click to expand...

I'm not the one who posted the reference, but I believe it's referring to a vacuum device.

I recently bought a Pump and Seal device for this purpose. (For photochemicals generally, not E-6 exclusively.) A similar device is called Vacu-Vin. They're similar in design principles, although I can't say which one produces a better vacuum. The Pump and Seal is designed to be used with ordinary bottles (mason jars and the like), and it works best with lids that are at least a couple of inches in diameter; the kit includes a push-pin you use to puncture the lid and a bunch of one-way sealing tabs that cover the hole. The result is that air can be pumped out but won't leak back in. The tabs are pretty inexpensive. The Vacu-Vin is designed to work with wine bottles and requires special plugs to replace the caps. These plugs are more expensive than the Pump and Seal's tabs, so if you want to use this technique on lots of bottles the Vacu-Vin is likely to be more expensive.

I've not been using my Pump and Seal for long, so I can't yet comment on how well it works at protecting chemicals. There's been at least one discussion of these devices here on APUG, though, so you might do a search to find comments from others.

No, there's also another one called Private Preserve. It's a mix of Nitrogen, Argon, and CO2 that can be added to a container to displace oxygen and build a layer of inert gas to protect a solution, such as wine. As such, you can find it at the wine store.

I wouldn't call CO2 an inert gas.

gbroadbridge said:

Do NOT freeze the chemistry.

Better idea. Buy a 5 litre cask of wine. Drink the wine.

Wash out the silver bag that used to contain the wine. Remove the spout and now slowly and carefully add the 5 litres of developer to the bag. Put the spout back on and slowly force out any air that is in the bag.

Bingo. You now have an airtight, light tight storage container for your developer that will not let air in, but will let you decant as much developer as you need when you need it.

Just be sure to label the cask so someone does not assume they're geting a shot of Fruity Lexia when it may be d76


Graham.

Click to expand...

Is there no product on the market that can do that?