Help Needed With Color Transparencies

Donald M · Nov 19, 2014

Hello all,

I am new to this forum and quite honestly not very computer savvy as a 75 year old so if I'm not posting in the right place I apologize but am looking for some help. I have some old color transparencies from the early 60's that were taken with a color transparency camera. They were overexposed when taken. These pictures have a lot of sentimental value to me and I'm trying to etch the emulsion so I can lighten up the dark areas so that the light can pass through in order to make a color print. I am long since retired, but i used to be a color separator for transparency and reflection which is certainly outdated now. I know that back in those days they used to etch them in cyanide which would eat at the emulsion little by little but obviously cyanide is no longer an option for me and can't be purchased. Does anyone here know of any possible alternative solutions for me?

Thanks in advance,

Don

snapguy · Nov 19, 2014

over?

If they are too dark it sounds like to me like perhaps they were underexposed. You can find a lab that makes slide dupes or you can find someone to scan them into a computer and try using Photoshop. Good luck.

Truzi · Nov 19, 2014

You've come to the right place. Give it some time, and more suggestions will come in.

Bill Burk · Nov 19, 2014

Hi Donald M,

You used to etch the silver-based negatives, perhaps with Farmer's Reducer, a Potassium-Ferricyanide solution. You can still get that today.

But Color Transparencies would have images formed by dyes, so any reducer you choose would need to affect dyes. I don't know if that's even feasible but sounds like a poor plan to chemically treat sentimental keepsakes.

You would be better of literally printing the slides as-is or using your skills as color separator to make separation negatives from them.

Hatchetman · Nov 19, 2014

Before doing anything, try getting a few scanned by a good photo lab. They may turn out great or terrible, but no matter what, it won't damage the slides. Try: http://www.northcoastphoto.com/

shutterboy · Nov 19, 2014

Donald, welcome to the forum. If you send me the slides, I can scan them for you for free. You just pay postage to and from me. However, I can only do this after 8th December since my final exam is on that date.

Let me know if this interests you in which case I will send you my address.

StoneNYC · Nov 19, 2014

Before you get any father.

How do you plan to print them? Do you have a stock or Cibi/Ilfochrome hidden in your fridge?

It may have been a while but there are no papers or chemicals that are still made for printing transparencies.

Or do you plan to make inter negatives?

I'm also curious what a "transparency camera" is, as all cameras are capable of using transparency film.

I'm surprised so many are suggesting computer options as this is an all analogue site, but then, because of the lack of printing materials, scanning is a logical option.

If you still want to wet print these, and you're unable to make internegs, as the proper interneg films of low contrast is also not sold any longer, there also is the possibility of having someone scan the images and produce a computer generated color negative of proper contrast for you to wet print.

If all of this is irrelevant because you still have Cibichrome materials, then the best person to chime in is probably PhotoEngineer on this site, he might know an alternative or where to go to get cyanide sourced.

Good luck and welcome!

railwayman3 · Nov 20, 2014

I really think that this is one case where a digital approach is the way to go, or at the very least, to try first. I wouldn't do anything which could damage valuable original material like your transparencies, and I've never heard of any chemical method of "reducing" colour transparencies (unlike B&W negs, where good-old Farmers Reducer used to be on every darkroom shelf ! ). Any kind of "bleaching" would probably also be irreversable.

The transparencies could be scanned very simply, and something like Photoshop or Gimp might allow the shadow detail and contrast to be manipulated to recover what you hope for.

Even if you have a supply of any of the discontinued papers and chemicals for printing from transparencies, a darkroom approach seems a longer and more complicated way round on this occasion.

pentaxuser · Nov 20, 2014

Can't a decent lab with a digital enlarger do prints of transparencies on normal RA4? I'd have thought this is worth a try first. Indeed if you still shoot slides and want prints from them this is one of the ways, isn't it?

pentaxuser

StoneNYC · Nov 20, 2014

railwayman3 said:
I really think that this is one case where a digital approach is the way to go, or at the very least, to try first. I wouldn't do anything which could damage valuable original material like your transparencies, and I've never heard of any chemical method of "reducing" colour transparencies (unlike B&W negs, where good-old Farmers Reducer used to be on every darkroom shelf ! ). Any kind of "bleaching" would probably also be irreversable.

The transparencies could be scanned very simply, and something like Photoshop or Gimp might allow the shadow detail and contrast to be manipulated to recover what you hope for.

Even if you have a supply of any of the discontinued papers and chemicals for printing from transparencies, a darkroom approach seems a longer and more complicated way round on this occasion.

This is APUG, we always choose the longer and more complicate rout because it's traditional analog methods that we enjoy... That's the theme here.

I'm just shocked so many are suggesting digital when this guy obviously knows his stuff and had the experience to do it the analogue way, he is just asking which chemical will substitute for cyanide...

railwayman3 · Nov 20, 2014

StoneNYC said:
This is APUG, we always choose the longer and more complicate rout because it's traditional analog methods that we enjoy... That's the theme here.

I'm just shocked so many are suggesting digital when this guy obviously knows his stuff and had the experience to do it the analogue way, he is just asking which chemical will substitute for cyanide...

The gentleman didn't ask "which chemical will substitute for cyanide", he asked for "possible alternative solutions". A digital approach might be a possible alternative "solution" to consider????? He didn't say it had to be an analog methos.

Why do you knock other contributors when they are taking time to try to help the guy?

(Oh, and thanks for explaining that this really is APUG and that analog is the theme here. Perhaps it would have taken me another 6 years and 1600 posts to grasp this if you hadn't pointed it out to me. )

StoneNYC · Nov 20, 2014

railwayman3 said:
The gentleman didn't ask "which chemical will substitute for cyanide", he asked for "possible alternative solutions". A digital approach might be a possible alternative "solution" to consider????? He didn't say it had to be an analog methos.

Why do you knock other contributors when they are taking time to try to help the guy?

(Oh, and thanks for explaining that this really is APUG and that analog is the theme here. Perhaps it would have taken me another 6 years and 1600 posts to grasp this if you hadn't pointed it out to me. )

Took me 3 years to grasp it...

chrisaisenbrey · Nov 20, 2014

In the book Sammlung fotografischer Rezepte of U. Raffay there is a description about the reduction of E6 slides. So in principle it is possible. However I guess it works only for specific classes of color-couplers. And slides from the 60s are not E6. I would not try it on important slides. At least not before some analog or digital backup.

John Koehrer · Nov 20, 2014

railwayman3 said:
The gentleman didn't ask "which chemical will substitute for cyanide", he asked for "possible alternative solutions". A digital approach might be a possible alternative "solution" to consider????? He didn't say it had to be an analog methos.

Actually he did. "An alternative to cyanide"

Why do you knock other contributors when they are taking time to try to help the guy?

No knocking, just suggesting it's APUG, not DPUG.

(Oh, and thanks for explaining that this really is APUG and that analog is the theme here. Perhaps it would have taken me another 6 years and 1600 posts to grasp this if you hadn't pointed it out to me.

Maybe.

)

see above.

railwayman3 · Nov 20, 2014

He could always buy a box of artists paints and copy his transparencies onto paper that way. Now that really would be longer and more complicated. Or, better even, mix up some burnt earth and water and draw them on the wall with his finger.

I used to make my kid's holiday pictures that way, until the wife suggested that I ought to check out these new-fangled plate camera thingies. Much quicker and better for that particular purpose, though some still said that I shouldn't, because they were not traditional ; one guy even said this analog photography lark was the work of the devil and I would surely go to hell for even thinking about such blasphemy.

lxdude · Nov 20, 2014

If you're just looking at the slides without a light box or projector, they might look darker than they really are. And if they are really dark, an adjustable scanner might be able to get the detail out. I have seen some good recovery of dark slides done that way. If you do try scanning, pose questions at DPUG (the link is at the very top of this page), and you might get more information about it there, as it is a digital process.

Steelbar · Nov 24, 2014

This gentlemen has ask for a way to make prints from a set of dark slides because they have a meaning to him. It would seem that the prints are his primary goal not using a special technique so I would recommend digitally copying the slides and print them. If he wants to use a chemical reduction after he has his prints it will not mean that he has lost the images forever. I have been using an old Illumatron slide duplicates with a D7000 mounted on it. I can lighten the image by about 3 stops by opening up the aperture or/and I can move the flash closer to the slide. It will cause some colour shift and grain but I can than adjust them in photo shop. Sometimes it is easy to loose sight of the goal by focusing on the procedure.

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Help Needed With Color Transparencies

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