Home developing Ektachrome Kodak Ektachrome 100 Plus EPP

[Anton Lukoszevieze]

I just bought some expired Kodak Ektachrome 100 Plus EPP, exp 12/06 but cold stored. I've always shot b&w and developed my own sheets, but I want to try some colour chromes. I am thinking of using the Tetenal E6 3-bath kit. I will be processing in a deep tank. Am I mad or is this quite possible, anything I need to know, apart from temp. control? I do 12 sheets at a time. I am shooting with my Graflexes, 3x4s, cutting down the film in my darkroom.

 

[srs5694]

Instead of a 3-bath kit, I suggest you try to find a 6-bath kit. Kodak sells a 5-liter size kit, or you can buy separate components from Kodak or Fuji, but they're sold in much larger quantities only, as far as I can tell. I don't know about availability in the UK, though. In the long run, the Kodak kit will be less expensive (at least in the US), and you're likely to get better results from it -- there are compromises required in squeezing six steps into three. The drawback, of course, is that the 6-bath kit is more of a hassle to use, with more chemicals to mix and more steps when doing the processing.

OTOH, if you've just got a few sheets of expired film and you're not sure if you'll be doing more E-6, then starting with a 3-bath kit might make sense. Just remember that if you get unsatisfactory results, it's likely because of the expired nature of the film or the shortcuts in the 3-bath kit.

FWIW, I've done E-6 using both 3-bath and 6-bath kits. I don't shoot a lot of slide film, and my processing is done via manual tanks, but I get results I consider acceptable, although I get more consistent and slightly better results from the Kodak 6-bath kit.

 

[Stan160]

I developed several rolls of EPP in a Tetenal 3-bath kit in the last week. Using tanks, manually timed, with a big Nova drum processor as a temperature controlled water bath to sit the solution bottles and tank in.

No problems to report (well one, but that was an expired film problem). All very easy, even for a newbie like me!

Ian

 

[PHOTOTONE]

the "issue" is not that the independent 3-step kits don't work. They do, and the results "can" look quite nice, but 3 steps do not address the dye stability of the film at all. The "full" process requires a pre-bleach where the dyes are stabilized against fading, and a final rinse that contains a bacterioside. Without these steps your film stability is on borrowed time, not matter how nice the developed images look at first

 

[Ian Grant]

Some of the 3 bath kits are excellent, the original "Chrome 6" was designed by Pip Pippard of Photocolor (Johnsons) and was always regarded as being equal in quality to the full process. The issue of film stability has never been an issue with Chrome 6.

Tetenal are another highly regarded company who make excellent chemistry and there 3 bath kit is fine, however personally I wouldn't trust 3 bath kits from any other manufacturers.

Ian

 

[nworth]

I have used the Tetnal three bath kit with good results, but PE reports that the blix may not be fully effective at removing the silver. That may account for the slightly greater density I see in the transparencies processed that way. The six bath kit is really not that much harder to use, although it does take a little more time.

 

[PHOTOTONE]

Some of the 3 bath kits are excellent, the original "Chrome 6" was designed by Pip Pippard of Photocolor (Johnsons) and was always regarded as being equal in quality to the full process. The issue of film stability has never been an issue with Chrome 6.

Tetenal are another highly regarded company who make excellent chemistry and there 3 bath kit is fine, however personally I wouldn't trust 3 bath kits from any other manufacturers.

Ian

Please explain to me how the dyes are stabilized and protected in a 3 solution developing kit? I don't doubt that one can get nice results that look great right after processing, but long-term stability has to be compromised if a pre-bleach is not used...or a formalin-containing stabilizer final rinse.

 

[Ian Grant]

You should ask the manufacturers. I always used a stabiliser.

Ian

 

[snallan]

Kodak sells a 5-liter size kit, or you can buy separate components from Kodak or Fuji, but they're sold in much larger quantities only, as far as I can tell. I don't know about availability in the UK, though.

Firstcall Photographic do the Kodak E6 5l kit in the UK.

 

[tim_walls]

Please explain to me how the dyes are stabilized and protected in a 3 solution developing kit? I don't doubt that one can get nice results that look great right after processing, but long-term stability has to be compromised if a pre-bleach is not used...or a formalin-containing stabilizer final rinse.

I can't comment on the pre-bleach, but I can confirm that the Tetenal 3-bath kits do also include a final stabilizer.

(That said, I switched to 6-bath anyway; 3-bath involved longer, temperature critical wash steps than the full 6-bath, so wasn't actually any more convenient for my setup. The only disadvantage of 6-bath really to me is it takes a bit longer to mix the solutions.)

 

[nworth]

Please explain to me how the dyes are stabilized and protected in a 3 solution developing kit? I don't doubt that one can get nice results that look great right after processing, but long-term stability has to be compromised if a pre-bleach is not used...or a formalin-containing stabilizer final rinse.

The threebath kit is really a four bath kit, and the six bath kit is a seven bath kit. They both contain a stabilizer soulution that is used after the final wash. The tree baths of the three bath kit are the first developer, the color developer, and the blix. Washes are used to isolate the steps.