How did eggleston get dye transfers from color negative?

[Atlo]

i read that eggleston used slide for only a few years, and then started using color negative for most of his career (still using it infact). but hes known for his dye transfers. are these only made from slides he took? or did he find a way to get them from his negatives? can someone help?

 

[Rick A]

Ctein claims to use negatives for his dye-transfer method, so it is very possible Eggleston did the same. There are a number of web sites that explain the process.

 

[holmburgers]

You have to use the pan matrix film, as opposed to just the matrix film I believe. Kodak made both.

I'm not exactly certain on the specifics, but the pan matrix film allows you to treat the color negative like the separation negatives, using filtration (complementary?) to make your 3-primary-color matrices. With the normal matrix film and slides, you have to make separation negatives on regular panchromatic b&w film, and then the normal, orthochromatic matrix film is used to make the 3-primary-color matrices.

As ralnphot said, Ctein does it, and I think he's perhaps one of the very few who can do negatives still.

If you really want to know for certain, PM me and I'll look it up in my Kodak Dye-transfer Reference book (aka, museum piece )

 

[Tom Kershaw]

Holmburger,

Have you made dye transfer prints?

Tom

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

I think Kodak stopped making the matrix film for dye transfer. Kodak was the only manufacturer of this film :-(

 

[holmburgers]

Tom, no, I've never made one, in fact I'm quite a newbie to photographic processes. However, a couple months ago I researched the topic heavily as I wondered about its current state myself. I wish though!

As Mainecoon points out, the materials are all discontinued, but some people still have stocks that have been fridged/frozen since. I think that, in general, if you were really committed it could be carried out, but at quite an expense and a huge learning curve. That being said, someday I hope to do DT.

THE place to go for information on dye-transfer is the Yahoo! Dye-Transfer group. That's where Ctein hangs out, and literally anybody who's still doing it. It's not like APUG, in that it's more of a mailing list (Yahoo! groups have a terrible interface). There, you can gleam a wealth of information, and some members are very helpful, others not so much.

Jim Browning is the moderator of the group, and he has a website (http://www.dyetransfer.org/) that literally gives you all the instructions to manufacture your own matrix film, which is basically the crux of the whole process.

Here are some good links...
http://ctein.com/dyetrans.htm
http://www.charlescramer.com/dyetransfer.html
http://www.dyetransfer.de/index.html

This last link, the .de (germany) website, is that of the Haneke's. They, along with Jim Browning, actually manufactured a small batch of matrix film. Theoretically, they could do it again if there was a big enough demand. Perhaps, down the road, there will be a large enough demand (hopefully spurred by people like us!) to create another, larger batch and get people dye-transferring again.

 

[Tom Kershaw]

I looked into dye transfer but it is apparent the process not currently viable due to lack of materials.

Tom