Ilfochrome Printing from Negatives Processed in E-6?

[jmhaag]

Hello all,

I'm a long-time reader and first-time poster.

I've home developed several C-41 rolls of 35mm and 120 in an Arista E-6 kit I purchased from Freestyle - mostly expired Kodak Portra films such as 160VC and 160NC and some Fuji Reala.

I know that it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I personally like the low-key, pastel tones I get with this less common method of cross processing.

It's my understanding that Ilfo/Ciba printing inherently produces high-contrast/high-saturation prints. I wonder if these relatively low-contrast positives - albeit masked ones - may lend themselves well to the process, and perhaps eliminate the need for much of the contrast masking I've heard is required when printing Ilfo/Ciba from true E-6 films.

Has anyone here ever made Ilfochrome/Cibachrome prints from negative films processed in E-6 chemistry? I haven't been able to find any information via the search feature, but if such a thread already exists, I'd appreciate it if someone could please direct me to it.

Thanks,
James

 

[Rudeofus]

Ilfochrome is said to be high contrast, but if you look at its transfer curves, it essentially is 1:1 what your slide gives you. Problems can arise because the brightness range achieved by Ilfochrome is less than what slide film can do, you you may end up clipping highlights and/or shadows.

I have no idea what your results will look like, but you have an easy way to find out: it should look exactly like your slides. If you have means to measure their density ratio, Ilfochrome can do about 1:100.

 

[jmhaag]

Very interesting, thank you.

I should say that I've been trying to follow the conventional wisdom with this type of cross processing. Overexpose by a stop or two (depending on the film's age), then push several more stops (at least two) in the E-6 chemistry. I've never shot VPS 160 - one of the "holy grail" films for this sort of cross processing, I hear - but the color palette seems similar to when I use second-generation Portra 160 (either NC or VC).

So far, so good: The slides appear to have slightly more contrast (and grain..not necessarily a bad thing) than their normally-processed counterparts. Unfortunately, I do not own a densitometer to make more precise observations.

I may send a select few out for smaller-size Ilfo prints anyway, just for the thrill of it

 

[Rudeofus]

A simple experiment you can do is a sample print from your slide onto multigrade b&w paper. In my experience Ilfochrome is about a contrasty as Ilford FB MGIV at Gradation 00. That's correct, the very softest gradation of MGIV is about as contrasty as the "oh so harsh" Ilfochrome! Of course you will get a negative image from that, but at least you can guesstimate which brightness range can be held by Ilfochrome without a densitometer and without a full (and expensive! ) test run.