Process Ektachrome E4 in B&W chemistry?

[Kevin Caulfield]

My dad found an old roll of Ektachrome tungsten color slide film, EHB 135-20, which may or may not have even been exposed, as the leader was out. Is it worth trying to develop it in B&W developer, just to see if there are any images? I could process it myself in E6, but it may not be worth it.

 

[Photo Engineer]

E4 Ektachrome will not go through the E6 Ektachrome process at 100F, and at a lower temp may give poor results.

PE

 

[Kevin Caulfield]

Thanks, PE. Do you think it would be possible to get any images by devving in B&W developer?

 

[Ray Rogers]

What about sending it through at the lower temp. of the E-4 chemistry?

Seems I tried it once... I can't rercall if I compensated by increasing the time or not but probably.

???

Ray

 

[railwayman3]

(Apologies if you already know this). You could send it to one of the specialists in old processes, like Rocky Mountain, if you felt that it justified the extra cost.
My own view would be that it would be disappointing if there did prove to be some images of interest which were spoiled by incorrect processing?

 

[Photo Engineer]

If you use E6 at low temperature, the E4 film will still require a pre-hardener such as supplied by the E4 process. So, unless you want to run it at 68 deg F, it is not practical.

A B&W process will give you very orange foggy negatives, but it is doable. Rocy Mountain is a good suggestion.

PE

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

may or may not have even been exposed, as the leader was out.

If the film was loaded in a camera then there may be a 'witness mark' on one of the first sprocket holes where the leader was loaded onto the take-up drum.

If the first holes are pristine there is a good chance the film was never used.