Slide film came back greenish with faint images

ntenny · Aug 31, 2011

I think this must have been a development problem, but I'd like to hear from people who know the vagaries of the E-6 process before I decide for sure.

I've just gotten back a handful of E-6 rolls from Swan. All but one are fine; that one, they returned as "blank". However, when I take a good look at it, I can tell that there are images there; they're just very, very thin. Additionally, the whole roll has a light greenish tint, sort of a light teal. The edge markings are visible; they're orange against the background of that light green, so they show up fairly clearly, but I think they're also fainter than they should be.

The camera has behaved well both before and after this roll, and anyway, while a camera could underexpose, I don't think it could turn the film green!

Any idea what could cause this?

Thanks

-NT

mopar_guy · Sep 1, 2011

Did they process E-6 or C-41?

ntenny · Sep 1, 2011

Well, the faint images are positives, so I assume it went through a reversal process at some point in its life.

C-41 processed in E-6 comes out green, doesn't it? And interestingly, now that I look closely at the edge markings, I think they're not right for Provia---"FUJI RH", frame numbers, and "RH-223", whereas all the Provia markings I can find say "FUJI RDP III". Cripes, maybe I switched in a C-41 roll without knowing it?

-NT

lxdude · Sep 1, 2011

Fuji shows RH as being Sensia 400; 223 appears to be the emulsion number.

edp · Sep 1, 2011

According to the data sheet, RH is Sensia 400.

http://www.fujifilm.com/products/consumer_film/pdf/sensia_400_datasheet.pdf

edit: I'd have been quicker if I hadn't gone looking for a link.

Athiril · Sep 1, 2011

By blank do they mean the film is clear (with thin images) or is the film black/dark with barely visible images?

ntenny · Sep 1, 2011

It looks like the Sensia edge markings, all right. And the thin images would be explained by overexposure (I shot it at 100). But now I'm back to the original question: What would cause an E-6 film to come out with positive images, but tinted green?

Also, there's the little point that I've never owned a roll of Sensia in my life---certainly not a 24-exposure roll of Sensia. Freestyle (where I get my slide film) doesn't seem to offer any slide film in 24 exposures. The images on the film are mine, so it's not like my roll got switched with someone else's. What *happened* here???

-NT

ntenny · Sep 1, 2011

Athiril said:
By blank do they mean the film is clear (with thin images) or is the film black/dark with barely visible images?

It's clear---well, translucent-light-teal, because the whole roll has this green cast. But it looks like a very thin version of a normal slide roll that's been uniformly tinted greenish.

-NT

Athiril · Sep 1, 2011

ntenny said:
It's clear---well, translucent-light-teal, because the whole roll has this green cast. But it looks like a very thin version of a normal slide roll that's been uniformly tinted greenish.

-NT

Overexposure, overdevelopment (long time, too high temp, over-replenished), or low-activity or underdevelopment in colour developer I would say.

So the black areas (well normally black) where no actual exposure is, is thin too? Hard to imagine a first developer problem for that.. perhaps heavy over-replenishment (too concentrated, more solvent)? Hm.

I'd probably go with a problem in the colour developer step.

Though if they were processed together with other rolls that were fine...

Athiril · Sep 1, 2011

Here are some causes from the Kodak manual

Green:
"Reversal bath exhausted, diluted, or underreplenished
Film fogged by green safelight
Wash used between color developer and reversal bath
Color developer dilute
Color pH high
Too much Part A in color developer
Overreplenished color developer
A dilute color developer
Color developer mixed using first developer starter"

Too light:
"Too much time or high temperature in first developer
Film fogged by light before processing
First or color developer (or both) too concentrated
First or color developer (or both) overreplenished
First developer starter omitted
First developer contaminated with reversal bath or color developer
First developer contaminated with fixer"

bishy · Sep 1, 2011

It is a bit worrying that you shot a roll of Provia 100F,only to find in the film cassette,a 24 exp roll of Sensia 400. I think i read the post right?

I noticed on a roll of Velvia 50 yesterday,the film rewound after frame 32,never had that before. I hope my camera is not playing up,will see on the next roll.

removed account4 · Sep 1, 2011

ntenny said:
It looks like the Sensia edge markings, all right. And the thin images would be explained by overexposure (I shot it at 100). But now I'm back to the original question: What would cause an E-6 film to come out with positive images, but tinted green?

Also, there's the little point that I've never owned a roll of Sensia in my life---certainly not a 24-exposure roll of Sensia. Freestyle (where I get my slide film) doesn't seem to offer any slide film in 24 exposures. The images on the film are mine, so it's not like my roll got switched with someone else's. What *happened* here???

-NT

many years ago we had a small group of tiger barbs in our fish tank.
there were maybe 6 of them ... one day i was counting them
and there were like 7 or 8 fish in there ...
i asked someone who was a fish expert what he thought, seeing our tank
wasn't stress free and i didn't think the fish were going to be able to
increase their population on their own ...

he said: " have you heard of alien abduction theory "
i said: " yup "
he said: " this is just the opposite, you are getting more fish, not less "

so maybe there is a connection with you, and your slides, and film you have never used before ...

maybe ... they aren't yours at all .... but they belong to " another you "

ntenny · Sep 1, 2011

I just figured out where the film came from (and I'm afraid it has nothing to do with John's tiger barbs). A couple of months ago, I opened a drawer in my mother-in-law's kitchen and found an unused roll of Fujichrome 400. She had no real idea how old it was; I checked that it really did say "process E-6", then volunteered to go ahead and shoot it and see what happened. So I did, and put it in the cabinet where I keep E-6 film to be taken in for development, then forgot all about the whole episode.

I'm guessing Fujichrome 400 is an old branding of Sensia, so that explains why I had a roll of film I never expected to have. My advancing years explain why it took me so long to remember that.

Does the age of the film by itself suffice to explain the results? The color shift seems possible (though in the past, when I've shot way-past-date slide film, it's gone pink rather than green), but the thin results seem kind of backwards. If it's lost sensitivity, shouldn't the results look like underexposure, i.e., dark images?

-NT

removed account4 · Sep 1, 2011

aww shucks !

i was going to send you off to Dead Link Removed

i recently had to upgrade my tin foil hat !

john

Slide film came back greenish with faint images

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