sofa queen retarded antique Ektachrome development

I bought these chemicals and needed a vintage E-something Ektachrome to try ..as new as possible preferably E-3
I found some
Ektachrome E-3 Daylight 1976 ..last year of E-3? ASA 50
Doubt it was kept cold

Since there isn't any real dependable snow around here yet I didn't want to mix up a kit for it to expire before I was able to shoot some
so I tried to SOS it

Ektachrome first developer (E-1 process)
mixed up great

Hardener packet from Printon process
Lavender in color and mixed up quite concord grape ..no reason to believe not the original color, though

Reversal exposure by photoflood 5 seconds

Color developer
I have plenty Ansco color developer so I figured I'd try it
older can paper label ..maybe mid 50's-60's?
paper container with sodium hydroxide? turned water nice fushia/magenta
rest of can and solution goes cloudy/dim white

clearing bath = hypo clear
I do have Ektachrome E-1 clear/fix bath but didn't use it

Bleach is a Printon bleach, I believe. ferricyanide. I use it for printing so had it mixed up already

Fixer=rapid fix

didn't bother with stabilizer
What's the process for turning paraformaldehyde into formaldehyde/formalin?
Gotta heat it but ...



Shot the daylight film indoors with illumination from photoflood
no filter to correct
close-up shot
1 second measured at ASA 15
I gave 12 and 20 seconds due to fog restrainer slowing film speed (I shot the film like a test strip)

Processing went smoothly
I added .4ml per 500ml of Orthazite to first developer for age fog control
12 minutes (normal time is 10)

The film was very dark at reversal exposure. Couldn't see any image, really

Cut sheet in half at 12 minutes in Color Developer
Other half stayed in till 22 minutes (normal time is 15 minutes 75 degrees)
I didn't know what the wrong CD would do, if anything, so I gave a short and long and forgot about "correct"

Bleach for 15 minutes shorter CD half and 8-10 for 22 minutes half
(8 minutes is normal)

Fixed for whatever minutes. 10?



RESULTS 12 minutes CD half
Well, I can see faint image on the film though it is very dark brownish green in reflected light..objects appear lighter green in outline

Transmitted light strong bulb I can see colors. Orange/yellow/blue/red etc quite accurate without much of a cast .. towards green a bit


RESULTS 22 minutes in CD half
same appearance by reflected light

Transmitted light strong bulb colors seem more muted/murky
10-12 seconds is far better exposure than 20
Strong red cast
Too long in color developer makes stronger red cast, right?


Drying dark making the film essentially black ..nearly as dark as the base layer


It seems that if the heavy, foggy density overlaying the film were removed and color corrected
the image would appear quite acceptable

Is this JUST age fog?




Hopefully pretty soon I'll have reason to mix up an E-3 kit



How do I dispose of these chemicals? On septic





If you read all that and can help in any way...Thanksgiving

great experiment

I too like fiddling with long expired materials.

Not sure of the effect of too long a developer for too red. I know that when printing RA-4 exposure has the greatest bearing on red, but it isn't a reversed process.

The too dark when dry suggests fog. I believe fog will build with development and be present in both the first and cd.

Too dark suggests try longer first developer. If that is to no avail - perhaps a flash exposure after or before the camera exposure, like one does with lithographic film, to get the exposed image up off of the toe of the exposure HD curve and above the fog. That should give you a thinner positive in the end, because more of the image will be above the fog after the fist developer, and hence the first developer induced fog will be bleached away.

As to controlling fog brought up by the action of the CD - that one is beyond me.

As to disposal - first and cd - oxidize them by tossing air into the solution though a fish tank bubble stone until they are black - this will cut their BOD- which will otherwise potentially mess with you septic microbes, then neutralize with citric acid/ or weak acetic acid etc to get the solution from alkaline (CD usually quite alkaline) down to a more neutral pH.

A poor test for when a solution is no longer alkaline is when it stops feeling 'slippery' when fingers are rubbed together in it. With the old developing agents, in the CD particularly, i would not recommend this as the testing means.

As to the bleach, I would recommend sending it to HHW depot. I sometimes dehydrate mine in a stainless steel tray left out in the garage, and scrape the mist wetted residue into a small jar and turn it in that way. I do the same thing for fixers.

Remember that fog with reversal film gives lighter images in the final transparency.

Therefore, it sounds like insufficient first developer.

Also, Dicolamine, the color developer in Ansco color developers, and the Phenethy Amine in them makes the color developing solution more potent. So it could be overdevelopment or too potent of a solvent in the color developer.

PE