Suggestions for an E-6, non blix, dev kit.

[BMbikerider]

I don't have the original instructions for the 5 litre kit, they have gone long ago, but I used the fix and bleach separately (As included in the kit) with no problems what so ever. No under bleaching, no under fixing at all - just perfectly normal negatives.

 

[BMbikerider]

I've been directed to the Fuji Hunt 5L Kit before but i can not find it within the US.

It was a very good kit but a bit awkward to mix on the developer side. I have always used C41 in the use once and discard method because I find that gave me the most consistent results (unless I was doing a batch the same day) The FUJI developer came I think as 3 or 4 separate bottles and to mix small quantities for a Jobo tank required only 1.5cc from smallest bottle and even using a syringe and a 10cc measure it was not always possible to get that quantity accurate, consequently sometimes the developing was way off the mark. Mainly over or under developed, but there was never a problem with colour balance.

If I use it again and this is quite likely because of the price difference A Fuji kit with 5 litres is only just over £10 more than a Tetenal 2.5 litre kit. I will mix it all at once and store it in sealed glass bottles. The Tetenal kit that followed the first Fuji kit I mixed the developer in one go, but after mixing it was decanted into 4 x 500cc and 5 x 100cc bottles x I heated the bottles in a microwave to 60C and then screwed on the tops. These have neoprene gaskets in the caps which are airtight. When the bottles cooled, the small quantity of air in the neck of the bottles became a semi vacuum with reduced oxygen content. The bottles remained airtight because when the caps were unscrewed there was a sharp intake of air. These were prepared on July 22nd 2019 and are as pale coloured as when they were mixed and still work as intended

 

[eatfrog]

[..] just perfectly normal negatives.

I have always used C41 in the use once and discard method

This thread is about E6, so no negatives nor C41.

 

[peter k.]

I've been directed to the Fuji Hunt 5L Kit before but i can not find it within the US.

If your referring to the E-6 Fugi kit, the only retailer that carries it in the US is Freestyle our of Ca.
https://www.freestylephoto.biz/660162-Fuji-Hunt-Chrome-6X-E-6-Processing-Kit-5-Liters

 

[destroya]

you can buy larger quantities than the 5 liter kit, which is what I did, from unique. it has a much higher up front cost, but using a replenished scheme, works out really well. my replenished working solutions are now over 2 years old and work good as new. I have had to go thru 2 of the color developer and 1st developer boxes, each of which makes 10 liters ( I dod shoot a lot of film over that time) but im still on the 1st purchases of the other solutions, each of which makes 20 liters. I think it was $750 for the first set of chems and then $100 for the next set of 1st and color developer. the downside is the starters. you need 3 and they come in gallon sizes, but you only use like 10ml of each occasionally, so it requires you to buy a lot but it should last my and my sons lifetime!

yes it was is expensive, but still much cheaper that using a lab and MUCH faster. its a trade off. for years I used the tetenal 5 liter blix kits when they were less than $100. but when they switched to 2.5 liter kits at the same cost now as the fuji 7 bath, I moved over. I prefer the results from the fuji chems. they are subtle, but I can tell a slight difference, especially when they are projected. when scanning, there seems to be better color differentiation and no artifacts (?) in the skies and shadows that i did occasionally get with the tetanal kits. also, the individual stock chems last MUCH longer with the fuji than the tetenal did. I use empty wine bladders to store my working solutions and my mixed up solutions for replenishment and top off the stock bottles with propane to keep them fresh.

this might not be a solution for others. I do like to shoot slide film and have almost 700 sheets of velvia 50 in 4x5 and over 600 rolls of 120/220 rolls of slide film in my film freezer. I have been stocking up over the years to make sure I have enough for my film passion. if you have and plan to shoot a lot of slide film, it makes sense in my mind to use the fuji chems. I was told that fuji hunt, who makes the chems, reports back to corporate in japan about the chem sales volume. Not sure its true, but hoping good chem sales keep them making more film. hoping kodak or champion starts selling 5 liter home kits again as that could put pricing pressure on whats available now, unless they come out at a higher price like they did with e100 film.

sorry for the long winded answer, but I prefer the 6 bath kits over the BLIX kits after having used both.

john

 

[destroya]

here is a link to the e-6 fuji developer. you can search for the other baths as well. 20 liters of developer at $54, so you can add the parts you use more often if you buy the 5 liter kit to get started. shipping can and is expensive as they are hazmat shipping and only UPS ground available

https://www.uniquephoto.com/product/fuji-e-6-color-developer-replacement-tm-2x10l-600005460/_/searchString/fuji e-6

also here is the PDF for the 1st devleoper, which is the same as the 5 liter kits sold by freestyle, so you can get an idea of mixing and replenishment.

 

[BMbikerider]

Thanks for the link, but I don't use E6. The Fuji developer was for C41

 

[Henning Serger]

Hello Peter,

Thank you all for your responses but have a question for:
Most likely for your film workshops, your using roll film, and the much simpler developing process, with the Tetenel E6 for these classes. But, .. for your own personal work, when you use the Fugi Hunt kit, is it for roll or sheet film? Or maybe both?

In the workshops it is mainly 35mm and 120. But sometimes sheet film, too. I am using the Fuji Kit currently up to 6x9cm roll films. I am often shooting together with friends who are also using sheet film, and they are also using the Fuji Hunt E6 kit (for the reasons explained above). So we have often side-by-side comparisons of the same subjects, too.

Best regards,
Henning

 

[Henning Serger]

For what is worth I used the Bellini 1L kit with very good results. I got 12 films out of it: 8 is the maximum stated capacity and the additional 4 were expired experimental stuff I had. All came out great, except for a very old roll of velvia.
It is somewhat difficult to source, and I get mine directly in Italy. Sice my jobo has been dead for a couple years, I develop in a big bucket of water constantly checking the temperatures in the jobo tanks. voIf mylumes were higher I would invest in the Fuji kit.

As the keeping properties of the Fuji kit are very good if you store them after opening in full dark glass bottles (and/or with protective gas like Tetenal Protectan), it could be also a reasonable possibility for users with not so high volume.

Best regards,
Henning

 

[Henning Serger]

BLIX is not BLIX. There were many valid arguments against BLIX several years ago, and the all boiled down to "but Tetenal's BLIX is a good BLIX, it works". Tetenal uses a proper bleach accelerator, and they use Ammonium Ferric EDTA, not Sodium Ferric EDTA. They do many things right which some other makers didn't.

Note: all the known ingredients going into Tetenal's BLIX were known at the time when Ron still worked for Kodak and E-6 was still a thing (Mercaptotriazole was patented in the 60ies). At Kodak they did not test by "oh so shiny", they did proper X ray tests to check for retained silver. Apparently they were not satisfied by what their best affordable BLIX compositions at the time delivered.

Yes, BLIX is not BLIX.
And I would never critic the concept of BLIX in general. As explained above, I am using the Tetenal E6 kit regularly mainly for my workshop and coaching work.
As I am shooting quite a lot of colour reversal film p.a., the 5L Fuji kit makes economical sense for me, and I furthermore benefit from the advantages I see and have described above: A (very) small increase in picture quality, better long term stability / keeping properties of the concentrates, more flexibility (operating temperature) and error-tolerance in handling (not so important for me personally).

Best regards,
Henning

 

[Henning Serger]

I have done many "detailed side-by-side tests" and the results from the Tetenal are always as good or better than any pro lab.

Not surprising at all. And I have made the same experience. With both the Tetenal and the Fuji kit used with JOBO rotary processor you get results (if you are working properly) which are often better compared to the results of professional labs.
They are generally better compared to results from labs which are using the waterless mini-lab type roller-transport machines (there are also roller transport machines using the original process with the watering steps).
And they are often also better than water-using roller transport machines and dip-and-dunk processing machines: In a professional lab using these high(er) volume machines replenishing operation is used. But with your home processing you are using perfect completely fresh chemistry.
I have talked with lots of lab owners, including the best labs, about that topic. And they all agree. Some smaller labs have even switched to rotary processing (mostly with a JOBO ATL).
From a quality point-of-view, home processing with a rotary processor delivers perfect quality.
And you have more flexibility: You can process exactly to your own taste (give the slides a bit less or more Dmax e.g.), you can pull and push without extra cost when needed, you are very fast if you process directly after shooting, and if you have very private subjects (nude photography e.g.) you can keep it completely private.
And it is very cheap and easy.

Best regards,
Henning

 

[Tom Kershaw]

Henning,

Have you mounted up medium format transparencies for projection? I was looking at gepe.com earlier and imagining projected 6x7cm slides from my Mamiya 7ii.

Tom

 

[Henning Serger]

Hello Tom,

Henning,
Have you mounted up medium format transparencies for projection? I was looking at gepe.com earlier and imagining projected 6x7cm slides from my Mamiya 7ii.
Tom

yes, of course. I project my 4.5x6 and 6x6 medium format slides with my Rolleivision 66 projector with Schneider AV-Xenotar 2.8/150 lens.
You get 6x7 slide mounts for your Mamiya 7II from Gepe
https://www.gepe.com/products
and Kunze
http://www.journal24.com/
http://www.journal24.com/Media/preislisten/Brutto-2013 Zubehoer-mit-Bild-05-2013.pdf
and Jensen
http://www.jensen-diaprojektoren.de/index.php/de/produkte/diarahmen (6x7 as special order item).

Best regards,
Henning

 

[Tom Kershaw]

As the keeping properties of the Fuji kit are very good if you store them after opening in full dark glass bottles (and/or with protective gas like Tetenal Protectan), it could be also a reasonable possibility for users with not so high volume.

Hello Henning,

Do you mean that decanting the concentrates into smaller bottles is a good idea? I have one of these kits on order to arrive shortly, but I'm much more used the less expensive and higher volume mixing of C-41 Flexicolor 20L... which I then decant into smaller volumes rather than splitting the concentrates up.