Think I've just shot my last E6 film!

[wiltw]

I am "new" to photography, but i was born in 1960.
So it dawns on me.......i have only seen slides projected 5-6-7 times in my life, and Only 35mm.
6x6 MUST Be Glorious.

About 25 years ago I took a workshop taught at the time by Marion Patterson a contemporary of Ansel Adams, who had worked for Virginia and Ansel Adams in Yosemite, and who was chair of the Foothill College photography program. (She began studies at the San Francisco Art Institute with such luminaries as Dorothea Lange and Minor White, as well.) Each student was asked to shoot during a class outing, to select three shots, and then to project them to the other workshop students later during the semester. I shot on 645 and projected shots to the same screen size as the 135 shooters using my medium format projector. So I had no advantage in image projection size. Nevertheless there was a noticable 'gasp' from the other class members at the visual impact of the medium format images, to which Ms. Patterson commented to the class about the quality achievable with medium format and why so many 135 shooters so often upgraded to medium format.

I remember the first time I took a workshop sponsored by Hasselblad and taught by photographer Ernst Wildi, and he projected slides taken with his Hasselblad. Indeed, it can be a stunning thing to see.

It is truly sad, with the demise of so many emulsions (including all of my favorites) and with the disappearance of quality E-6 processing labs, and the disappearance of processes like Cibachrome what has been happening in traditional film-based photography over the past 15 years.

 

[cooltouch]

I process my own E6 now. Yeah you have to set up a bath to monitor the temperature, but that's pretty easy to do. And it's worth it. For a $25US kit, I can process several rolls, gets the cost of process per roll down to just a couple bucks. I don't bother mounting my slides. I keep the strips in archival sleeves, since I don't project them.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I developed E4 in a basement sink while I was in high school. It was not hard to do.

 

[etn]

Yep, E6 is just too expensive to be sustainable.

Not sure about that. It can be a niche market for those willing to pay the price.
My fear is that despite high prices, E6 does not make a profit to manufacturers and will disappear. This will be a sad day for photography.

 

[AgX]

Not sure about that. It can be a niche market for those willing to pay the price.
My fear is that despite high prices, E6 does not make a profit to manufacturers and will disappear. This will be a sad day for photography.

We should put things in perspective.
At the moment one can get in Germany locally a slide from about 8€ (film + processing), a cheapish small print from about 6€ (film + processing + prints).
Add a few Euros for a 35mm slide projector and you can present impressive images.

Nevertheless E-6 films seem nailed to the shelves...

 

[Minoltafan2904]

I think Ektachrome coming out will make more labs offer E-6 and at a lower cost.
I pay far more for E-6 than C-41 processing but i'm willing to pay that because it's so good.

 

[RattyMouse]

I think Ektachrome coming out will make more labs offer E-6 and at a lower cost.
I pay far more for E-6 than C-41 processing but i'm willing to pay that because it's so good.

There's no evidence that I can find that indicates E-6 labs are opening up or will open up in the near future. None at all.

 

[RattyMouse]

Not sure about that. It can be a niche market for those willing to pay the price.
My fear is that despite high prices, E6 does not make a profit to manufacturers and will disappear. This will be a sad day for photography.

You disagree with my point and then state the exact point that I make.

 

[removed account4]

While some think E6 is expensive, not being about to recall a scene from memory is much more expensive.

i can see what you are saying but depending on the flavor of slide film
it renders the scene differently .. isn't everything just an interpretation of
what you think you might have seen ? some things in life are illusions
that we have to interpret ...
regarding expense i its really not expensive considering there are no prints involved.
a roll fo 35mm c41 ( or 120 ) there are 2 fees involved. one for the negatives and one for the prints..
no matter where one lives there is always a postal / courrier / delivery service that can
transport chromes to a lab and return the gift ... as long as there is 1 that's all that matters isn't it ?
i mean dwaynes was the last koduckhrome lab in the world ... ( and they still do E6 )

 

[Sirius Glass]

i can see what you are saying but depending on the flavor of slide film
it renders the scene differently .. isn't everything just an interpretation of
what you think you might have seen ? some things in life are illusions
that we have to interpret ...
regarding expense i its really not expensive considering there are no prints involved.
a roll fo 35mm c41 ( or 120 ) there are 2 fees involved. one for the negatives and one for the prints..
no matter where one lives there is always a postal / courrier / delivery service that can
transport chromes to a lab and return the gift ... as long as there is 1 that's all that matters isn't it ?
i mean dwaynes was the last koduckhrome lab in the world ... ( and they still do E6 )

Judy Collins: "I have seen the clouds from both sides now"

 

[removed account4]

yep

 

[blockend]

In the 1990s I was shooting lots of slide film. A brick of 10 rolls of 36 exp Fuji Sensia was £50, £5 a roll including process paid envelopes. The UK inflation rate calculator offers a x1.89 multiplier from 1995 to 2018. Let's call it x 2, so film and processing should be £10 per roll, based on a £100 brick. I don't know of any source of transparency film and processing for £10. I shot my last 35mm rolls of slide 3 years ago and can't see me buying more. There are about 10 rolls of 120 transparency film left in the freezer, then I'm done.

I always thought Film Ferrania were taking a hell of a risk building an E6 plant. Black and white still has a ready market.

 

[warden]

I always thought Film Ferrania were taking a hell of a risk building an E6 plant. Black and white still has a ready market.

For sure, it's a hard row to hoe for a startup. Hopefully they can keep the doors open with P30 and similar products while they work on the E6 puzzle (and watch the market develop, or not, for Ektachrome).

 

[destroya]

i just bought a bunch of velvia 50 in 120 for $7.69 a roll. add to that my home dev cost of around $3 a roll and its still, to me, financially viable.

 

[etn]

You disagree with my point and then state the exact point that I make.

Probably a misunderstanding of your post on my side in the first place. Sorry for that.

 

[etn]

We should put things in perspective.
At the moment one can get in Germany locally a slide from about 8€ (film + processing), a cheapish small print from about 6€ (film + processing + prints).
Add a few Euros for a 35mm slide projector and you can present impressive images.

Or medium format for not much more... even more impressive !

 

[AgX]

With MF the supply with cheap projectors is much more difficult though.
I once bought a 6x6 tray projector for 5€, BUT lacking a tray. These days I bought a sliding stage MF projector with a simple lens for 15€. I once got a stack of 6x6 mounts too. But local supply is utmost scarce.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

i just bought a bunch of velvia 50 in 120 for $7.69 a roll. add to that my home dev cost of around $3 a roll and its still, to me, financially viable.

I shoot Velvia 50 in 120 but develop them outside in labs. Do you have a link where I can see some of your photos?