What causes this color on the exposed leader of Ektachrome E100?

loccdor · Feb 15, 2025

Both were developed in the same batch of Unicolor (Film Photography Project) 1 pint E-6 kit. I dev'd 3 films in the 3 reel Paterson tank and the E100 is the only one with this color on the exposed leader. The other film shown is Fuji Sensia 400. The E100 is not expired. Anyone know why it's happening?

Hasslebad · Feb 15, 2025

There’s a clean line with the partially exposed leader. It makes it look like the E100 was loaded into the camera in a darker location. It received some light and then the leader was pulled a few mm exposing an additional few mm which shows up as the darker shade. In contrast the roll to the right was loaded into the camera in light and the leader was fully exposed to the part of the film that remained in the canister.

loccdor · Feb 15, 2025

Hmm. I stored the E100 outside of its canister before shooting it, in a clear plastic bag, because I needed to get it checked by airport security. Its leader was exposed to daylight for many hours. That's why I would expect it to be perfectly clear. It's a curiosity.

Ben Hutcherson · Feb 15, 2025

Is the film dry? Given the "milkiness" of the rest of it, I'm guessing not.

I did a roll recently where I was convinced I hadn't bleached/fixed/washed something enough because it had this sort of orange-brown color over all the film when I first pulled it out of the tank.

A few hours later, I check it again and it looks perfect-clear where I expect it to be and no strange red/orange in other places.

Interestingly enough, only one of my two rolls of E100 in that tank did it, too. Both rolls were expired(2022), but both were quite literally out of the same shrink wrapped brick I'd opened earlier in the week. They'd been together since I bought them new at the camera store, were shot on the same day one right after another in the same camera, and had been stored together in the 2 days from when they were shot to when I developed them.

This was using the Bellini kit, but in other E6 kits I've used I've seen weird colors on wet film. I always have to remind myself to not pay any attention to the film until it's dry, and then look for issues with it.

loccdor · Feb 16, 2025

Yes it's been dry for a week. I'm at a loss to figure out what's happening, part of me is wondering if the darker area of the film is somehow bleeding into the clear area.

Samu · Feb 16, 2025

Exposing E6 film from the back looks exactly like in your images. It happens when loading your camera.

adamlugi · Feb 19, 2025

I would like to link up for this thread.
I bought a roll of fresh Kodak Ektachrome -in a roll of 122m. I wound 10 rolls and developed for the first time in Bellini chemistry. I am puzzled by the greenish color of the runners. I don't recall having such before when developing in Jobo chemistry and before that in Fuji. My first thought was that there was something wrong with the chemistry, but it turned out that I also developed Fuji Provia and it is standard as I always had. In addition, I have the impression that the photos are a little cooler, but here it remains a matter of time - I had 7:20 as in Jobo. What do you think. I show two sample photos: the first with two tips are from one of my developing and it is Kodak and Fuji. The second photo just for the sake of example - there is a run-out from Provi in the middle but I received this developed only for scanning. I don't know how it was developed.

loccdor · Feb 19, 2025

In my case I was getting confused about the yellow color but apparently that's just what happens when the slide film is exposed through the reverse side as in loading a camera due to the filtration through the film's layers.

@adamlugi I don't know why your E100 looks that green, mine is clearer than that, almost neutral, but my Fuji film is a little bit pink, which I think may be caused by its expiration. I've noticed that the more years Fuji slide is expired, the higher the intensity I tend to get of a pinkish-purple cast.

Samu · Feb 20, 2025

adamlugi said:
I would like to link up for this thread.
I bought a roll of fresh Kodak Ektachrome -in a roll of 122m. I wound 10 rolls and developed for the first time in Bellini chemistry. I am puzzled by the greenish color of the runners. I don't recall having such before when developing in Jobo chemistry and before that in Fuji. My first thought was that there was something wrong with the chemistry, but it turned out that I also developed Fuji Provia and it is standard as I always had. In addition, I have the impression that the photos are a little cooler, but here it remains a matter of time - I had 7:20 as in Jobo. What do you think. I show two sample photos: the first with two tips are from one of my developing and it is Kodak and Fuji. The second photo just for the sake of example - there is a run-out from Provi in the middle but I received this developed only for scanning. I don't know how it was developed.

The middle film with KS sprocket holes is too dark in the highlights. This os typical when the FD is exhausted (used for multiple times, stored for too long, etc.) This could be the cause for the greenish tint, but if the FD was fresh, one possible culprit is final rinse contaminating the first developer (equipment not washed properly after processing). I doubt there is anything wrong with the film, but suspect this is an issue with processing. Different brands of films can react differently to contaminated chemistry,

Harry Callahan · Feb 20, 2025

loccdor said:
In my case I was getting confused about the yellow color but apparently that's just what happens when the slide film is exposed through the reverse side as in loading a camera due to the filtration through the film's layers.
...

I'd also doubt this. With a (real) movie camera like a 16mm Bolex for example, the film is wound on the reel emulsion in - so the base it facing outside. If you now load such a reel into the camera under light, the film is overexposed completely - though exposed through the base.
In fact you will overexpose several windings of film on the reel, with a 100ISO film it will be about three windings.
So this yellow part on the Ektachrome shouldn`t be happening by loading the film in the camera.
You only could get this if you load the camera under very, very subdued light - but then the sprocket holes also should be yellow.

adamlugi · Feb 21, 2025

Thanks for the responses. At first, I had similar thoughts—that either the FD was contaminated or the CD had the wrong pH, or that Bellini makes weak chemistry. But after comparing it with Provia from the same developing tank, I can’t really agree that it’s the chemistry’s fault—probably .

Maybe the issue lies in a light leak that occurred while rewinding from a large spool into the AP packaging machine. I noticed the leak after about 20 minutes in darkness; before that, I hadn’t seen it. It came from sunlight filtered through a frosted glass pane.

As I mentioned earlier, I feel like the warm tones are missing—not by much, but just a little . What do you think?

koraks · Feb 21, 2025

adamlugi said:
What do you think?

I don't see how a light leak would cause E6 film to get cyan edges and a yellow center.

Harry Callahan · Feb 21, 2025

To me this looks like uneven agitation. Agitation was greater at the perforation than on the image area - or vice versa. I am not familiar with color development, so depending on which bath has what effect etc., i assume such an effect to occur if agitation was not even across the entire film.

What causes this color on the exposed leader of Ektachrome E100?

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What causes this color on the exposed leader of Ektachrome E100?

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