Home E6 Processing - Anyone Here Do It?

[Greg Lockrey]

Adorama will ship E-6 kits. I use them all the time.

[ronald moravec]

I too have had bad luck with 3 bath Tetenal. There was an ocassion where I redid a set up and sent the last sheets out for Kodak.

I thought mine looked good until I compared.

As someone said, it is not hard to do but if you contaminate a bath you will never figure out what went wrong. I always used one shot.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

In the early 1990s I used to develop my own E6 using the Kodak kit. I used a semi-automated rotary developing machine from the 1970s (King Concept) which made the process increadibly easy. I would load 10 rolls of 35mm in the drum, make sure the chemicals were at temperature, and push the button. Results were great, better (I think) than at the local pro-lab. Now I used to shoot hundreds of feet of fim a year so I was saving thousands of dollars by doing it myself.

As I recall, mixing the chemicals was very easy. I used them one-shot so I didn't worry about replenishment, which is the most difficult part of the process. I never used the E3, three-step processes, but heard from friends that the results were good but not quite the same as the six-step.

[Ole Tjugen]

I have had no problems with the JOBO 3-bath kit, used one-shot. Chemicals last for a long time, too.

[John Cahill]

I developed using E-6 (or was it E-4?) years ago, using plastic juice containers, 35 mm reels on pieces of coat hanger, in the bathroom of a studio apartment. Since all was dark, I tape recorded the timing and the steps with music in between. The only thing I can offer to Ole is what was my key to temp control. The large plastic water bath as mentioned--but with an aquarium heater to keep the temp correct.

[Wayne]

I developed my first hundred or two 4x5 chromes in my bathtub darkroom. Once I compared a few that I sent in to a lab, I never went back to DIY. It was no contest. I make up for this character flaw by printing them myself the wet way.

Wayne

[Steve Kefford]

......I can't think of any good reason to do it yourself in small quantities.

The risk of losing valuable shots in the post is one reason.

Steve

[PViapiano]

I always wondered about DIY E-6 or C-41, but with great prices from Calypso or Praus, I think I'll pass...also, my local Samy's does roll film for $5-6, usually next day service.

You know what's interesting though, is that roll film is approx 80 sq in and they do that for $5, but just one 4x5 is around $4.50...seems they could do 4 4x5s for the same price as roll film, unless the setup for large format is more hands-on...?

[Dave Parker]

I always wondered about DIY E-6 or C-41, but with great prices from Calypso or Praus, I think I'll pass...also, my local Samy's does roll film for $5-6, usually next day service.

You know what's interesting though, is that roll film is approx 80 sq in and they do that for $5, but just one 4x5 is around $4.50...seems they could do 4 4x5s for the same price as roll film, unless the setup for large format is more hands-on...?

Depends on what types of setups they have for processing, many 35mm & MF shops use roller processors that are pretty much automatic, and only takes about 1 hour to do, where is many 4x5 and up is a dip and dunk process, or hand process, which requires more monitoring as well as interaction. We used to do our 35mm and 120/220 in a Noritsu machine that virtually required no interaction on our part.

Dave

[Mark_S]

For many of us who live far from a large metropolitan center where there are commercial labs who do E-6, home processing is the only realistic way to go. I use the Kodak kit which I buy from a store which is a 2hr drive from my darkroom. I use a Jobo CPP which does a good job, and is pretty stingy with the volumes of chemicals that you use.
I save the used chemicals in bottles which are turned into the local university which disposes of them. I return the favour by ocaisionally processing a roll of film for them (some of the professors still use 35mm slides in their lectures)

Using the Kodak kit, and the Jobo, I think that my cost of chemicals comes out to about $0.75 per sheet, so it is economically reasonable.