Successfully developed a monochrome positive at home - modified E-6

[Corran]

I've been toying with this idea for awhile, and it came up again in that recent thread about monochrome positives and dr5, etc.

I finally got some chemicals to give it a go. I discovered an article years ago about how to do this and had the recipe saved. Can't find the article now.

Basically this is an E-6 transparency with the color developer replaced by a thiocarbamide-based toner that gives a vintage brownish-yellow tone to the slide. I might experiment with the chemicals to get a more brown than yellow tint. The toner is just 10g of thiourea, 20g of sodium hydroxide, and 2L of water.

I'm experimenting now with basic b&w film to get a good positive image. So far the higher tones are crushed down to a flat greyish tone. Going to go try another test now.

For now, here's a snap of the film right off my light table, with about accurate colors/contrast to the actual film. I know most of you have no need for a monochrome positive, but, it's really cool nonetheless!

http://www.oceanstarproductions.com/photosharing/DSC_0019-ess.jpg

[MMELVIS]

I am very interested in your results. Keep posting your findings

[Corran]

I tried some things but ultimately failed. Will try again later, too tired right now to do more.

What I found was some b&w films have incredibly soft emulsions after this process. Not sure if it's the heat of the development process or the toner chemicals or what. HP5+ was bad and the emulsion was just rubbing off with my fingers. Too bad because the tones were nice. And some Plus-X 35mm film I tried was almost blank after after processing, the emulsion having dissolved.

T-Max 100 worked fine but had really dingy whites. I will experiment more with that later.

Also, I updated the above picture with a slightly more accurate photo, having looked again at the positive. The positive looks really nice - and I've got some of this film in 8x10. Thinking about a collection of images set in lightbox frames.

[David Lobato]

Cool idea. Keep us posted.

[Corran]

For posterity, here's the HP5+ sheet with the emulsion problem. T-Max worked fine but I think I need to develop it longer and expose it at about EI 25. Will test soon but it's too dark to shoot and I had to work all day.

http://www.oceanstarproductions.com/photosharing/bwpos-2049ss.jpg

[IanG]

There's no real point in using E6 first developer with conventional B&W films, and you need to work at no more than about 27ºC if you do.

You can control the colour of the final image a bit with Thiourea by adjusting the pH with Sodium or Potassium Hydroxide, th more alkali the deeper/darker the sepia brown tones.

Ian

[Corran]

Hi Ian,

Yes, the E6 FD was just out of convenience. The original process involved using normal E-6 (color) film, just substituting the toner for the CD. I would prefer developing a method for using b&w film instead, which conceivably still works.

I probably need to find a nice long scale film/developer combination since this method seems to need a real deep density in the highlights from the first development process. When I have some time I'll be trying a few more options.

[Corran]

I tried this again with b&w film and even severely overexposing and overdeveloping, I still got dark, muddy images when reversed.

Perhaps this method will only work with color film. However, that might be a good way to use a large amount of older expired films I've been given/bought that aren't really useful for critical work.

I will post more images as I continue to experiment. I hope someone finds it helpful.

[Liquid Artist]

What I found was some b&w films have incredibly soft emulsions after this process. Not sure if it's the heat of the development process or the toner chemicals or what. HP5+ was bad and the emulsion was just rubbing off with my fingers. Too bad because the tones were nice. And some Plus-X 35mm film I tried was almost blank after after processing, the emulsion having dissolved.


I would have been surprised otherwise.

A friend of mine kept on taking his B&W film to a drug store and discovering the sale thing not knowing that it was a different process.


I think that the chemistry is too harsh for your B&W film, however you can see what happens in B&W developer heated to 27 degrees, or lower the E7 chemistry temp to a more recommended temp and adjust the timing.

[Corran]

That's what I did recently - I developed the b&w as normal with normal chemistry, and then did the toning at room-temperature for an extended time, and same for the bleach/fix step.

Still dark and muddy, and the emulsion was still very soft at the end, but once it dried it was okay. So it works, but it needs tweaking. T-Max 100 for some reason has no problem with the emulsion though.

I am just experimenting at this point and have gone way off the "beaten path" so to speak. I enjoy a bit of experimentation :).

[Liquid Artist]

If I remember correctly Ilford does Not recommend reverse processing HP - 5 even in dedicated B&W chemistry. Now we know why.

On the other hand Kodak says their tmax is suitable.