Bill Glickman
2-Apr-2001, 21:59
I have a lot of 4x5 color chromes that show a tremendous amount of grain in the skies, specially noticeable in transition areas between different colors in suns et scenes. The look, even under a 4x loupe seems to be "peppered", as if someo ne took a pen and dotted a different color over the background. Since a lot of this film was Provia and Velvia, I sent it to Fuji engineers for review, they ha d no explanation. (these scenes are all properly exposed)
An experienced darkroom guy told me that this occurs when the bleaching pro cess is done using exhausted bleach. Here was his comments....
It's the bleach. What you see is SILVER that is not dissolved by the fix, becaus e the bleach is not oxidized enough. We had the same problem in our lab years a go with Fuji's Velvia, which is hardly the worst to fix and wash out. Making a new run from Prebleach on will remove the silver but can alter the color.
My questions to any experienced E-6 guys out there....
1. Would you agree this problem is most likely from exhausted bleach. I can e mail a small sample of a sunset to demonstrate what the problem looks like if an yone is interested.
2. If so, would running this through a second bleach fix the problem? What are the risks?
3. If you feel its not an exhausted bleach issue, what else can cause this?
Thank you all in advance.
An experienced darkroom guy told me that this occurs when the bleaching pro cess is done using exhausted bleach. Here was his comments....
It's the bleach. What you see is SILVER that is not dissolved by the fix, becaus e the bleach is not oxidized enough. We had the same problem in our lab years a go with Fuji's Velvia, which is hardly the worst to fix and wash out. Making a new run from Prebleach on will remove the silver but can alter the color.
My questions to any experienced E-6 guys out there....
1. Would you agree this problem is most likely from exhausted bleach. I can e mail a small sample of a sunset to demonstrate what the problem looks like if an yone is interested.
2. If so, would running this through a second bleach fix the problem? What are the risks?
3. If you feel its not an exhausted bleach issue, what else can cause this?
Thank you all in advance.