Check me before I drop $200 in chemicals for C-41 / E-6 processing at home...

[Corran]

Funny story - I have about 300 sheets of color film from a couple of unplanned purchases that I couldn't pass up (some transparency film at less than $0.30 per sheet). Yeah it's slightly expired and likely to have color shifts. Hence not wanting to spend over $1000 in processing fees.

So I've picked up some items and I'm hoping some folks can double-check my plan here:

I just got a really nice water pump/heater that recirculates water and warms it to a very exacting degree. I've got an 11x14 tub on my workstation filled with about 5 inches of water, and a Kodak process thermometer to insure proper temperature. Immersed in this will be 3 Combiplan tanks that hold exactly 2L of chemistry. Preliminary tests show that everything should stay at the proper temperature after a bit of time acclimating. It doesn't get very cold down here so ambient temps are not screwing up the tempering.

I am looking at the Tetenal C-41 and E-6 5L kits from Freestyle. About $200 after shipping total. I want to mix up just 2L of chemistry at a time, and use it in the tanks as needed, stored in 2L bottles to minimize oxidation. For C-41, I'll have a pre-wash bath, developer, and bleach. I'll find another tank somewhere and have the reversal bath for E-6 as well.

I figured I would just load up to 6 sheets of film in the Combiplan holders and do a dip 'n' dunk development in the dark, using the pre-wash bath to rinse between steps to minimize chemistry contamination. Do lifts instead of inversions as noted in the Tetenal instructions Sounds pretty straight-forward, but I have this persistent fear of screwing up $200, because I'm missing something here...

What do you experienced color developers think?

[Jody_S]

I don't know, I'm in the exact same situation (but at $0.20 a sheet for 8x10).

[vinny]

I don't know about your lift inversion plan. the film shouldn't leave the 100 degree chems at any point unless you're keeping your darkroom at 100 as well:)
how are you going to do your rinses (after step 1 E-6, etc) at 100 degrees in the dark?

[polyglot]

You generally want constant agitation for this and (if possible) get kits with separate bleach and fix baths.

[RedSun]

If you process quantity of sheet film on a regular basis, that is a good plan. If not, you'd waste chemicals. The mixed chemicals in the working tank do not last very long.

It is not a problem if you do this on a regular basis and you replenish your chemical.

[Richard Wasserman]

I don't know about using a Combiplan for color processing. I do know that I get much better results with C-41 chemistry that has separate bleach and fix. The Tetanal C-41 kit with blix that I tried did not work well for me. I use a Phototherm processor.

[Michael_4514]

I would not use the prewash bath to rinse the film between steps, at least not if you're going to use the water for more than one batch. There's just no need to rinse the film between the developer and the blix.

Frankly, I don't see the point of doing all this in the dark. You're not going to process anything faster or better than pouring the chemicals in and out of the combi-tanks.

[Corran]

unless you're keeping your darkroom at 100 as well:)
how are you going to do your rinses (after step 1 E-6, etc) at 100 degrees in the dark?

Well depends on the season! :) Seriously though, it's usually 80F in there or so, will it affect it that much to lift slightly?

I figured that having 4 tanks lined up, with the first being a water bath, would work. Just keep sticking it back in the water bath to rinse off the film. The residual chemicals in the water will be diluted so much it shouldn't affect anything, right? Hopefully?


You generally want constant agitation for this and (if possible) get kits with separate bleach and fix baths.

I have not seen the E6 instructions, but I was going by the C-41 instructions given for inversions/lifts every 30 seconds. I could do it every 15 seconds, with half as many inversions instead?

As for a separate bleach and fix...well I'm trying to be economical. My results with Tetenal C-41 blix has been good. I've done both individual sheets in a BTZS tube as well as 120 rolls in tanks with no issues.


The mixed chemicals in the working tank do not last very long.

It is not a problem if you do this on a regular basis and you replenish your chemical.

I was going to pour the chemicals back into 2L bottles after finishing to hopefully prevent oxidation. I've heard this works relatively well, up to 6 months?


I would not use the prewash bath to rinse the film between steps, at least not if you're going to use the water for more than one batch. There's just no need to rinse the film between the developer and the blix.

Frankly, I don't see the point of doing all this in the dark. You're not going to process anything faster or better than pouring the chemicals in and out of the combi-tanks.

I should note that I only have the Combiplan tanks, no lids or anything else. They might not even be Combiplan tanks, I just got them along with some CP holders. They are just plain basic metal tanks, about 8x6x6 inches maybe. I highly doubt I'll be doing more than one batch of 6 sheets at a time. Even though I have a ton of film, I still don't shoot willy-nilly, and I develop pretty promptly after shooting a batch.

Thanks for the help so far!!

[John O'Connell]

I've done sheet developing in tanks for E-6 in pretty much the manner you've described. Mine were done with intermittent agitation using the Kodak home E-6 kit and have held up fine for ten years. I doubt you'll see too much color shift from the inconsistencies of home processing.

[Thebes]

A decade and a half ago in college I sometimes souped C41 and E6 in home hobbyist type kits using a daylight tank bathed in a sink with hot water trickling in and a dial type thermometer to help me keep the temperature very vaguely consistent.
I had some color shifts from this, but less than I've had with some expired films processed at pro labs.
Your setup sounds much better than mine was, you'll do fine if you don't expect perfection.

[Corran]

Since I don't do color wet prints I'm not terribly worried about color perfection, since most things I can fudge in Photoshop if I'm going to print them.

Other things I may WANT the imperfect colors. It adds to the fun. I'll still likely send my important, fresh E-6 shots to the lab.

I'm just looking for reasonably good results, and a good return on investment with regards to chemistry. If $200 in chems will do me for most of this expired film it'll be worth it to me to shoot and have fun with it.

[jcoldslabs]

Bryan,

Please report back on your progress. I have a lot of old 8x10 slide film that I have not yet shot because I don't want to pay $9/sheet for processing, especially when the colors are sure to be shifted anyway.

Speaking of that, since most of my expired film tends to shift in the magenta direction, would processing it hotter or colder chems work against this color shift? I don't mind wacky colors (cross processing is an option, too), but I'd rather not augment the shifted colors by pushing them further down that same end of the spectrum.

Jonathan

[polyglot]

You can achieve shifts on the blue/yellow axis with the Fuji E6 kit by adjusting pH in the colour developer.

[Corran]

I read about that somewhere, but I'm definitely not ready for that kind of fine control on processing. I also am not sure I need it, for what I am wanting to do.

Sounds like some folks have had success with a similar method. I might try it first with the C-41 stuff and report back, and then buy the E-6 kit, we'll see. Right now FS is out of stock on the 5L C-41 kit anyway so apparently I'll have to wait till the end of the month regardless.