how hard is it to process color slide film

Currently I'm beginning B+W development class and have access to the

schools darkroom. Eventually I could see getting a Jobo and setting

up a B+W darkroom of my own.

 

How hard is it to make the jump to process color slide film? No

printing involved, I want to start shooting portraits/fashion with

Fuji Astia 100 slide film in my garage studio and mount and project

the images.

It's very simple. The most dificult thing is mainting a processing temperature of 38C - if you have a Jobo this is easy.

Technically not difficult. Worthwhile is a different question.

 

Home processing is worthwhile if:

 

* You shoot enough E6 to use your chemichals before they go bad.

 

* You have no good labs within commute distance.

 

* Are in a real hurry to see the results.

I've done a bunch of E6, and it's about the same as doing B&W, procedure-wise. Chems in, agitate, chems out, and so on for the required number of steps. Anywhere from a three chemical process, (which is actually a seven step process, ie, 1st dev, wash, color dev, rinse, blix, wash, stab), to eight or ten or more steps. Temp is much more finicky, but you just use a water bath to keep everything right. The main thing is cost vs commercial processing. You can about match Fuji's price for mailer processing, as long as you don't let your chems go bad between rolls. The main advantage for me is I can shoot up a roll and have it hanging in the dryer in about an hour. Then you have to cut and mount them, unless you are just going to scan film strips.

 

The first time I did trans film I thought I'd ruined it. The wet film looked kind of weird, but when dry, all was well.

 

You can get a kit that will do about six rolls of 35mm 36 exp for around $20.

Yeah that is what I was thinking. Shoot Friday night, view in a few hours as opposed to a few days (my local pro lab runs set schedule only certain days of the week), or a few weeks via mailers. Maybe not as cost effective as if I went digital, but doable and far more enjoyable, which is why I want to do it in the first place.

 

I've been considering selling half or most of my film gear and get a D70, but that just seems like capitulation and I don't want a digital version of my N80 which is what I think of the D70.

 

I definately want to experiment with color slides as well as shoot B+W, develop B+W, and enlarge B+W, so I'll have a hard time parting with the F5 and will be in the darkroom anyway.

 

Hmmm... Maybe a Mamiya RB or Rz67 should be in my plans.

 

Thanks for the commments and opinions.

One thing does not outrule another. I got a D70 to complement my N70. Both of them are good but for different things.

 

On the other hand: One of my most enjoyable photographic experiences is watching my medium format slides. I got hold of a projector and these slides on the big screen simply blows you away. As for a 6x7 camera (as nice as the slightly larger format may be) projectors are much harder to find than for 6x6.

Hmmm, it's interesting that you mention home processing slide film and them mention a Mamiya RB67. Here's a shot I took on my new old Mamiya RB67 and processed at home yesterday! I used the standard 90mm lens - the camera's bellows are great for close up shots.

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Film was Velvia 100F.

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<img src = "http://gallery.leica-users.org/albums/Misc/lily_001.jpg">

Totally agreed with Ake on "worthness" but one thing he forgot to mention: Is your time worth it doing E-6 processing?

 

I am telling you, it is really long process coompared to B&W. For me, it took about an hour to prepare all seven chemicals and one hour per round. That means you have to watch your clock for all seven chemicals (including the final rinse) and two washes. Unless you are doing 2-4 rolls at a time, it is very time consuming.

 

If you can bear with time consuming issue, I think it is definitely worth it. I am not sure if this is normal, but the concentrates last a bit more than a month, so the chemical oxydization wasn't much issue for the concentrates. With 5L Kodak kit, I developed 9 rolls of 135, 5 rolls of 120 and 2 rolls of 220, and I still had some concentrates left. That doesn't include some extra mixed chemical used in fear of oxydization... (400 ml vs 250 ml)

 

With Jobo CP series, you should be just fine with E6 development (I am doing it with CPE-2+)

I bought a tempering bath and a bunch of stainless reels and taks off eBay. Greedy guy that I am, I naturally bought more than I'll ever use, but that's another story. I've had a couple of accidents, like mismeasuring the first developer (1/8" down the whole roll was dark, only a few pieces shot on black backgrounds survived that) and not getting the lid firmly on (I've since bought an innertube and have cut big rubber bands to slip over where the lid and tank meet).

 

Anyway, using the Kodak 5-liter one-shot kit, it takes me about a half hour to mix up a liter each of the seven solutions. That's enough for four rolls of 35mm, so I'll get 20 rolls out of the entire kit. I think it cost about $80 with shipping, so $4.00 per roll.

 

Once the solutions are at temperature, it takes 38 minutes of hands-on process until the finished film is hanging up to dry. So far I've mostly souped one roll at a time, but I can do anything from one to four with this system.

 

My local mom-and-pop photo finisher has a Phototherm SideKick and they run E-6 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings and charge me $8.00. When it fits the schedule, I throw my film through their slot. I don't have them mount the film, so the $1.00 a roll for mounts and the time involved is the same.

 

If I lived anywhere near a pro lab that runs E-6 all day everyday I wouldn't consider running it myself. But I'm just starting to do this professionally, and I feel I have to be able to control the processing step or risk disaster. But based on what my time is worth, it costs a whole lot more to do it myself.

 

On the other hand, slides are stunning compared to most digital shots, and doing it yourself gets you almost the same instant gratification that makes digital so popular.

 

Van

I've written some stuff up on my website on this very topic -- rather than re-posting it here, I'll put in a link: http://www.photosensitive.ca/slides.shtml

 

Sorry for the shameless self-promotion but you may find some answers to your questions there.