E-6 Home Processing - General Questions

<p>Hi,<br>

I'll readily admit that I am a beginner when it comes to at-home processing, so please spare me typical "Just go to the lab" or "You don't know what you're getting yourself into" comments that I've seen other people receive. I've been doing film photography for almost four years now, and it's time I step up and do it myself, obviously what else could be better than having control over your medium?</p>

<p>I'm about to purchase a Kodak E-6 processing kit, but I have a few (stupid) questions that I have to make sure of. My darkroom teacher has only ever worked with black & white developing, as I have, and I live in a very small town so I have no one else to come to with these questions. ;( I need to know that I'm buying enough of the necessary materials to make this work. I've pretty much invested over a million hours of research on the internet, but of course, everyone has got something different to say.</p>

<p>1. Other than the fixer, I assume, and the developer (for a short period of time, I'm aware) - what else is possibly recyclable? I would assume nothing else, but just in case, I don't want to waste anything. And also which developer can be reused again for a few more runs - the first developer or the color developer, or both?</p>

<p>2. I'm considering buying some fancy vacuum-seal type storage bottles - are they worth it? How long will recycled/reused color chemicals last until I make a new batch? Can you use cheaper alternative containers? I read someone once used canned air or something of the sort to keep his chemicals good for a ridiculous six months - is this possible?</p>

<p>3. I'm probably going to buy an aquarium heater or whatnot but in case it is out of my budget range, is it really that bad to use your hottest tap water (which is really rather hot anyway)? What maximum temperature can regular heated tap water reach, and is it above 100 F enough that any expected temperature drop would not be too detrimental? I've heard a ton of answers to this question, but I'd like to hear yours, and I know other people have survived without any kind of submersible water heater, though I'd like to know my chances.</p>

<p>4. How exactly do you heat up your chemicals? Do you dilute with 100 F water and then keep it in a water bath, or can you dilute with regular water and keep the container in a water bath until it reaches the maximum temp? I guess this question sounds rather stupid, but I'd like people to be more specific in explaining the method because I just haven't found enough consistent information on the web.</p>

<p>5. Finally, what do you do with your waste? Do you put it in a hazardous waste bucket and do the whole be-safe-gig? I want to minimize pollution as much as I can. I know many dumps figure this out by "big steel tanks underground", but how do you guys actually safely deal with your chemicals?</p>

<p>6. How many beakers do I need? Seven? What exactly is "final rinse"? Is it similar to photoflo, etc.? Basically, does every chemical really need its own beaker or is there a way around it?</p>

<p>Thanks so much for any answer,<br /> ~J.</p>

<p>Tap water can be up to 160F, all depends on what the water heater is set to. Before you even buy the E6 chemicals, do a run or two with an empty tank and see if you can control the temp to EXACTLY what is required. You will need containers for each chemical, no way out of that. You can store the chemistry in clean recycled soft drink bottles. You can also use them for the beakers during the processing run.</p>

<p>You also need a very accurate thermometer, and that will also tell you how hot your hot water is. :)</p>

<p>I'd really recommend a few months and quite a few rolls of home processing of black and white before you attempt E6. E6 isn't hard, you just have to be very precise, way more so that running Plus-X in D76.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>The Kodak E-6 processing kit is a one-time useage deal. It really is not worth to re-use even the developer. I have been doing home E-6 processing for about 15 years - but I do use a Jobo processor to make sure that I have consistency in temperature, agitation and timing. These factors are quite important with E-6. When I use the Kodak kit, I only mix the amount of chemicals that I'll need - the rest stays undiluted.</p>

<p>I am sure there is some way to do all this by hand (tempering baths, etc.) but I wonder why you would want to do this. There are way more exciting developments to embark on, than E-6. It is not difficult, it is just a matter of precision.</p>

<p>1. No other chemical. I think I recall seeing E-6 replenisher. It's pretty toxic stuff, and the reason I don't do it at home anymore. It ruined the pipes at an old house where I used to have a darkroom.<br>

2. Not unless they're really fancy. As I recall, E-6 is pretty much mix for use. For containers, you might look at some dark glass containers that can take a vacuum top like you might use for a wine bottle (and not the cheap kind).<br>

3. Most tap water is not much over 110 or 120 degrees. Technically you're not killing bacteria on your skin unless the temp is 110 degrees, and few heaters are set that high. I was able to get one up to 140 degrees, but that was it.<br>

4. I used a hot pad type stove, a pot of water, and bring it to temp. Then put the container with the chemistry into it, then go once it hit the right temp.<br>

5. Waste is the reason I gave it up. I was dumping it until my conscience didn't allow me to do it anymore. You can sometimes find a lab to take it, but if you're in a small town, maybe you don't have one. Again, it's the reason I gave up color processing.<br>

6. Final rinse is water. You should keep the developer from other steps, but I used to wash out the graduate really really well (which you're not supposed to do, but I didn't have problems).</p>

<p>I began doing this a couple of weeks ago, and I had the same kinds of questions.</p>

<p><strong>E-6 is ridiculously easy.</strong> Everything I heard about it being complicated or sensitive was wrong! You will fall backwards into success blindfolded, probably. If you are a beginner, it will be harder for you to load the reel than screw up the chemistry. Easy.</p>

<p>I use a water bath; aquarium heater was suggested for me, but I did not need it; I mix to 500mL volumes, so I use Ziploc plastic tubs with lids; I have used and reused chem in this kit several times; I won't use chem more than three times before discarding (3X by film surface area, I test strip stuff sometimes); I dump it all in a bucket and take it to Hazmat Saturday, my county does an "anything goes" residential disposal drop off program once a month.</p>

<p>I found that E6 was actually very easy. I suppose to get "professional" results one might have to be picky. For me, the kit worked the first time out. It is basically foolproof. Since there are no exposure or enlargement calculations involved, I think it might actually be easier than ordinary black and white processing. I waited over 25 years to try this. What a waste! It was super easy. Go ahead and run some E-6. As a beginner, you will need some experience to help you along; do some black and white; get a practice roll for the reel; but, don't wait years to try E-6. It is easy.</p>

<p>They just should have called it "Easy-Six!"</p>

<p>The "final rinse" in the kit is a water softener. It is similar to photo-flo, but if I remember right, it has a different chemical composition. When you dilute it, you will see it is an obvious water softener. But, that's more important for slides; a bad water spot in there, and the image is ruined with no way to work around it.</p>

<p>You will still need to rinse the slide strip with water anyway. There will be traces of suds on the slides otherwise. So, it's the last solution, but the final rinse will actually be water, as above. To make it easier to mix the smallest quantities, use a syringe without the hypodermic needle. That will get you to quantities below 10mL, easy.</p>

<p>For water bath, I just put the tubs in a larger tub, fill it with hot water until the solution tubs float, drop the loaded developing tank in there (sealed) to heat up, take a break, come back, dump the water out, reload fresh hot water in, and start processing. By the time I am to the end of the process, I am still within tolerances. Super easy. For organization, I write a number on the tub and on the lid that goes with the tub, so I can keep the solutions straight. Mark 'em.</p>

<p>I also found the solution very forgiving. Time your first run of first developer to 6' 30". If it's too dark, go to seven minutes. If seven minutes doesn't cut it, you won't get much advantage by going over times. I have experimented with that some; it's just best to stick to the plan outlined by Kodak. If you have "blech" "average" exposures, and run the standard times, your slides will come out alright. I think it's great! I feel it was very forgiving. Pretty much everything I heard about color processing at home being hard was way off, for me. I found using the E-6 kit from Kodak to be easy and fun, and I will keep on using it. It's not hard; it's basically foolproof for amateur use. You'll get some minor variations in there; but, it's basically easy and very simple.</p>

<p>I saw the results, and have considered selling my DSLR ever since. It's basically that easy. If you do not fall backwards into success with this kit, post a question, I'm sure you'll get a helpful answer.</p>

<p>Did I mention that it's easy, simple, foolproof and fun? Don't wait 20 years. Do the E-6 today. J.</p>

<p>When you get this kit, there will be directions on the cardboard box, save the box, you can store your solutions in it, and glance at the data charts when it's time to mix up a new batch. </p>

<p><b>The box it comes in makes it even easier! </b>If you can make pancakes and load a developing reel, you can do E-6 processing! Proceed with confidence! J.</p>

<p>Shoot those exposures on center weighted average metering, run the kit according to the directions; and, if this thing still doesn't work out for you, I dare you to email me personally and tell me your problem! I am reclusive, and fully confident that my inbox will stay empty because I know this stuff works! Ha! Easy Six! You're gonna love it.</p>

<p>Others of us who have been doing this for years tend not to find it quite as foolproof, at least to get consistent accurate color-- though when you get it down, the results can exceed typical/average results from a commercial lab using replenishment.<br>

Temperature control for four of the eight processes (1st Dev, 1st wash, Reversal Bath and Color Dev) to within 1/4 to 1/2 degree F is so critical, and process time control to within a second or two sufficiently important, that I wouldn't even consider doing it without my Jobo CPP2 and Lift, at minimum. Without a processor, tempering your reels and drums during the ~16.5 minute critical part of the film run is going to be a real challenge, as would be consistent 60 RPM agitation while doing so. You'll probably want distilled water; with mixing and all the washes that means upwards of 3 gallons of tempered water per run per 5 rolls of 35mm/36 exposure.<br>

Open bottles of concentrates can oxidize within a couple of months, especially the first developer, reversal bath, and bleach. Some purge the air out of the bottles with nitrogen.<br>

Mixed chemistry has a short shelf life once heated to processing temps. I use it only as one-shot.<br>

I use a standard 6 min 45s (including drain time) instead of Kodak's indicated 6 min 0s for the 1st dev time with Fujichrome.</p>

I have only developed a few rolls of 35mm slide film. I used a Paterson tank did what John did - put the tank in a simple water bath. The slide film came out great.

 

I also have developed 8x10 Ektachrome sheet film in a tray in a water bath. I learned one lesson. If you put 6 sheets on film at room temperature into 101 degree developer, the temperature of the developer instantly drops down to 98 degrees. I used to start at 104 degrees to compensate for that but I imagine a presoak in 101 degree (or 100 degree if that is called for) water would work as well.

<p>Hi Jeri! Good luck with your new adventure. I've processed E-6 myself in the past, but find it easier just to send it out. For me temperature was the most critical and the most difficult to maintain. Aquarium heaters were not enough to raise the temperature of my water bath. You may have better luck at finding a heater to do the trick. Again, I was unable to find something to get my water bath warm enough. Therefore, I had to constantly maintain a running water bath. Even then I wasn't very accurate. I used the standard plastic Jobo chemical bottles to store my stuff. Use caution when mixing. Some of the chemicals are extremely toxic. One smell and it makes you light headed. Use lots of ventilation. You can reuse the chemistry, but you will have to add some extra time (as I recall). Please, please, please, dispose of your chemicals properly. They will ruin your pipes, and don't think that flushing it down the toilet will make things better!<br>

All in all it was a fun experience, but a lot of work without the proper equipment. It can be done, though! Good luck!<br>

Bruce</p>

<p>I don't doubt that some people have difficulties; however, I really believe that many of them are unified by one concept: <i>accurate</i><i> color renderings</i>. It is exceedingly difficult to get an accurate color rendering out of anything. Even highly refined systems would still require editing. And, there is considerable variance that can take place during the editing process. </p>

<p>The very color and apparent temperature of the light that shines through the slide can significantly alter the appearance of color in the slide. Now, let's get back to the basics:</p>

<p><b>Easy!</b> Even in the most "inaccurate" of the color illustrations through slide, the illustration you make with this process will probably be 98% more detailed and accurate than anything that could ever be done by hand. I have spent weeks working on paintings. I'm telling you, in less than an hour, you can have great color photographs. </p>

<p>The process will be super-easy, and even if it is "off" or "inaccurate", the colors will "go" together. Don't let over-pickiness interfere with your ability to enjoy color illustrations through slide photographs. The photograph is an illustration. Illustration! <i>That which is in a state of being as from that</i>. Illustration. Nothing will ever be accurate. </p>

<p>Easy! Follow the directions. If there is a failure or problem with the chemistry, chances are it will affect the whole slide [the whole slide came out too green, e.g.]. There's a manual from Kodak that can describe the basics of the problem. Brush aside that finickiness! Make color slides! Less than an hour and you're done! Even easier than black and white enlargements! Can be done on a tabletop for <b>under $25 in equipment!</b> Equipment and supplies, together, under $100! <b>Foolproof directions! Easy!</b></p>

<p>Achieving perfection in the arts will always be difficult, probably impossible. Making a color slide? Easy! Proceed with confidence! J.</p>

<p>Hey, thanks so much everyone! I've taken all these notes down, and will even make an organized list of important facts before I begin.<br>

I've been in the darkroom (B&W) class for only three months now, but it is rather easy for me. I've also invested in Hewes reels with the sprocket tabs - which I have been using and I have only had one relatively small reeling problem in the many rolls I've developed, but usually I have absolutely no problem loading the film. I've read a million times on the web that slide film developing isn't as horrifying and difficult as some make it out to be, and I feel confident with all the information you've given me that I won't have a bad time doing this. <br /> <br /> I do have a few more questions that have just popped up:<br /> <br /> 1. How do people "purge air out with nitrogen"? That seems kind of difficult but it might be worth it at least to know exactly how to do that.<br /> <br /> 2. When you dispose in buckets - do you put all the chemicals in one bucket or does each chemical need its own?<br /> <br /> 3. I've read a lot about modifying aquarium heaters, but as I'm not too wise about electrical devices, I'm not sure what "fiddle with the regulator" means - I wouldn't want to break any parts, so could anyone clear it up for me? I've just gone looking at heaters today and the pet store guy said something of the sort but I'm completely lost.<br /> <br /> 4. As for containers (of the diluted chemicals) in a hot water bath - would regular soda bottles be able to withstand the heat? Plastic? And what about glass? I've poured hot coffee in a glass jar once and broke it somehow just setting it down on a table, so I'm apprehensive about what to use in such high temperatures... :s<br /> <br /> 5. Last question - I'm developing Fuji Provia 100F - I know people with more experience might recommend +/- the recommended developing time. What do you think? I've got 20 rolls of it, plus a few other Kodak slide films, but will the kit be enough to develop 20 rolls? Should I try to use most of the film up now so that I can avoid expired chemicals?<br /> <br /> Thanks again for all your replies! This is probably the best place I've come across so far for obtaining information on this kind of stuff - I really, really appreciate it.<br /> <br /> ~Jeri</p>

<p>The N2 purge isn't required and it does require having a bottle of compressed N2 gas . It's also used for N2 burst agitation in commercial E6 processing lines. N2 is flowed into an upcapped bottle, to expel air/oxygen before recapping. It's just one way of extending the life of unused concentrated chemistry. With 20 rolls of Provia, you'll probably get your money's worth out of the kit whether you use it all up or not before it oxidizes. (There are up to 50-60 rolls of 35mm of chemistry in an 5L kit, depending on how efficient your processor or tanks.)<br>

I dump all the chemistry in one bucket, assuming that chemistry is somewhat self neutralizing. You can dump baking soda into the bucket to counteract the acid of the bleach. Wouldn't recommend putting it down the drain w/o a fair amount of H2O to flush out the pipes, in any event.<br>

While you might get an aquarium heater to work to temper your solutions, what about the tanks while you're 15 minutes into the temperature-critical phases? Even while tempering, a single aquarium heater without anything to circulate the water might not do the trick in a large enough insulated chest. If serious about this, a Jobo processor could soon pay for itself here.<br>

Polyethelene bottles work fine. Any glass canning jar should work, too. Won't hurt if the bottles/jars have graduations on them.<br>

The question of whether any of this is worth your while largely revolves around the question of how consistent you can get with your process, and what you intend to do with the transparencies afterwards. If say, printing on Ilfochrome in a traditional wet D/R environment, you can really pull your hair out trying to correct color crosses in the shadows with contrast masks and so on after the fact. It's nice not to introduce yet another variable to the process, consistently good color is challenge enough without making it overly hard on yourself. This is why I believe being accurate and consistent with the temperature is vitally important. <br>

By way of example, one of my first rolls of home processed E6--happened to be Provia 100F RDP III-- contained a prizewinning frame. One of my best in 20 years of wildlife photography, albeit one with the blue color cast has defied attempts to print it on Ilfochrome. This means I can only print this image digitally, and only after much post processing work on the computer. Now, I have sold prints of it over and over again, but I sure wish I'd not have ended up with the blue cast. Was it the processing or was it the Provia? Not sure, but I mention this as a cautionary tale. (Internet forum searches afterwards were how I arrived at 6:45 for standard 1st dev time for Fuji films).</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Answers to questions #2, 3, 4, 6 and more can be found here:<br>

http://www.kryptosinistographer.com/2008/03/at-home-e-6-pro.html<br>

Good luck!</p>

<p>I think you should give it a try for yourself and see what you think. I have personal experience developing E6 in school and at home. I don't think it's as easy as reported by John, but I do think with the application of some care in the right places, it is straightforward. You should try it and see if you like doing it. Don't let the rumors stop you from at least giving it a shot.</p>

<p>If you want consistency, and correct color, your developer needs to be w/in one-half a degree of 100F and no more. Seriously. I took a class where we developed our own E-6, and depending on the temperature and timing carefulness of the students involved, we saw correct color slides, green slides and magenta slides. Yes, I know, nothing is ever colored totally perfectly, but there are degrees of acceptable color cast varying by photographer. I myself don't want a huge color cast over my whole roll, and yes it will bother me, so I work pretty meticulously. You can only correct so much in Photoshop - I'd rather put the effort in up front and develop the film more carefully. For me, glorious color is the reason for using slide film. </p>

<p>I use Fuji too and I agree that it requires longer developing time. For my own processing I bought a $40 thermometer to measure the temp, I did a pre-heat of my film & reels, and I used the recommended temperature for rinse and chemistry. I chose to buy a used Jobo for this, and it worked out great. Sometimes I use the one at my school depending on availability. I had no problems home developing except for chem disposal. I don't like to do this at home if I can avoid it. I don't like blix in my kitchen and I live in California, where they are really strict about hazmat. Disposal requires some effort on my part (usually getting up to the school when someone nice is working to let me put it in their disposal vessel). For me the chem kit was not economical until I had more than 4 or 5 rolls of slides to do. At that point, it was worth it. Note, the film is most thermally sensitive to the developer and thermal sensitivity goes down from there. If your second water rinse isn't 100, but is say 95, that's okay. Just don't mess up the temps at the beginning because that matters most. </p>

<p>I doubt an aquarium heater will be sufficient on its own. They don't guarantee more than a few degrees accuracy and they aren't made to get to 100. I would create a hot water bath using the tap water, get it close to 100 using a fine thermometer and adding colder/hotter water as needed. Before long, you'll know what around 100 feels like on your hand. When I was ready to start work, I would check my developer temp (and water rinse temp) and see how close they are. If they are more than 1/2 degree off, I'd put the developer into another metal vessel and run hot or cold water on the vessel's side until the temp was correct. Then start the process. You can correct the water rinse temp while the developer is working on the film. That's really not very much work, even though it sounds a little complicated. The key is the good thermometer. Everything else can be worked around that, IMO. </p>

<p>Don't worry about 100 degree temps breaking glass unless the glass is very thin. Breakage only happens when the temperature differential between the material and the fluid is pretty large. If you had your bottle in the freezer first, or outside in a cold garage, then okay, then you'd need to worry. But if it's in the same room with you, sitting at 70 degrees, it won't break. 100 isn't that hot - we are talking about the Fahrenheit scale, not Celsius. It's about the temp of a hot bath, and only 1.4 degrees hotter than the underside of your tongue (body temp is 98.6, right?). Scalding hot coffee is around 200 (water boils at 212). Glass soda bottles are made to endure the pressure of a sealed carbonated soda, so they can take a little warm fluid.</p>

<p>Thanks, guys, sounds good. My tap water is pretty hot, it goes to about 110 and a little over perhaps, so I don't think I'll have too much of a problem with that - it's very hot. As for the heater, it might be worthwhile later on to purchase, I've read of some people messing with it so that it DOESN'T automatically turn off at a certain temperature and it keeps heating up until 100 or desired temperature. <br /> <br /> I think I'll use glass, too, to be safe. Thanks again!</p>

<p>E-6 is easy once you learn how to do it. I've been running it for five or six years, and though I prefer my automated processor if I had to do it in a stainless tank in the kitchen sink I have no doubt that the results would be spot on.</p>

<p>First Dev is critical for both time and temp. Get your water bath setup with all your mixed solution bottles in the bath and give them time to stabilize. Keep a simple dial thermometer in the bath - when the temp falls, pour in some more hot water, possibly dipping out some if you're close to the top.</p>

<p>Once you're past the first rinse, not much is critical, although letting the tank cool much for the Color Dev can mess up your color balance. Note, however, that the temperature is incredibly easy to control. The target temperature is 38C, your body temp is 37. After a very short amount of time with your hands in the water bath and your eye on the thermometer you'll know when it's changed a half degree.</p>

<p>After the first dev, which should be timed closely, all the other processes are "run to completion". That means that you can screw them up by letting the tanks cool or cutting the time short, but you can't hurt them by letting them run long. Add a minute to every step after the first rinse. Add two minutes to Color Dev (6 vs 4 by the book). If you keep your times up, after the CDev you can ignore the temperature completely.</p>

<p>Do not discard the bleach. There's enough bleach in the 5-liter kit to process five times as much film as the rest of the kit, and the bleach represents half the cost of the chemistry. Buy yourself a $10 aquarium pump and fifty cents worth of air tube and aerate the bleach jug for an hour or two before you get setup for the day. (I have a $10 timer/switch that aerates my bleach tank for two hours every day. I go with two because I know that if I ever pulled the little keys out of the timer I'd lose them, and it came with two pair.)</p>

<p>All that said, you can screw it up. The first three chemicals are very sensitive to exposure once mixed, so I don't use them if it's been over ten days since I mixed them. (I log all my mixes.) Kodak says PreBleach is only good for a couple of weeks, but I've never seen any problem with it. Bleach, Fixer, and Final Rinse are good for ages. However, after you've done a dozen rolls you'll have a feel for it, and you may never have a failure again.</p>

<p>Some failures occur in the first three steps, mostly from stale chemistry or slipping and opening the reel to light. Sorry, that's all she wrote. However, if the film doesn't end up clear at the end, simply rerun starting with the bleach, problems in the bleach and fix can be cured simply by doing them over, whether the film has been dried or not.</p>

<p>Van</p>

<p>Thanks for the step-by-step, Van - I really appreciate it and I think it's a good idea to log your mixes. Mostly I was confused on what to recycle or reuse or to dump (I've read a lot of different things). I've decided to use liquor bottles for the diluted chemicals in the bath, since this household seems to have a lot of those lying around and they seem strong enough. I've also decided to do the water bath (TELL ME IF THIS SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD IDEA) in the laundry sink because there's hot enough water there, I can plug the drain and also drain water if the temperature drops, and I can turn the hot water on while doing so so that I have a running-water system - I thought that sounded pretty fool-proof as far as temperature regulation goes. I've got the chemicals in the bottles so I'm not worried about leaks or spills - I'll have my disposal bucket next to me above which I can pour chems into the tank, and ta-da. And I'll have baking soda ready for stabilizing the acids.<br>

<br /> One question - so the first three chemicals are still good for around a week to 10 days after its initial mixing? How many minutes do you add to each following run after the first? I've got a single tank (had to bite my tongue because of budget issues) but I've got about five rolls to develop, so FIVE RUNS - should I reuse the first three chemicals, and pretty much, it seems, everything else? How many consecutive runs can you go through before you exhaust the chemicals, and how many extra minutes do you add to the first three steps?<br /> <br /> Also, when you refer to things exhausting - do you mean the already-diluted working solutions or to the opened bottles of concentrate? How long does each chemical last in the concentrated form after the bottles have been open, and is there a way to prolong their storage life if necessary? I'm probably more worried about that than with diluted solutions.<br /> <br /> Thanks to all who contributed,<br /> I've bought pretty much everything I need and am just waiting on their arrival!!!<br /> ~Jeri</p>

<p>Jeri, I'd worry about back ache in a laundry tub, but maybe you're younger and more fit than I am. (Most everybody is, actually.)</p>

<p>In my current system, everything but the bleach goes into one jug, which I then dispose of depending on the time of day and the weather. If it's raining or dark, I dump it down the drain. If it's comfortable outside, I pour it in the flower beds. The combination is a mild fertilizer according to a Kodak chemist who used to hang out here. Save the baking soda for baking, there's really nothing that needs neutralizing.</p>

<p>If I were back to a single tank again, I'd also save the fix. I saw no trouble when I tossed a third of the used fix and topped up with fresh, although fix is cheap so I wouldn't worry about it.</p>

<p>Other than bleach and fix, I never use anything twice. You can, supposedly, but without a good way to calibrate replenishment I wouldn't dare. In production, you do reuse all the chemicals and replenish based on the amount of film used, but they don't put any replenisher in the one-shot kit. (Replenisher is not the same thing as tank solution, the one-shot kits make tank solution, almost all the other options are for replenisher.)</p>

<p>If your tank is only a single reel, well, you'll get practiced quickly. If you still like doing it a month from now, start looking for a two-reel tank and a second reel. I haven't looked recently, but last I checked good stainless tanks were really cheap on eBay. Look for Hewes brand reels (they're British, so they call them "spirals") as they're the best around. I prefer the all-steel tanks to the steel tanks with black resin lids, but I'm not sure it's a huge difference.</p>

<p>Here are my times:<br /> FDev - 6min (standard)<br /> Rev - 4 (+1)<br /> CDev - 6 (+2)<br /> Pre - 3 (standard)<br /> Bleach - 10 (+4)<br /> Fix - 4 (+1)<br /> Wash 8 (+2, I think)<br /> Final 1.5 (standard)<br>

The critical one for good density is CDev, and the extra wash is important for archival results. The others can't hurt, if nothing else they allow you to ignore the temperature once you're past the developers.<br>

Van</p>

 

<p>So let me get this straight, you don't have to add extra minutes to the first developer time for the next few runs? Stay at 6/7 min., etc., what-have-you?<br /> <br /> And whaaaaa...fertilizer? How are the flowers doing, Van? I've never heard of that being done, ever - it'd be interesting to know how that actually works, if it really does. Oh, actually, I've just stumbled upon this: http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:peS4FqBPd6IJ:www.itronics.com/mp/ppt/SCIA8506Presentation.ppt+%22photo+chemicals%22+as+fertilizer%3F&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a <br /> The company is based in Reno, Nevada. I wish this was available in Hawaii. They've got some good facts: 100 million gallons of photo liquids = 200 million gallons of GOLD'n GRO fertilizer AND 20 million ounces of silver worth a total of $220 million. I guess it's just a matter of removing the silver from the chemicals. Wouldn't it be spectacular if this were more widely practiced?<br /> <br /> Anyway, I've already bought the Hewes reels - from the beginning, I realized the value of their sprocket tabs, although I've been fooling around with regular clip reels and using the ends of the spiral as sprocket tabs and it's been working alright so far. I f-ing hate clip reels, if it weren't unfortunately patented, I think every reel-making company should put sprocket tabs on their reels if they cared about people loading their film right and not ending up with blotches and stains (which I've only ever done once, and very mildly thank god).<br /> <br /> Thanks for the times, Van! I'll copy them down.</p>