cheaper E-6: bulk loading and expired film

[kevin_peng1]

Some older threads in this forum talk about how buying bulk rolls and

reloading your own film isn't cheaper than buying prerolled film as

far as E-6 goes. I want to start shooting more E-6 but I hear Costco

doesn't develop bulk-loaded film. On the other hand, I don't want to

spend money giving the film to a pro lab because my photos aren't

going to be worth the price I pay for developing them. Because of

these things, I don't know if bulk film would be worth it. If you

don't take your bulk-loaded film to a pro lab to get developed, who do

you give it to?

 

Occasionally there are lots of expired color slide film on ebay, but

there's not that big of a supply. If you use expired slide film, where

do you get it from?

 

I guess I'm just asking this: what's a cheaper way to buy and develop

E-6?

[christiaan_phleger___honol]

The very cheapest E-6 is expired bulk, 20.00 from Freestyle, pro-lab process only, sleeved

negs, no mounting, about 5-8.00 a roll. Gets it to less than 10.00 a roll. Don't worry about

the quality of your images, those E-6 techs are happy to see each and every roll.

[cbender]

Or, process it yourself. You can easily do this in a JOBO. If that's too steep of an entry price, you can build your own tempered water bath with a fish tank heater. I did this before I bought my JOBO. Check for some of my old posts for more details on how I built the thing.

[manjo]

kevin,

 

I buy mailers from B&H, approx $5 a roll for processing and mounting, I dont know if they will do bulk loaded film. But you can always call them and findout. The mailers go to the centre in arizona where they are processed. The turn around time is approx 2 weeks.

[kaiyen]

the A&I mailers from BH, that go to LA, do allow you to send in bulk-loaded film. I have done so on a number of occaisions without incident.

 

allan

[kevin_peng1]

Thanks for the answers.

 

I read several of your earlier posts, Chad, but I think I will pass on the home-processing right now.

 

I called the Fuji lab in Arizona and they don't process bulk-loaded film. Any idea why personally bringing in film for processing at A&I in Los Angeles (they charge $9 mounted) costs more than their mailers from B&H ($6.75 + shipping)?

[craig_shearman1]

Brand new E-6 is pretty cheap --even if you pay $7 for a roll and $7 or $8 for processing and you can get it cheaper than that at B&H. A roll of Portra and processing at CPQ runs about $35, so slide film is MUCH cheaper than print. Check www.bhphotovideo.com for exact prices. Using expired color film is much riskier than expired b&w and as cheap as new film is I don't see the point. Bulk can save you money if you process yourself, but the key is that cartridges cost about $1 each and you won't get them back from the lab. That pretty much kills the savings. Even if you process yourself, reusing runs the risk of getting a piece of dirt in the cartridge that will scratch your film. I gave up bulk loading Tri X for that reason yars ago. Your statement that your pictures aren't good enough to justify the cost of processing is kind of depressing. I'm sure they're better than that!

[jtk]

Pros want immediate turnaround, they don't mail it away and they don't want crappy film being processed with their good stuff. Good labs refuse bulk film because they don't know what's really inside...cross processing (for example) fouls chems, puts crud into other people's chromes. Fuji and other good labs run so much good film, shot by people who care about quality, that they don't need anything else.

 

Process it yourself. Get a changing bag and a stainless steel tank, learn something.