Fate of E6 procesing

[john_boyle3]

<p>Stopped by my camera shop in Kingston, ON, today to get a roll of Velvia 100 processed and was told that they no longer had the volume to keep their processor going. I understand that Fuji in Toronto no longer does it either. I may be able to find a place in Ottawa but this is not good news for those of us that have resisted the move to digital. I can process my own b&w and C41 is still around. Have others on the forum had the same experience?</p>

[rossb]

<p>No E-6 processing around here for years now. </p>

[john_shriver]

<p>My local dip & dunk lab the lowest volume is E-6. They do more B&W and C-41 than E-6. But they will run E-6 up to once or twice a day, because that's what the customers expect. But it shows in the price they have to charge.</p>

[Robin Smith]

<p>My experience 3 years ago. Since I mainly took E6 - this prompted me to go all digital.</p>

[starvy]

<p>So far it seems to be going in UK but almost all the high street photography businesses now send them off to a third party leading to up to a fortnight in processing. This is why I use mail order.</p>

[Rob F.]

<p>I can get E6 processed with about a 3 day turnaround here in St. Louis, at Schiller's Photo, and at Creve Coeur Camera.</p>

[ray .]

One or even same day turnaround here in southern California... hope it stays that way.

[stuart_richardson]

<p>As a small custom lab owner, I tried to offer E-6, but it is not easy or profitable to implement at small scales. It is a difficult process to keep in check without reasonable volume, and that means you need a regular number of people coming in all the time to do it. I live in a very small market, and I would only get people asking for it very sporadically. Unfortunately, it is not something you can just mix up and do on demand easily, like black and white. Additionally, it is difficult and time consuming to do by hand (even with a semi-automatic Jobo). The chemicals involved are expensive and expire fairly quickly. From my perspective, that made it impractical to offer it to people. I expect that it will be around for a few more years at least, but it will become increasingly centralized...with people sending it to the last holdouts, not unlike what happened with Kodachrome. I don't think we will see it disappear entirely until the film does, but frankly I don't see that living more than another 5-10 years, at least not from Fuji...the only one left doing it. Maybe a boutique place will offer the film, but I am not so sure...</p>

[winfried_buechsenschuetz1]

<p>Over here in Germany, there always used to be not too many labs doing their own E6 processing. Most photo shops, including drugstores etc, used to send the films to one of the major labs (as far as I remember, today there is not much more than CEWE) and it took about one week to get your slides back. <br>

There used to be some places in big cities doing E6 overnight processing at their site but I never used them. As far as I know, they all have disappeared. <br>

BTW there is a big electronics and photo shop not too far away from me. Many years ago they had a big counter for receiving their processing and printing orders, there were several salespersons and sometimes you had to wait in a queue. Today they have reduced this big counter to a desk, with just one or two people behind it, but they make prints from digital media most of the time. So if you have to wait in front of this desk now, it is just because the people are busy with their digital prints - not so many customers there.</p>

 

[charles_stobbs3]

I've used this place for several years with good results - http://www.dwaynesphoto.com/ - .

[craig_shearman1]

<p>E-6 will hopefully be around for a while, but it will increasingly be a matter of shipping film off to a few central labs that get enough volume rather than getting it done locally (unless you are local to where the labs are located). Slide film used to be used every day by photographers shooting for publication, everything from newspapers to magazines to books. The newspaper and magazine markets have gone entirely digital (with maybe a rare exception but few and far between). Wedding/portrait photographers who haven't gone digital shoot C-41 for prints, not slides. Casual consumers always shot print film rather than slide. So that leaves a few diehard amateurs and maybe a handful of pros with a specific need/preference shooting slides. If demand isn't there, supply will dry up. Simple economics.</p>

[charles_ma]

<p>Toronto Image Works still process E-6 slides in the same day. In by 11 and out by 30. They do dip and dunk processing as well. I am lucky enough that my office is just 15 minutes walk to the lab. However, I believe they do mail order as well.</p>

<p>I checked with the lady at the counter just a few weeks ago about E-6 volume and she said the volume was actually quite strong. I just pray that it will remain like that for a long period of time. Toronto Image Works seems to be the last lab in Eastern Canada to do E-6 processing up to 8x10 and their pricing is quite reasonable in my opinion.</p>

 

[eddy_d]

<p>I get all my slide film cross processed.</p>

[randall_pukalo]

<p>John, the solution is simpole, fun, EASY, and inexpensive - DIY home E6. All you need is a cheap styrofoam cooler to act as a water bath, some empty water botles fdor the chemicals, a digital cooking thermometer, and a $25-40 Paterson hand development film tank. JOBO is massive overkill, expensive, and not needed. The $40 Paterson tank does 5 rolls of 35mm or 3 120 at a time. Takes about an hour to 1.5 hrs to do, with everuthing included (mix chems, heat to 100f, process, then hang to dry).<br>

Costs around $3/roll, and you get perfect quality - never again a scratched negative/slide, and you know you always have fresh chemicals.<br>

Freestyle Photo sells the Arista e6 kits here, or you can order some Tetenal kiys from Germany. )Maco Direct or Photo Impex.</p>

<p>DIY home E6 and C41 - the future of color film. Actaully a change for the better.<br>

Oh yes, and dont be mislead by the PNet article here which claims home color is too difficult. That article put me off from trying it for more than a decade. Could have saved $$$$$ and never had any ruined lab film if I had tried it earleir (been doing home E6 for over a year now - my very first, and every run so far has been easy and perfect....foolish misleading article....)</p>

[randall_pukalo]

<p>Excellent vide showing how super easy it is. (he used the Arista Kit)</p>

<p>

[randall_pukalo]

<p>Here is where u can buy the Arista E6 chemicals:<br>

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/c1002-Color-Chemicals-Color-Slide</p>

[marc_bergman1]

<p>Randall,</p>

<p>Thanks for posting all of this information. It makes me want to try this method.</p>

[randall_pukalo]

<p>Marc,<br>

NP. And here are some pics from my first ever home E6 developed slide roll. Taken on a Light Table using a digicam.<br>

It was/is super easy, I cant over emphasize that enough, especially given the myhthology out there on the net about how difficult it is.<br>

Regards></p>

<p>http://www.flickr.com/photos/pukalo/sets/72157627018681644/</p>

[RaymondC]

<p>I do scapes so I can shoot a lot less. I collect up to 10 rolls and send them to Dywannes. </p>

<p>I am in New Zealand, there are a few labs here, with one in my city, but they are v $$. Maybe $20US per roll, $10US for mounting, another $12 or so US for speed change. I also buy my film from the USA and import them. A roll of Velvia 50 135 cost $25-30US with today's exchange rate. For the processing which the mounting in the USA is super cheap compared to my local area unmounted, it is still half price to do it in the USA including 2x way postal charges.</p>

[john_boyle3]

<p>Randall, many thanks for your very interesting posts.</p>

[roman_p]

<p>I don’t think that digital can replace the slide film. The slide films are unique and it basically secures that they will be around for a long time. I’m shooting about 45 E6 rolls annually and splitting processing between my local dip & dunk lab and Dwayne’s. Send them to Dwayne’s; it’s going to be cheaper for you than process them in Toronto. Or you can try Henry’s – they might still do it.</p>

[rustys pics]

<p><a href="http://alliedphotocolor.com/">Allied Photocolor </a>in St. Louis Missouri still run E-6 about once per week. They are the ones processing it for Schiller's Photo and Creve Coeur Camera. When I talked to the lady at the counter last month about E6 volume she said she didn't think it was really profitable, but they would keep it running as long as they could. The quality of their work is excellent. <br>

Even when I worked in Photo labs back in the late 80's & early 90's the E6 market was contracting. Better C-41 films really cut into it. I still shoot a fair amount of Slide because frankly, it looks better and scans better. Disappointing Kodak killed off their Ektachrome line.</p>

 

[bruto_saraccini]

I agree with Craig that processing it's going to be more and more in the hands of centralized rather than local labs: it is

already the case here in Milan, Italy. The quality hasn't suffered (very good for 35mm and 120), and the speed and price

of service are ok: three, max four working days and € 3.5 for a roll (mount included) from the centralized lab. No shipping

cost: the local lab takes care of it.

 

Slides are great: I hope that they're going to be staying around for long.

[d_f11]

<p>The "future" of E-6 is like that of the rest of FILM photography. Corporate insiders representing digital photgraphy and interests conected to it want a world WITHOUT film/paper/chemicals/enlargers/etc. So please - don't give me the usual baloney about sagging profit margins - declining number of film shooters - not able to manufacture on a smaller scale...I've heard all the excuses. Is it possible Ilford become infected with the same disease? G_D Forbid!</p>

[douglas_vitello1]

<p>DF,<br>

I agree with you that it is out of our hands no matter how much we use the products.I have a great fear that Fuji will go down the same path as Kodak did on E6.I assume they will keep raising prices to drive down demand, after all they are basically just another digital wares company.Stupid me always thought the Germans (Agfa) would be the last hold out but they were the first one to fold !<br>

Here in Cleveland,OH Dodd Camera can do a three day turnaround with E6.Done in house at their main store and they still do a excellent job.Better than the jumbo central lab they contracted with for many years ever did.They claim it is still a healthy steady business.</p>