Visit Tetenal E6 one more time

[ken_dunn1]

<p>So here it is, 2015, and I wanted to revisit what is going on with E6. Here is my history, I have a Jobo ATL 1500 and used to process my own often when I was doing magazine/calendar work. I stopped when Kodak stopped with their kit and (GASP!) just pretty much did digital and B&W. I missed it, but when looking for a replacement I didn't want to split the bulk Kodak (which I think may not even be doable now) and reading about any 3 step didn't leave me very confident. But lately I have seen some positive posts about both Tetenal and Arista and just wanted to try and get a definitive answer. I am afraid some of the negatives may have been someone trying to get too many rolls out of a 1 liter kit and/or doing it in a sink. So has anyone done E6 in a Jobo with any 3 step, one shot, and got what they thought were just as good as Kodak or pro labs? I know someone is going to say "try it yourself and see", but honestly I dont want to go to all the trouble to set it up again or spend $100 on chemicals if it isn't 100% correct. </p>

[john_wiegerink1]

<p>I am very much with you and would like the input as well. Of all the searching I've done it seems there are a lot of mixed results. Arista kits seem to get more "mixed" results than the Tetenal three bath kits, but there's also a lot of variation in users I'm sure. John W</p>

[john_enea2]

<p>I don't have a jobo. I just use a simple pattersen tank. But I have done 300+ rolls of E-6 in the 3 bath tetenal kit and the results are, to my eye, the same as the 6 bath results I got as well as the results from dwaynes before I started doing it myself. the 5L kit costs $100 which is less than $1.50 per roll. I know people who have used the kit in a Jobo and they like the results as well. Give it a try. you might be converted like I was<br>

<br />You can get the fuji 6 bath kit from germany, but shipping is more than the kit itself. So if you are in the US, the Tetenal kit is your only real option unless you buy the chems in bulk </p>

[john_enea2]

<p>also, make sure you get the tetenal kit and not the arista kit. The tetenal kit has a stabilizer which is lacking on the arista kit. It is needed</p>

[john_shriver]

<p>Someone is selling the Fuji-Hunt bulk kits in the US, since that's what my local dip-and-dunk lab uses.<br>

The weakness of all the Tetenal kits is the use of blix, which self-destructs. You could buy Fuji-Hunt E-6 bleach and fixer, but use Tetenal for all the other components. Bleach and fixer are plenty stable in opened bottles of concentrate. Bleach is pretty much eternal if you regenerate it by bubbling air through it (use aquarium pump and stone).<br>

It's the developers you want to buy in small bottles, as they are unstable.<br>

<a href="http://www.kullphoto.com/fujihuntchemicals.htm">One US source for Fuji-Hunt</a>.</p>

[ken_dunn1]

<p>John its interesting that you should mention using the bleach and fix from a 6 step kit as I was thinking along those very same lines or even just using the prebleach and then blix, but when I went to look for it on BH and Adorama they were not there anymore, thanks for the link. So if you do one shot and mix opened bottles sooner rather than later does the results look as good as the 6 step?<br>

And other John, thanks for your first hand info, it is a bit encouraging and maybe worth trying. I would love to have the passion I used to have for photography, and I think at least part of that was film. Digital just doesn't have a soul!</p>

[john_shriver]

<p>By avoiding blix, you avoid the problems of blix self-destructing. Bad blix can result in both retained silver (incomplete bleaching) and retained silver halides (incomplete fixing). Retained silver looks bad. Retained silver halides make the processed film unstable.<br>

I think good blix results in images that look fine and are stable, but using bleach and fixer is just the better solution.<br>

The kits with blix were originally designed as "press" kits, to process film in the field on deadline. Blix saved time, and made the kit smaller. All irrelevant to today's requirements.<br>

Since bleach is incredibly long-lived with regeneration, the expense of a real bleach can be amortized over many rolls.<br>

Fixer is cheap.<br>

You can just mix all of the bleach, proper ratio of starter and replenisher. It likes air. You regenerate it by bubbling air through it. It's too expensive to use one shot, and it's not the nicest thing to throw down the drain, you should reuse it.<br>

Yeah, fixer does eventually have shelf-life. But the concentrate is long-lived. Using fixer one-shot is also wasteful, and interferes with proper silver recovery.</p>

[ken_dunn1]

<p>I imagine its terribly hard to do any type of recover with the Jobo ATL without some special equipment that I never had, and don't imagine are readily available anymore. Always did Kodak 6 step, one shot.</p>