rokkor fan Posted January 13, 2003 Share Posted January 13, 2003 Hi, I am considering investing in a digital darkroom, but processing my own B & W film to reduce my reliance on external labs. I recall from school (about 20 years ago!) that processing B & W film is relatively simple. What I wonder is if it is possible to develop E6 in a similar manner? Can it be done in the home? If so, what is required, and an estimate of the costs of setting up the process would be appreciated. Best regards, Antony Hands Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patric_dahl_n Posted January 13, 2003 Share Posted January 13, 2003 Yes, you can buy packs with the E6 chemicals, and develop your films at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larry_lambert1 Posted January 13, 2003 Share Posted January 13, 2003 E-6 is a six step process, even if i'm not mistaken in the lower temp Tetenal kits. The kits aren't cheap, and the big advantage is that you're controlling the variables and ultimately the quality. If you can't find a local lab with a dip and dunk system that you can trust, home processing should be more of a consideration. p.s., you can do the processing in the same type of mini-tanks that b+w is done in, but I would recommend using to different ones for each process due to E-6's bleach step, which can be fatal to b+w film in the case of contamination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred_de_van Posted January 13, 2003 Share Posted January 13, 2003 I do all my own. It is not difficult, you simply must be exact. There are easy 3 step kits from Tetnal, Beseler and others. Since 9/11 it became impossible to ship exposed film to my NY lab with any surity or safety. I shoot far too much to use FedEx economicaly. Temp control must be exact and repeatable. I use mostly Kodak chem. and a Jobo autolab, but all you really need ia a reliable water supply, a Nikor type tank, and a very good thermometer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott_walton2 Posted January 13, 2003 Share Posted January 13, 2003 It is as simple as B/W but as stated, your temp has to be exact! A large pan of 100 degree water to bathe all the chemicals will work fine for awhile. I used to do it all the time. Stick with Kodak 6 step and you slide will be great. No sense in paying more for pushing like I would do most of the time. A 5-10% push will really make your whites snappy and your colors bright. After awhile, you'll probably want to consider a JOBO... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordan_w. Posted January 13, 2003 Share Posted January 13, 2003 I've written a page about home E6 processing <a href="http://web.mit.edu/jwosnick/www/slides.html">here</a>. It may answer some of your questions. Bottom line is that you won't save a lot (or any) money unless you do a large volume. It's worth trying just the same, if you are confident in your B&W developing abilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harry_pluta3 Posted January 13, 2003 Share Posted January 13, 2003 Antony, I did E6 at home for a while. I used a jobo for temp and consistancy control and got very good results. The minuses I found are: (A) It is a long process, my old legs got tired by the end of the second batch each evening. (B) I do not do huge volumes and so the chemicals would go bad very quickly, I bought Tetenal and I don't think I ever used a full set without throwing a quarter of the mix away. My local lab put in a new E6 line and that pretty much made me decide to switch back to letting them process for me. Good luck, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larry n. Posted January 13, 2003 Share Posted January 13, 2003 Are there any plusses to doing your own E-6? From the posts above, it seems that you don't save money and if you're careful the quality might be as good as a pro-shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rokkor fan Posted January 13, 2003 Author Share Posted January 13, 2003 Hi all and thanks for all of the assistance. I have decided to get the gear to do B & W processing first, and spend some time trying that out before branching into E6. It is, however, great to know that when I do progress to slide that I have support here. Best wishes and thanks Antony Hands Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sorin Posted January 13, 2003 Share Posted January 13, 2003 I've been doing my own e6 for 3 years now (using a $300 rotary processor). I use 3 bath Tetenal chemistry. It takes me 90minutes to process a batch (1 to 8 rolls), that is including cleaning up afterwards. I usually don't process less then 3 rolls at a time. During high volume shooting periods I process 16-24 rolls at a time (2-3 batches) and reuse chemistry aggresively. I've never had a problem even when I went beyond the chemisty capacity (I did up to 4 batches in the same chemistry). At this volume, the savings are significant. For example, to process a 8 film batch I need 1 liter of solution. I use that for 4 batches. A one liter kit is about $25-30. It goes to about $1 per roll. WARNING!!! reusing chemistry requires VERY good washing between baths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archie_alcantara1 Posted January 13, 2003 Share Posted January 13, 2003 Any plusses doing your own E-6 process ?? To me, I do not have to resort to anger management whenever the lab scratches my slides. This is the main reason I resorted to home processing as every now and then, the lab would scratch a roll. Though this is the only plus I could think off, this is enough for me to go through the labor of home processing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_piper2 Posted January 13, 2003 Share Posted January 13, 2003 Everyone should try doing their own E6 at least once - it's a real trip to see all that lovely color coming out of your own personal tanks! Just as taking instrument flight training will improve the precision of even a weekend pilot - running some E6 now and then will improve your precision and attention to detail when doing B&W. The biggest drawbacks to home-brew E6 are: chemical life (as mentioned, you need to be able to run about 12 rolls within a couple of weeks to get full use of the chemistry) - and dust, since most labs have ultra-clean drying environments. A heated, filtered drying tank/bag/cabinet solves that last item. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt_littler Posted April 18, 2003 Share Posted April 18, 2003 Of course it is possible. I don't know where in the world you are, but in the UK it's possible to buy small/ medium kits to DIY from about 90p per film (that's about $1.30 if you're in the USA). The company that I work for also make a manual film processor that controls the temp to either +- 0.2 or 0.1 degrees depending on the model, which cost either £215 or £325 respectively inc Tax etc. One final word of advice - stick to 3 bath kits. The quality is superb, and it takes less than half the time of the 6 bath. You also stand more chance of keeping everything at the right temperature. Matt ps. if you process more than 20 films / month, then the cost per film goes down to around 76p! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom ferguson Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 In response to Matt Littler's reply. Would it please be possible to have more details concerning both the small/medium DIY kits & the manual film processors? I'm currently seriously considering home E6 processing. Thanks Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert_davis2 Posted June 14, 2003 Share Posted June 14, 2003 The small kits are the four roll kits. Around here they aren't expensive but they aren't cheap either. From memory the Agfa kit is $13 Canadian or about $9.50US. OTOH you could get the 5litre single use Kodak kit for about $65Canadian. That kit is supposed to do 40 rolls. People seem to claim the conentrates have reasonable lives. Ask me end of the summer when I get enough film exposed to make it worthwhile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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