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Processed using Fuji Hunt chrome 6
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Who's idea was it to process E6
film? I think the COVID
19 vaccine and lock down has addled my brain. Before we were trounced
by COVID a friend had a stash of out dated slide film that he wanted
to off load for a consideration. I considered, the films became mine.
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Fuji Hunt chrome 6, out of the box. |
It was a mix of Fujichrome Sensia
100 35mm and MS 100/1000, some Provia 100f in120 format all from the
early years of the millennium. He stated he did not know if they were
any good because they had not been kept in a fridge. I told him no
worries.
I thought I would have some fun with
this film because of the dubious nature of the storage. With no
particular plan or theme I went a snapping before I new it I had used
nearly a dozen rolls mainly 120 format. Some with my Pinhole camera
but mainly the Bronica SQAi.
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Some of the film to be developed.
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After a little research I found that
there were a number of E6 processing kits the trouble was the one I
would have liked to use was out of stock at a number of suppliers due
to the lock down. I settled on the Fuji hunt Chrome 6X processing
kit, I say settled did not have much choice. With hind sight this may
have been a good choice.
I received it really quickly from AG
Photographic thanks guys. I opened the box to be presented with seven
bottles of chemicals in different sizes and 7 pages of instructions I
was not expecting that. It deflated my enthusiasm some what.
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New bottles for litre dilution.
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I should own up to the fact that I
have never been that interested in developing my own slide film hence
my comments at the beginning with the kit sitting in front of me I
suppose I better get to grips with it. I read the instructions a
couple of times chucked them back in the box and kicked it in to the
darkroom.
Some many month later I pulled the
instruction out of the box again this time with a determination to
get some film processed, about time! The first thing to note is once
the bottles have been opened the first developer, reversal bath, pre
bleach 2, colour developer last a max of six weeks. Which is a bit of
a bummer what is also a bummer is this kit will make 5 litres of each
chemical that is 35 litres in total, with a darkroom as small as mine
that is a none starter I do not have the space to store it. you
guessed it kicked back into the darkroom. If this carries on for to
much longer maybe I should take up football instead.
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Instructions.
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A few more month later I have got to
grips with the instructions found a man on the bay that has supplied
me with eight individual litre bottles and caps for roughly the same
in pounds. I have also recalculated the chemical quantities to make a
litre of each. I’m dancing in the rain now.
Having watched E6 processing on the
tube you are lead to assume that it will be straight forward the
truth is that approaching this for the first time there are a whole
load of pit falls that can beset this notion. Without mentioning some
of these you cannot be prepared for them. For example: chemicals that
started out at the right temperature are not when you come to use
them, you cannot get the Dev tank lid sit properly allowing it to
leak, you forget what comes next.
What follows is the methodology
and ideas to negate some of the pit falls during the procedure.
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Hot water holding tray.
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You can but it is not necessary to
have a water heater or some form of temperature control unit. I
maintained the required levels by using boiling, hot and cold water.
You will need about an hour and a half to process the film [s] if
using hot/boiling water method.
There are nine steps in the
processing of slide film, two lots of temperature and two sets of
agitation with total darkness and daylight sections Ooooh! my head is
spinning just writing this. To keep things straight and more free
flowing I produced an idiot list for reference. Numbering each step
with the corresponding number on the bottle for easy recognition.
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Hot water tempering bowl with boiling water jug.
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OK! let the fun begin, Just so you
know I processed all the film at box speed. The first part of the
development should be done in total darkness when I read this I
though you must be having a giraffe can you imagine all the trouble
you can get yourself into bearing in mind there are four steps to
this bit alone two of which are washes. Needless to say I took a punt
and did it all in daylight this turned out to be a very shroud move.
I had three baths of water, two hot,
one to initially heat all the chemicals bring them almost to temp and
the other as a tempering bath where I put the developing tank, jug of
hot water and the bottles of chemicals I was about to use to bring
them up to using temperature if need be. Checked with a thermometer.
The cold water bath was for those that exceeded the needed heat.
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Fuji Provia
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The [1] first
developer gurgled into
the developing tank at 38
degrees I filled it until
I could see the liquid in the center hole put the lid on, tapped the
tank several times to remove any air bubbles, inverted it 8 times in
the first 15 secs putting it back in the tempering tank then
inverting twice every 30 seconds. For the 7
minute Dev
time.
When the time was up I poured the Dev back in the tank. There followed two, minute washes now this is
where the jug of hot water in the tempering bowl comes into play.
They have the same agitation as the
developer. Once you have used the water it is a good idea to refill
the jug with boiling to help keep the water of the tempering bowl
stable. At the same time this is happening the [2] Reversal
2 bath needs to be
brought up to temperature which should be between
33 to 39 degrees.
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Pinhole double exposures Fuji Prova
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The reversal bath went in for 2 mins
tap the tank with one inversion at the start. Trouble struck, I could
not get the lid to seal while mucking about, I forgot to put the [3]
Colour developer in
the tempering bath to bring it up to 38
degrees. It is important
to get this spot on. There was a 2 minute delay in pouring in the
developer it takes roughly 1 min per degree for the boiling water to
bring a litre up to temperature.
What seemed like a weeks wait the
colour developer went in for 6 mins, tap the tank several times to
remove air bubbles from the film invert 7 to 8 times in the first 15
seconds and then twice every 30 secs. Placing it back in the
tempering bath.
While we wait for the developer to
do its trick I should mention safety. I found this processes a lot
messier than black and white developing. It is a good idea to wear
gloves and a plastic pinny which turned out to be a good call on my
part as I spilled some of it down me. The room needs to be well
ventilated although the chemicals are not that pungent they give off
a lot of vapor due to the heat.
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Fuji Provia showing light damage
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[4]Pre-Bleach
2
went in for 2 mins at
33-39 degrees, it was
about in the middle temp wise, several tank taps, invert once and
back into tempering tank.
Another glitch again I forgot to put
the Bleach into the tempering tank fortunately I only needed to raise
the temperature to 33 degrees plus just a short delay.
With
the [5] Bleach at 35
degrees it was poured in
for 7 mins
tank tapped to clear bubbles, inverted
8 times in first 15 sec and the twice every 30 sec.
This is turning into an epic, I
understand why people batch develop their slide film it is a long
haul to what I’m used to. I keep forgetting but you can fit two
rolls of 120 film on the same reel and with a tank that can take two
reels at once this is a big saving in time.
Now
it is time to [6] Fix
for 4 mins at 33-39
degrees, tap tank, invert
8 times in the first 15 seconds and then twice every 30 secs. This
time I had remembered to put the fix in the tempering tank so when it
was poured in it was about 37 degrees. A quick word about
contamination it is inevitable as you go a long the process that the
dregs of the previous stage will adulterate what come next it is only
a problem if it go’s against the flow e.g. fix into bleach.
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Fuji Provia a frame from damaged film
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Finally the Wash,
it is for me as I do not use wash aid it is suggested that you wash
in running water for 6
mins I chose to to use
six changes of water with twenty four inversion with a minute stand
between each. By using this method I saved 5 liters of water that I
could reuse to flush the bog. I’m pleased that is over I felt like
I have been on a marathon and I’ve only got ten more to do. It has
got to be time for a cup of tea before I share the results.
Ah! just what the doc ordered. with
all that has gone on with getting the film processed, you would think
that the results would be a total shambles. I’m astonished at how
good they are, colour saturation is spot on with no over development.
The results:
Eight
rolls of slide film were developed it took over all about five hours
over three days. All of them were spot on with the development. Of
the three rolls of 35mm one roll had nowt on it half of it being
clear the other black I think this is a camera fault and not
processing as the other two roll were perfect. The rolls of 120 were
all developed correctly with good colour saturation but suffered from
camera problems in being over and under exposed and One of the film
back had a light leak.
My
initial thoughts on this process is never again it took a lot longer
than I would have liked. Now that sometime has passed my thoughts
have moved on to never say never.
For more slide pictures click this link Picture post personally processed
All words and images in this article are the copyright of Mitch Fusco 2022