Diy E6

wjlapier

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I've been doing C41 for a while now. I feel pretty good about my process--basically following the instructions in the kit. Now I'm interested in E6. I found a 5 pack of Velvia with a 2014 exp date for a great price, but cold stored so said the seller.

My question or questions:

What happens to the negatives if your temp is off a degree or two? What happens to the negative if the time is slightly off--adding or subtracting 10 seconds to total time of each step? The reason I ask these two questions is because I can get my chems to 102 degrees for my C41 but I don't keep my tank in a bath so I'm thinking there might be a slight temp drop but don't know for sure if that is happening or if it matters. Same with the time. I add the chems and start my timer and agitate as directed, but I'm not certain 100% that I'm at exactly 3.5 minutes for dev, 6.5 minutes for BLIX, and so on.

I'm trying the Arista kit from Freestyle and will shoot the Velvia 100 in a GA645zi--assuming the AE will get the exposure right for most images.

Just curious to hear from other E6 developers who might develop their film like I do my C41.

Thanks!
 
I've only run Kodak E6 chemistry but have run a huge amount. The E6 process is really critical. It's the Developers that are ultra critical. It really depends on how critical you are but a degree make a difference as times are critical especially in the developer. Other steps not so critical as they are steps that go to completion.
 
+/-10s won't be visible on the slides.

You should do a test run with water to get an idea how much of a temperature drop you will be dealing with at the end of a 7min developing time.

I wouldn't judge my E-6 processing by developing expired film (especially Velvia 50), though...
 
I've been doing C41 for a while now. I feel pretty good about my process--basically following the instructions in the kit. Now I'm interested in E6. I found a 5 pack of Velvia with a 2014 exp date for a great price, but cold stored so said the seller.

My question or questions:

What happens to the negatives if your temp is off a degree or two? What happens to the negative if the time is slightly off--adding or subtracting 10 seconds to total time of each step? The reason I ask these two questions is because I can get my chems to 102 degrees for my C41 but I don't keep my tank in a bath so I'm thinking there might be a slight temp drop but don't know for sure if that is happening or if it matters. Same with the time. I add the chems and start my timer and agitate as directed, but I'm not certain 100% that I'm at exactly 3.5 minutes for dev, 6.5 minutes for BLIX, and so on.

I'm trying the Arista kit from Freestyle and will shoot the Velvia 100 in a GA645zi--assuming the AE will get the exposure right for most images.

Just curious to hear from other E6 developers who might develop their film like I do my C41.

Thanks!


I've developed E-6 up to 4x5, from my experience 1C difference won't make much difference on smaller format, however with 4x5 you had to be consistent on the temperature as otherwise you'll have color shifting happening on your images.
A trick that someone on facebook recommended was to process E-6 at lower temperature, so instead of 100F, go 85F or 90F.
Processing will take longer but won't get affected much by temperature change.
 
The reason I ask these two questions is because I can get my chems to 102 degrees for my C41 but I don't keep my tank in a bath so I'm thinking there might be a slight temp drop but don't know for sure if that is happening or if it matters. Same with the time. I add the chems and start my timer and agitate as directed, but I'm not certain 100% that I'm at exactly 3.5 minutes for dev, 6.5 minutes for BLIX, and so on

I develop my slides in the kitchen, here my thoughts :

- Keeping the tank in the bath is important, I've noticed weird results while developing it outside the warm water, especially during winter months. I use the same tub whre I warm up my chems to put the tank in.
- I've not found the time derivation for pouring in/out the chemicals to be critical, just try to do it "quickly". Some people just start the time, pour the chems and start pouring them out when the ring bells...as it'll take a silimilar amount of time

Good luck with those Velvias!
 
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