expired E6 crossprocessing

[KevinVH]

Hello everyone

As some of you might know, I work in a FujiFilm store here in Ecuador. My boss, being a very experienced photographer himself, has tons of expired 35mm rolls, which I can have if I want to. Offcourse I'm not going to take them all, as that's kind of bad manered, but I did take some Fuji Astia and Fuj Sensia. The Astia expired in 2004, the Sensia in 2008. From what I can tell, the rolls have always been stored in a carton box, in a normal room, so temperatures between 15C-30C.

Nowhere in Ecuador can I get E6 developed, so I was thinking about developing them myself in D76, but after some research, it seems difficult and yielding bad results, so I'm considering crossprocessing in C41, a service my store still offers.

2 Things come to mind when considering this:
- Will these expired roll, stored in bad conditions deliver anything usable?
- Is it worth the 2 dollars to develop them?

I must say that we have a few stores here, and the one that develops the rolls, isn't the one where I work, so someone else will be handling the developing. I've had mixed results here, even with perfectly fine rolls of color film. It seems like the person isn't putting the right ISO in the machine, because I've had perfectly exposed rolls come back underdeveloped.

Getting an E6 home developing kit is impossible since it's VERY expensive for just 6 rolls, and importing here has just gotten a lot more expensive too. Buying the Colortec E6 Kit would cost me 50 dollars, + 10 shipping, + 40 importtaxes, and that's just for 6 rolls.

Any thoughts?

 

[Bill Clark]

Try one roll. See if you like the results.

I did cross processing, slide film in C-41 years ago and liked some of the photos. There are actions available to do this in PS.

 

[LabasArabas]

Astia is/was a great film which truly had a unique look, quite muted for an E6 film. Fantastic for portraiture. Check Flickr for a jist. It'd be nice to try it E6 as was intended for it. Out of date by ten years, might be ok. I couldn't bear to cross process it, but there is a nice example here if you scroll down: http://www.lomography.com/magazine/lifestyle/2012/05/25/cross-processing-colour-guide

cheers

 

[GarageBoy]

Please try Astia as E6. Even if you're not into people photography, grab some people together outside, and shoot it.
It may color cast (Astia is known for casting), but if its not, WOW

 

[KevinVH]

Thanks guys, but as I mentioned in the OP, I make 400 dollars a month, so paying 100+ just to develop 6 rolls, just isn't possible.

 

[bluesun267]

To answer your questions, I concur, it can't hurt to try a roll or two and see if you like it. I have a few remaining rolls of Ektachrome 50 Tungsten slide film, expired around 1988, which is my absolute favorite for cross-processing in C-41. For some reason this film prints/scans without that green/yellow color you often see from cross-processing, but still with wildly saturated colors. The negatives even seem to have an orange negative-like tint, probably a happy accident of age. I wouldn't worry about your film being out of date. Might even help it a little. Regarding what you said about getting blank rolls, there is no difference in processing procedure for all C-41 films, regardless of brand or ISO, so your reason for underexposure is either a complete failure of the lab or your camera/shooting. With cross-processing, you'll have to get a feel for how the film responds to under/over exposure since it's likely not to respond with exact "box" speed. X-pro is an experimental process and you have to be willing to experiment to get the best results!

 

[KevinVH]

Ok interesting fact about the C41 process. I'll try one out this weekend and get it developed on monday. I'm eager to find out. The other color rolls didn't come out blank, but they came out to dark. very dense negatives. People here don't care about photography, at least the "old type", so I'm guessing it's user error.

I'll let you guys know when I develop the Astia and Sensia.

 

[Noll]

Since you work in a lab, have you considered ordering the chemistry to develop it yourself? Could process it for a lot less money that way.

 

[ReeRay]

My local lab recently decided that they no longer process E6 and without reference to me processed mine as C41. Try as I might I could do nothing with the colours but converting to black and white saved the day and produced some lovely images.

Something to consider maybe.

 

[KevinVH]

Since you work in a lab, have you considered ordering the chemistry to develop it yourself? Could process it for a lot less money that way.

A lab in Ecuador is nothing like a lab in Europe or the US.

We work with old, 3rd hand Frontier printers, I have no idea what machine they use in the other one to develop rolls, but the bosses only import what sells. Almost no one here shoots film, we receive about 1 roll a week to develop, so that's not an option either. I'll consult with the bosses, but I highly doubt it, since the sons of the owner and experienced photographer, don't have any intrest in photography, and they're the ones running the business.