Ilfochrome !

[Mael]

Fifteen years I haven't made an Ilfochrome print. (former Cibachrome). Just purchased 100 8X10 sheets and chemicals. This is beautiful. And so simple to use...even with a B/W enlarger !

3 bath, developper, bleach, and fixer. 3 min each at 24°C.

Some more prints to come. First attempt yesterday :

The picture from the Nikon Coolscan IV ED :

Same print with ilfochrome, a little too dark, basic filtering. (sorry for poor flatbed scan, it is much nicer...)

 

[Jerevan]

Cool! Where did you get the chemicals and the paper?

 

[Roger Vadim]

Great! Ilfochrome in real life looks amazing...
I second the question: any online source (in europe preferably)

Keep posting!

 

[FrankS]

Many years ago I did some Cibachrome printing. It is beautiful stuff!

 

[Lilserenity]

What are the actual steps, I'm intrigued when you say you can do this with a B&W enlarger. I get Ilforchrome prints done every now and then and whilst I don't have the money to do this just yet, I quite fancy giving this a go.

It sounds as though the temperature control is the most critical thing (well, like anything colour based then.)

Thanks!
Vicky

 

[John Robertson]

I still have 12+ year old Cibachromes in frames on my lounge wall in full sunlight. No fading whatsoever, there is no other colour process which can give the quality of a gloss Cibachrome(Ilfochrome), inkjet either dye or pigment pales in comparison, and I can compare directly as I have both. (Epson and HP)
The quality of a Cibachrome spoils you for ANY other process, it does however require some technical skill, unlike inkjet!!😱

 

[Ronald M]

I have some family portraits done outside on a nice fall day. Ektachrome 100 original basic neutral, uncoated Summar lens, pull processed by me for one stop overexposure.
These trannys look terrible, flat and worthless, really flat. A box Brownie would be way better.

It makes a beautiful 16x20 that has been on the wall for 20 years. Looks as new. Has the same contrast as profesional color neg.

Towards the end of my experimentation, I learned to flash the around 3% with the slide out but filters still in. Flash thru a 50CC cyan. This gets the red out of the darks because the RGB curves cross in Ciba.

Lots of people were masking but that does not do what my process did for contrast control. No masking was necessary.

Ektachrome 100 is now gone, but I still have the 35 Elmar, Summar, 90 and 135 uncoated Leitz lenses.

 

[Vickko]

Can I get Ilfochrome in Canada?

I see BH selling it in New York.

Vick

 

[Santafecino]

Ilfochrome has attracted me because you can go straight from transparency to print. But I have always regarded it as too contrasty--and color film is already too contrasty. Also, the chemicals are truly noxious, and I wonder whether they are too much for my septic tank. Has anyone compared the contrast of Ilfochrome to that of an Ektacolor print?
--Lindsay

 

[julianphotoart]

It is so good to see a discussion about that Ciba/Ilfochrome. There is nothing better for colour. It's amazing that this process is not appreciated more, even in the digital age. The high-lustre polyester-based printing paper is the most unbelievable. All the process needs is PERFECTLY exposed transparencies with not too much contrast.

In February 2008, I asked the reconstituted Ilford what company, if any, would be making Ilfochrome stuff in the future. I was told that a company called "Ilford OJI" would be doing so. OJI is in Massachusetts. Their phone is 413-732-8269. I have a large supply of Ilfochrome so I have not attempted to order thru them.

One of the posts in this discussion asks about the safety of disposing of Ilfochrome chemicals. My understanding has always been, at least for C30, that if the chemicals after use are combined together, they render the mixture pretty much benign/inert and ok for disposal. In other words, as one uses the 3 chemicals, just pour them out into a common container and they neutralize each other. From my experience, that seems to be the case.

 

[rogue_designer]

What are the actual steps, I'm intrigued when you say you can do this with a B&W enlarger. I get Ilforchrome prints done every now and then and whilst I don't have the money to do this just yet, I quite fancy giving this a go.

It sounds as though the temperature control is the most critical thing (well, like anything colour based then.)

Thanks!
Vicky

Cibachrome filters come in Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow, and a complete set includes 6 filters for each color, in different densities. You add and subtract filters to make up a filter pack that is roughly the same as what you would be dialing in with a modern Dichro color head. They go in the same filter drawer as the Variable contrast filters would go.

A rotary processor like a Jobo is great for this, since it keeps the tank and chemistry at temperature (and controls the agitation for you, as well as being daylight working tanks). But the chemistry can be pretty bad. If you are on septic (or indeed even city sewer) you may want to recover some of the more noxious ones and take them to a center.

 

[Lilserenity]

I'm not sure if others have seen this:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/ilfochro.shtml

Having read that, I think I might give this a shot later in the year when I have some money (it's all tied up in other things at the moment), I at least want to give it a go before Ilford pack this in.

Do we know much about their commitment to keeping this stuff going?

I really love the ciba/ilfochromes I get done for me and to do it at home would be fantastic fun and hugely satisfying!

One thing I have learnt for me at least is that slides look their very best when projected through a normal slide projector (ie: analogue to analogue) or when printed on ciba/ilfochromes (again analogue to analogue) -- they look OK scanned but I have a naff 8bit per channel scanner which just blunts the colours, particularly reds and magentas.

Thanks,
Vicky

 

[Svitantti]

Ilford has claimed they are committed... But who knows. Its not that usual and the papers and chemicals (or mostly papers) are REALLY expensive compared to RA-4 for example.

We tried this at our club and got nice results but it is too expensive for us at least for now. Maybe if I was making an exhibition project of color photos I would consider it, but not for "everyday" use.

We have been testing to cross process slides with RA-4 papers and chemicals. You only need to add a Neutol bath to the beginning and a second exposure with just a normal bulb to get it working somehow, but to get the whites ok some adjustments need to be done... Still testing to get it better, but some photos come out nicely.

The steps can be found from multiple places in the internet. Ilford also has them shared as a PDF I think. I dont remember exactly but the times are like 2-3 minutes each and there are 4-5 steps plus rinses. Needs to be done with a drum to save the chemicals. I dont think tray processing is possible because the results wont be consistent and the chemicals might get bad fast.

You might be able to get some prints with just BW enlarger, but a color head will be needed if you want good results from different kind of slides. With multigrade head or filters it might be pain - even though Ilfochrome is easier to get right than RA-4 when talking about colors. Harder with the chemicals.

 

[Mael]

In France (and maybe for Europe too), you can get paper and chemicals at prophot http://www.prophot.fr.

Yes, it is expensive. But it is a choice I made : stopping buying gear, making pictures instead. 😛

100 8X10 sheets for around 140€. Same thing for 2 liters of the chemical kit, for 26 developping sheets. I advise to buy the 5 liter kit instead.

It is contrasty, people like or hate it, but it is easy to use, temperature control is +/_ 1°C at 24°C. You can develop up to 30°C. Fun, fast, beautiful.

Availablity up to 2020 due to french Army still using it for color picture archiving, as I've been told.

 

[Lilserenity]

That's good, god bless the French!

I absolutely agree with you on focussing on prints, its easy to sometimes get caught up in buying a lens for this, a filter for that, when really perhaps it's all about the prints. I certainly think so.

Apart from a tripod and Lee RF75 system (which I am buying so I can sell professionally made prints), I definitely think I shall give this a go.

It's not cheap but then, neither is good food and good wine 🙂

Vicky

 

[Mael]

Good luck with your prints !

 

[35mmdelux]

To me Ilfochrome ranks up there with B&W on fibre-based shot w/Leica glass. Great job and please us up to date with your work. Thanks.