Popular Science: Photo tour of Kodak Ektachrome factory today

[Mackinaw]

E chemistry...

If I like it as much as I hope... I will need to research all that it takes to develop it myself. Hmmmm.

Back in the 80’s we lived in a rural area a long way from any processing lab, so I learned to process E-6 at home. It’s not at all hard, but you do have to hold the first developer at 100 degrees, plus-or-minus a 1/2 degree, for a few minutes. If you can find a way to keep a water bath at that temperature for several minutes, you’re pretty much home free.

Jim B.

 

[michaelwj]

Ordering my Ektachrome T-shirt this week!🙂https://www.kodak.com/US/en/Consumer/Products/Classic-Tshirts/default.htm

Does not ship to Australia 🙁

 

[dave lackey]

Does not ship to Australia 🙁

Surely there is a way to get you a T-shirt from here. What is shipping cost fircsomething small and light like a T-shirt?😕

 

[Phil_F_NM]

E chemistry...

If I like it as much as I hope... I will need to research all that it takes to develop it myself. Hmmmm.

These days you can get a full minilab like a Noritsu or Agfa DLab2 for the cost of hauling it away. You need a moving truck and a few folks to help with pushing an 800lb processor but oterwise now that so many labs are gone, all their equipment is just taking up space waiting to be carted away. More often than not, these machines are simply broken up for valuable metals to be recycled.

Phil Forrest

 

[Larry Cloetta]

These days you can get a full minilab like a Noritsu or Agfa DLab2 for the cost of hauling it away. You need a moving truck and a few folks to help with pushing an 800lb processor but oterwise now that so many labs are gone, all their equipment is just taking up space waiting to be carted away. More often than not, these machines are simply broken up for valuable metals to be recycled.

Phil Forrest

I have thought about doing that, but in the waning days of local processing service here (small town with 5 or 6 places with minilabs) it became increasingly frequent to go to pick up prints or slides at any of those places, only to be told they were not ready because “the machine is down” awaiting for the repair tech from out of town (300 miles) to come get it running again.
Thinking ownership through with that history in mind put me off, but I know no more than that.

 

[Phil_F_NM]

Repairing an Agfa Dlab is easy. The system is basically just a timed transport. I went through the Agfa tech course and although the machine seems very complicated, just a few specialized parts and a bunch of basic ones make it work.

Phil Forrest

 

[Bob Michaels]

................ so I learned to process E-6 at home. It’s not at all hard, but ................

I too processed much E-6 at home back in the 80's as both of the local labs had QC problems. Buying 100' spools of Ektachrome and bulk loading it saved a lot on film. But mounting each individual slide in a heat sealed cardboard mount was a time consuming PITA until I learned a key lesson that sticks with me today.

I learned to be a decisive editor during the process, not later. While processing 3 rolls of film in a tank was easy manually mounting 108 35mm slides was not. So I learned to sit down at a light table with 3 (or however many) uncut rolls of processed transparencies and rapidly decide which frames to mount and which went into the trash. I learned to edit first and have confidence in my irreversible decisions. That sticks with me still.

I have read for years everyone's bitches and time consuming struggles to scan all 36 negatives in a roll of 35mm film. Not me, I used those old skills learned back in those E-6 days to edit the uncut negs first and then only scan the real keepers.

So I suggest one not consider home processing of E-6 unless you have or are willing to develop the ability to do a primary but irreversible edit. Otherwise you can drive yourself to frustration manually mounting volumes of individual slides.

 

[Richard G]

Can't see what you're all seeing. It just takes me to a front page. Can't find the actual story. Help, please. I scrolled through 11 pages of contents and found some interesting stories, too skimpily covered to be at all satisfying.

 

[dave lackey]

Can't see what you're all seeing. It just takes me to a front page. Can't find the actual story. Help, please. I scrolled through 11 pages of contents and found some interesting stories, too skimpily covered to be at all satisfying.

Weird... is this where you went?

https://www.popsci.com/inside-kodak-factory-photos

 

[ChrisPlatt]

No one gets 100% keepers. I'm happy to get one or two per roll.
Bob Michaels is absolutely correct; one must edit and cull mercilessly.
Today how many RAID arrays must be filled with countless mediocre images,
each indistinguishable from the next...

BTW has Kodak designated any particular lab(s) to be their official Ektachrome processor(s)?

Chris

 

[Contarama]

Im sure my local camera store with Kodak credentials will be able to handle it.

 

[michaelwj]

Can't see what you're all seeing. It just takes me to a front page. Can't find the actual story. Help, please. I scrolled through 11 pages of contents and found some interesting stories, too skimpily covered to be at all satisfying.

I think it’s geoblocked. I get the same “something went wrong” front page.

 

[brbo]

So I suggest one not consider home processing of E-6 unless you have or are willing to develop the ability to do a primary but irreversible edit. Otherwise you can drive yourself to frustration manually mounting volumes of individual slides.

You are making it sound like mounting slides is a must or that mounting a slide is somehow more time consuming than wet printing a negative. Neither is true, or course.

You still have to develop the film first and developing E-6 is just as easy (easier in fact) as C-41. It just takes a bit longer and it's the longer times that make it easier.

 

[brbo]

BTW has Kodak designated any particular lab(s) to be their official Ektachrome processor(s)?

https://www.kodak.com/motion/support/laboratories_directory/index.htm

It was reported a while back that Kodak sent a bunch of rolls of their new Ektachrome to be developed at various labs and then shared back their sensitometric results with the labs. Apparently this data wasn't meant for the public to establish the "best" labs but to help the labs get an idea about where they stand in comparison to other labs and Kodak's internal processing.

 

[Keith]

I've given up trying to view that article. When I click on the link it takes me to the main page, tells me there has been a mistake and please scroll down to find your article. I gave that up after about five pages! 😡

 

[Freakscene]

I've given up trying to view that article. When I click on the link it takes me to the main page, tells me there has been a mistake and please scroll down to find your article. I gave that up after about five pages! 😡

It’s geoblocked Keith, and the splashpage you get taken to is the .au site - get a vpn, or go visit the US.

Marty

 

[valdas]

So they have Steve Jobs poster on the wall and want to bring film back???

 

[NickTrop]

Back in the 80’s we lived in a rural area a long way from any processing lab, so I learned to process E-6 at home. It’s not at all hard, but you do have to hold the first developer at 100 degrees, plus-or-minus a 1/2 degree, for a few minutes. If you can find a way to keep a water bath at that temperature for several minutes, you’re pretty much home free.

Jim B.

Never tried to develop color, but I'm thinking a Sous Vide wand to keep water temp consistent? You can throw in a couple steaks while you're at it.

 

[Ted Striker]

With Fuji exiting the transparency film business I expect Ektachrome will be a sustainable product for Kodak.

Chris

It wasnt sustainable for Fujifilm (which is 1000 times more stable a company than Kodak), why would you think it would work elsewhere?

 

[Ted Striker]

Fascinating article. The machines that Kodak created are just amazing. Yet at the same time, one can see clearly why Kodak is in an unwinnable situation. Downsizing their operation basically means blowing up the whole process and starting over. It would take a staggering amount of capital (which EK does not have) to build a coating facility that is right sized to today's much much smaller film market.