Tell me about E-6 Processing

[martin s]

Hey there, so we had a few good discussions about c-41 kits and I'm actually through with mine now. Now I'm considering the e-6 kit. For some reason the 1l E-6 kit by Tetenal is twice as expensive as the c-41 kit, yet the 5l kits both cost the same. So I think about going with the 5 liter version (officially 120 rollfilms)

A few questions:

• what's the difference between c-41 and e-6? I read it takes longer, but which part takes longer? Is it generally more difficult?
• 5 liters - how much of each chemical do I have? I'd like to process 4x5 film as well, but the tank isn't small. I think it's 1.5 liters. With the Jobo it's gonna work of course
• Say I want to mix less than all the chemicals, how long could I store an opened bottle of undiluted chemicals? How long do the diluted ones last?
• How does pushing work? Provia 400x seems to work at 800.

Are there any other objections why I should stick with print film (regarding processing, not the characteristics of the film itself)

martin

 

[Ronald M]

Decant undiluted developer to smaller bottles just like any other.

Blix E6 kits are worse than C41 kits with Blix. My results have been truely awful, muddy low contrast film. I did a reshoot and sent the film to a proper lab and they looked great.
It was hard to believe it was the same tabletop and 4x5.

That was my first and last try with blix kit E6. Before and after I used the 6 step Kodak.

Containation is deadly so be careful.

I is about a 40 min run compared to 20 for C41.

 

[gliderbee]

I recently bought the Kodak kit (6 chemicals) and developed one film in it: it worked out perfectly; I of course did follow all instructions (temperature, time, etc ..) to the letter.
Here are some scans (only resized and sharpened 10%, nothing else):

 

[martin s]

Interesting, thanks. I might just stick with c-41 and Portra, I quite like it.

martin