Developing E6?????

BadRotation

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Anyone have a link, or feel ike posting a step by step guide to processing E6 slide film at home? I do B&W all the time, but now would like to get into color positives. Heard it is similar to B&W, and a whole lot easier than c41.
 
It is a lot more difficult than C41, having about 6-7 different chemistry baths and the temperature is critical. I did it for about twenty years, but never would attempt it without the appropriate machinery. I do admire your desire though and wish you luck. I did have a book on it, but seems like I've chucked it out.
 
Yes, indeed, temperature is very critical in the developer and bleaching stages. Even a couple of degrees can affect the result. With C41 you can always adjust the image at printing time. With E6 what you get is what you see.
 
Even though the temperature is critical, you can control that with a water bath. I still do my own E-6 processing at home. There are a few things you need to be aware of, first off, transparency film does not have the exposure latitude that negative film does. Here is a website that you might want to check out:
http://www.photosensitive.ca/wiki/index.php/Main/ProcessingColourSlidesAtHome

Good luck!
 
I do my own E-6. I just ordered another box of Kodaks 5 liter 6 bath kit. It can be done without a machine but I do have a Jobo CPE. When I first started I just did it by hand with a water bath. This is very easy with just the kitchen sink. Just need a timer, and a way of keeping water temp. To do that just keep some warmer than 100 c water and watch the temp of the water bath. If it starts to cool off add some hot water. The more water in the sink the slower the temp changes.

I also just ordered Tetenal's C-41 press kits. I had a problem with a Kodak processor so now I am going to do C-41 at home as well.

If you plan on shooting alot of slide film. I would suggest you get a used Jobo off ebay. With Kodaks 5 liter kit $50 at Adorama. I can process 40 rolls of film (35mm). I always do 8 at a time. So I can get 5 runs out of one kit. So chemical cost is about $1.50 a roll. The machines are $400 to $500 on ebay for the CPE (which is only supposed to do 5 rolls but I do 8 anyway :) ). If you figure $15 a roll for commercial processing. You are breaking even at 40 rolls. I don't mount any more. So I am not including mounting cost. Although I still have about 6,000 mounts in the closet. I bought them in bulk (10,000) and that brings the cost down as well if you want to mount.
 

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