I've been a bit lazy........

Gandhi

Gandhi

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Over the last 2 years and my increasingly scant funds (thanks bankers) have been diverted into other projects (namely my project camper van and before that the MR2 and before that my LF printer :))

As a result fo that and my inability to manage something as simple as popping a box in the post (sorry Woodsy, I will sort it this week!) I now have about 50-60 exposed sheets of E6 film sat in the freezer and I'm not sure what to do with them.

Current Dev prices are @ £2.50 per sheet and when you factor in RMSD for send and return it will be the best part of £200! Fortunately, I got the Velvia cheap (10 boxes for £50 from FujiFilm proshop)

So, do I.......(sorry about the rambly post)

1) Send it away to dev (few sheets at a time to keep costs down)
2) Attempt to Dev myself
3) Accept the fact that after a year in the freezer it's probably all ****ed anyway

Teh second option would involve me having to purchase the chems and dev using the taco method - 4 sheets to 1 litre of chems, equivalent to 1 roll of 35mm. How hard would this be using hand agitation and a water bath at home? I'm not too bothered about colour fidelity or longevity as I can colour correct at the scanning stage. Also, if I buy the tetenal E6 kit, can i re-use the chems as you would with ID11, for instance? If so, how many could i dev out of a 1 litre kit.

Option 1 is ok, but not ideal. Option 3 would upset me a little bit due to my own laziness. i'm sure there's some great shots in there!

Thoughts?
 
If it were me (its not because I don't have the talent or the timt to shoot LF!) I would send off 10 or so at a time over the next few months to spread the cost. I think that then you will be guaranteed decent results and as its been in the freezer I can't see any major degredation having happened.
 
I wouldn't use the taco method for E6, I had all sorts of problems with developing b&w using that method. If you are lucky you could pick up a jobo cheap but you have to be really lucky.

Or you could just become a student as prices are sometimes half...
 
Hahahaha.

I don't think the wages would be much worse as a student. I have a fantastic job which i love very much but the pay is atrocious lol.

I don't have any problems using taco method for B&W. I think the only problems i ever had was the first batch I did when I under estimated the quantity of dev required and a bit of streaking in areas of even tone when I have used long stand times.

I've been keeping my eye out for a used jobo but they are all quite pricey nowadays and me being me, would want the expert 3010 drum and a lift as well ;)
 
I have developed e6 as the taco method and got on ok with it. Better is to invest in a MOD45 4x5 developing holder and a 1lt tank. It's a tiny bit fiddly at first but easy to get used to. 6 sheets at a time and i'm getting faultless results in both colour and b&w.
Silverprint sell the holder.

Mart
 
Just send a few off at a time and don't think about the total cost.
 
Marvin d martian said:
I have developed e6 as the taco method and got on ok with it. Better is to invest in a MOD45 4x5 developing holder and a 1lt tank. It's a tiny bit fiddly at first but easy to get used to. 6 sheets at a time and i'm getting faultless results in both colour and b&w.
Silverprint sell the holder.

Mart
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I was in Silverprint the other day and saw the MOD54, it obviously works for you, do you think it's worth the money? £45 seems a bit pricey especially when you factor in buying a new Patterson tank, is it better than the Combi-Plan tank do you think?
 
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What size are the sheets? If you do get them developed and we ever end up at a meet together, could you bring one? I'd love to see some large format slide film in the flesh - must look fantastic :)
 
Right, I think I'm going to go down the taco route. Cheapest, all things considered. I've seen the MOD insert thingy and getting 2 extra sheet into 1 liter of soup is just going to complicate the maths when working out chemical re-use rate i think. Plus it's 50% more sheets to eff up when it all goes wrong the first time.

So then......

Tetenal E6 kit the best?
 
Cuchulainn said:
What size are the sheets? If you do get them developed and we ever end up at a meet together, could you bring one? I'd love to see some large format slide film in the flesh - must look fantastic :)
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5x4! I have plenty kicking about and all the colour shots on my flickr are Velvia or Provia!


Loch-na-alaise by Itsallaboutlight, on Flickr


Quirang-t-fin by Itsallaboutlight, on Flickr


Scotland-v2-chromes016 by Itsallaboutlight, on Flickr

And it does look great. So good, in fact, that I would seriously consider 10x8 if it wasn't so damn expensive.
 
Stunning! There really is a magic about slide film. Good luck with the dev! Keep us up to date with any tips you pick up on e6 development!
 
RaglanSurf said:
I was in Silverprint the other day and saw the MOD54, it obviously works for you, do you think it's worth the money? £45 seems a bit pricey especially when you factor in buying a new Patterson tank, is it better than the Combi-Plan tank do you think?
Click to expand...

I prefer this to the taco method and I bought mine cheaper at the time I think £35. You can fit 2, 4 or 6 sheets at a time with no problems. Having not used a combi tank I can't make a comparison but as said before it works for me.
I just love velvia in 4x5, I've not seen a negative any larger but would love to see a 8x10 its got to be magical.

Mart
 
Dude you have to get them developed! Just look at those shots, more is needed!
 
Those first 2 are fantastic... i would dev a few yourself to see how it gos, then maybe send some off if they dont come out too well :)
 
I managed to get my jobo 2509 for £40 and its perfect for doing 4x5. I don't have a lift but fabricated a base out of lego that spins at about 1 rev/s. I got much better results than using the taco method and it only uses 270ml of chemicals.
 
Paterson orbital is another good way of deving 4X5 if you don't mind doing single sheets at a time.
 
With the Paterson you can do 4 at a time, but I'd be wary of the chems losing temperature due to the little ammount and the spread out nature of them
 
Liam said:
I managed to get my jobo 2509 for £40 and its perfect for doing 4x5. I don't have a lift but fabricated a base out of lego that spins at about 1 rev/s. I got much better results than using the taco method and it only uses 270ml of chemicals.
Click to expand...

My parents threw all my lego away :(
 
raathistle said:
With the Paterson you can do 4 at a time, but I'd be wary of the chems losing temperature due to the little ammount and the spread out nature of them
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I can never get 4 to dev perfectly evenly but a single sheet constrained into the middle of the tank is spot on. maybe I need more chems in there, If you get the tray up to temp with hot water its pretty stable ime.
 
I have no problem with 4 having made some additional channels in the base of the thing, but I do use more chems than it says you need (super dilute rodinal so I hit the minimum volume otherwise)

I've not tried it with colour, but from memory I believe it is designed as a colour processing tool (hence the funky coloured pots :D)
 
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