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Author Topic: ? about slide film developing at home Sam Hunter Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 779 From: West Monroe, LA, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 07-22-2003 11:21 PM                     Can it be done? Do they have a "kit" for it and what all would it take? From what I understand slide film is "Positive" in that the film you have in your camera once developed would be placed in your slide. And finally, is it worth the trouble? Why, because I would like to experiment with it just for the fun of it, sort of.  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 07-23-2003 12:18 AM                  Kodak has an E-6 processing kit available for their reversal (slide) films. It's available at most pro photo stores. You of course would still need all the "hardware" as the kit only contains the chemicals. I'm sure John could point you in the right Direction on the Kodak web site. >>> Phil  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 07-23-2003 01:48 AM                        Apart from the chemicals you need: A developing tank Either a changing bag or a pitch black room Measuring jugs for mixing chemicals A thermometer A means of heating water and/or the mixed chemicals A sink and a supply of running water A stopwatch or timer Somewhere to hang the processed film to dry A pair of cotton gloves A pair of scissors Some slide mounts I used to do my own E6 processing, which was quite fun. Getting the first developer and reversal developer to the right temperature was a bit tricky: I found that the best way to do it was to add varying quantities of hot and cold water to the base chemical until you had the right level of dilution and temperature. Also it's worth buying some re-usable 35mm still camera film cassettes from a photography shop and practising unloading some scrap film into the developing tank a few times before you try it with a real exposed film. This has to be done in complete and utter darkness, so if you don't have a room which completely blacks out (e.g. a cellar) you'll need a changing bag. Black-and-white negative film can also be developed using the equipment above, but I'm told that C-41 colour negative is a lot more complicated. I guess for amateur photographers who want to use film to originate images and then scan the negatives and do the printing stage through a PC, home developing could be quite a good idea if you get through lots of footage. Specialist photography shops will do negative only developing (i.e. you don't have to buy a set of paper prints as well), but your average chemist or one-hour operator won't.  |  IP: Logged Don Bruechert Mmmmmmmmm, bird! Posts: 340 From: Manitowoc, WI, USA Registered: Jan 2003 posted 07-23-2003 09:00 AM                        Sam, I used to have my own darkroom and do a lot of film processing and printing. I was developing and printing both B&W ad Slide film, and I was also rolling my own from 100 foot rolls, which can save you a lot of money if you are really into shooting film. All of the info provided thus far is excellent. I will say I definately prefer the changing bag to a dark room for loading my film onto reels for two reasons: First is that you can use it anywhere, even in front of the TV while watching the game, and the second is that without spending a lot of time or having a permanent location you can never be sure your room is completely "dark" every time, and film is a lot more sensitive to any amount of light than paper is (for printing). The changing bag seals everything up inside of two dark bags (one inside the other) and has two tight-sealing armholes in it so you can work inside. Once you get used to it you can do everything by feel anyway. Cost - about $18. Next, we get to the chemistry. I have used the Kodak kit, and like it, but I find it to be more expensive if you are planning to develop a lot of film. On thing you need to know is that the chemicals, once mixed, are only good for about a maximum of 6 weeks (or 6 rolls of slides, whichever comes first). If you don't shoot a lot of film, save up the rolls until you have a bunch of them and try to process them within a few weeks. The longer/more time the chemistry is exposed to the air the weaker it gets - that's why the 6 week time limit. I used to use Jobo chemicals - their kit was called Photocolor E6 and it was a 5 liter kit. You mixed up a batch that was good for 6 rolls (or 6 weeks) as needed and it was cheaper because it was in larger quantities. Keeping temperatures. Temperatures are critical for proper slide film processing and any slight variation will affect the processing times. If you do this a while (and make mistakes) you will find a proper rhythm that works for you. GET AN EXCELLENT THERMOMETER - Do Not Skimp. Slide processing works best at 100 degF and you are supposed to keep everything at that temp the entire time. FOR ME, I have found that filling a dishpan with 110 deg water and letting EVERYTHING soak in there before starting works best. Use your thermometer and wait until your first developer warms up to 101 deg and then start processing. There will be a sligt temperature loss when you pour them chemicals into the film tank so this helps a bit. Keep your water bath WARMER than your processing temperature so the temps stay up, but not so warm as to raise the temp inside the tank while developing. I found the gradual cool off from 110 deg during the development time worked good for me. Your tank will also lose heat when you remove it from the water bath to agitate the chemicals. The rest of the chemicals are not AS temperature sensitive as the developer stage. I recommend adding Kodak Photo-Flo to your final rinse per the directions on the bottle. This is a surfactant that will help the film to dry properly. A couple final things. Start your processing experience with 24 exposure rolls. 12's are too short and waste 1 hit on your chemistry, and you will find 36 exposures tend to drag on the floor when trying to find a place to hang them to dry because they are so long - find a nice, lint and dust free place where the film can hang to dry undisturbed. I recommend Pakon plastic slide mounts - they are quite easy to use, and reusable if necessary. Buy the kit the first time - it comes with a cute little plastic tool you can use to load them. After you do it a few times you will really like it - it is not really as hard as it seems. HAVE FUN - hope this wasn't too long.  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 07-23-2003 09:37 AM                        Here's the Kodak E-6 process: Kodak E-6 Home Kit http://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/chemicals/qaE6.shtml http://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/Zmanuals/z119.shtml http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/j83/j83.jhtml http://www.adoramacamera.com/Darkroom_PhotoChemicals_E-6Chemistry.html Lots of fun to do at home, and the suggestions posted by others are good ones.  |  IP: Logged Sam Hunter Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 779 From: West Monroe, LA, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 07-23-2003 10:03 AM                     Wow! Thanks for all the great info guys! I think I would like to try this at least once! Again, thanks!  |  IP: Logged Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 07-23-2003 11:02 AM                     I do quite a lot of E6, rolls and sheets. It's not difficult, just take care, and follow the instructions exactly. All normal colour slide films, except Kodachrome are now E6 compatible, and have been for years. Fuji call theirs something different, (CR56?) and I think Agfa have a different number, but they're all compatible. You do need quite a high temperature, most kits use 38C, 100F, I have a thermostatic water bath, which helps. Make sure you have somewhere dust free for drying. You generally get more films per unit of chemistry, and save time, if you process several films at once. I use the Tetanal 6 bath kit, make up 1 litre at a time, and that will do four 35mm films at once in a stainless steel tank, or three in a plastic one. One Litre is supposed to be good for 12 rolls (36 exp.), but if I always do a full tank, I find I can do 14 or 15 with no loss of quality (Kodak control strips put through and checked on densitometer). Make sure bottles for first and colour developers are kept full, add marbles or cover the solution with an inert or reducing gas, available in aerosol cans, for maximum storage life. Keep everything clean, avoid contaminatination of chemicals, espically colour developer. Should be obvious, but observe sensible precautions, don't eat, drink or smoke while handling chemicals, keep them away from children etc. Be careful with the colour developer, I used to be able to soak my arms in the stuff for hours on end when I was doing colour printing, then suddenly, about fifteen years ago, I got alergic to it, and now the shightest splash on my skin will bring me up in a very nasty rash. The first film I ever processed was colour slides, in the old E2 process, which took absolutely ages! I didn't even have a tank, I used to see-saw the film through dishes of chemicals - how things have changed, in this case for the better.  |  IP: Logged Sam Hunter Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 779 From: West Monroe, LA, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 07-23-2003 02:45 PM                     Would something like this work? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2941105451&category=15247  |  IP: Logged Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 07-23-2003 02:59 PM                     That's bigger than you need for just loading a small tank, but larger bags can be easier to work in, and will enable you to handle bigger things, like movie camera magazines, if you need to at some time.  |  IP: Logged Sam Hunter Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 779 From: West Monroe, LA, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 07-23-2003 03:02 PM                     I figured the bigger the better and also it would make it easier to manage things inside. Thanks!  |  IP: Logged Greg Mueller Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1687 From: Port Gamble, WA Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-23-2003 03:11 PM                        Astrophotographers do it all the time Sam. Mostly because some of the processing for the exotic films used is not done by regular processing places. If it's just regular old E6 or something that your local Costco (etc) will do, don't bother with it. That is unless you just want to monkey around with it. If it's something weird like hypered tech pan, then you have to do it yourself.  |  IP: Logged Sam Hunter Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 779 From: West Monroe, LA, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 07-23-2003 03:32 PM                     The biggest reason I wanted to develop slides myself is that I want to be able to make my own Advertising slides and funny stuff for my screening room, things like telling my Son he needs a haricut or my wife that I love her and that kind of stuff. I was planning on making the ads using my printer then placing it in a homemade lightbox and taking a picture of it using a 35mm camera then developing the stuff myself to see what works and what doesn't instead of waiting two weeks for the slides to be printed and returned. I guess though when I get my photo setup right then I wouldn't need to do it myself. Seems like there was a topic on here somewhere about making your own slides but surely it is possible. I would build a lightbox that you could affix the subject on have a 35mm camera affixed the correct distance away and focused properly for this thing. Anyway just a thought.  |  IP: Logged Sam Hunter Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 779 From: West Monroe, LA, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 07-23-2003 03:32 PM                     Ooops, my post doubled.  |  IP: Logged Greg Mueller Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1687 From: Port Gamble, WA Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-23-2003 03:40 PM                        They got pretty slick table/platform jiggers that have a vertical (adjustable) leg for your camera to attach to and 4 lights on goose necks pointing down at the table. You lay the subject matter on the table and turn on the lights crank the camera up or down to frame the shot and fire away. Sort of like the way an enlarger works except it takes pictures instead of making them  |  IP: Logged Jeff Skallan Film Handler Posts: 65 From: Littleton, CO, USA Registered: May 2001 posted 07-23-2003 05:32 PM                     Sam, I've had pretty amazing results setting up my Minolta SLR on a tripod and taking photos directly from my computer monitor. I used E-6 slide film and found a local photo lab that processed and mounted the slides for only $5 with a 2 hour turn around time. Just remember to turn off your camera's flash and have all other lights off in the room as not to create any reflection or glare from your monitor.  |  IP: Logged

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