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Color film processing (slides) - large format.

Ray - , Feb 08, 2012; 04:10 p.m.

Hi, I have been thinking about LF for some yrs now. The post underneath this reminded me about Quickloads/Readyloads have been discontinued at least in the USA but still available in Japan but at 3x the price.

Can someone advise me on the weight per a typical film holder and the weight of a Quickload?
I have sent my film from New Zealand to the USA for development since it is so astronomical here.

In terms of purchasing chemicals - what are available for international customers? I see those Tetenal powder kits have been discontinued and liquids either cannot be sent overseas or are expensive for international postal. And lastly, does one need a machine like a Jobo to maintain temperature?
How much working liquid do you need and how many film does it process?

Cheers.

Responses

peter carter , Feb 08, 2012; 07:29 p.m.

Both freestyle and B&H stock powder kits. They ship them up here (Canada) so I don't see why they would not to you. Just buy enough at a time to make it worth while. Then again, it may just be easier to get the raw chems and make your own.

Charles Monday , Feb 08, 2012; 09:20 p.m.

I think Ray is looking for E-6 chemicals not C41 chemicals.
Adorama, B&H, and Freestyle only have Liquid E-6 chemicals for large quantities.
B&H has a Tetnal C41 powder kit, Freestyle has 2 sizes of Uincolor C41 powder kits.

ed lusthoff , Feb 10, 2012; 12:21 p.m.

Charles: Freesyle has e-6 in pt, lt, gal. sizes. Now the question is can they ship to NZ?

Ray - , Feb 10, 2012; 02:20 p.m.

Cheers Ed :) They do not. ORMD - ground shipping only in the Continental United States.

I have also contacted the local supplier re: Tetenal. They wanted $160US for a 1L kit. Hahah.. I think I may just continue to ship E6 to the USA and back even with LF film when I get into that. Will put them back into their original boxes (Fuji/Kodak). I don't really shoot C41 but probably pick up a Tetenal Press Kit when I get some film from B&H later in the year, still have about 10 rolls in my freezer I want to finish up. OTOH, for b/w which I hope to get into. NZ used to cost the same as the USA 2 or so years ago but recently when I checked, they are now 2x or 3x to the US, haha. Well I guess it aligns the rest of the film products. A lot of Kodak liquids cannot be shipped but Ilford can like the stop bath and the fixer, but do that if postal isn't too expensive when I get my film.

Stuart Richardson , Feb 10, 2012; 06:03 p.m.

I would keep sending out your film. E-6 is not fun -- you need to keep in +/- .1 degree C and +/- 3 seconds per step in the first few steps. It is ok in a Jobo for personal use, but the problem is that there are lots of steps, lots of chemicals to go bad (the chemicals seemed to last me only a couple weeks, even in glass bottles), and the very high cost of the chemicals. I am in Iceland and run a custom lab, mostly for digital printing, but also black and white processing and printing, so I had the same shipping/cost problems as you. We add 25.5% VAT as well as environmental disposal fees. I was paying 120 US for 5L of Fuji Hunt E-6 chemicals, and that was wholesale. There is a very low volume of slide processing here, so I wanted to start doing it. It did not turn out to be economical for me at all. It is a ton of work, a ton of cost, and difficult to do manually (think at least an hour to hour and a half from set up to clean up, the first part of that where you have to be paying very close attention and cannot do anything else or multitask). Realistically, the max you can do in a Jobo is 10 sheets at a time (with the expert drum). For real consistency you need a replenished system, which means at least 10 rolls a day.
Finally, I would be hesitant to spend a good deal of money on E-6 processing equipment (like a Jobo etc). If there is another film product that is going to disappear, it is likely to be E-6 films. I still don't think it will happen for a few years, but E6 was primarily for professionals, who have abandoned it almost completely. Add to this the fact that it is harder and more expensive to DIY than other types of film, suggests to me that if you want to shoot slides, stock up now and ALSO find a good lab that is not going anywhere. I would support some place like dr5...better to support the small high end places so they stay in business. http://www.e6chrome.com/ After doing it myself, I think that paying 3 dollars a sheet is a hell of a deal! If could pay that here to have someone to do it for me, I would in a nanosecond.

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