Second Time Developing Slide Film: Unicolor EZ – E6/Kodak E100.

Second Time Developing Slide Film: Unicolor EZ – E6/Kodak E100.

Subtitle: Solid results when you follow the directions on the tin.

Now this is what slide film is supposed to look like. First time out?

First Time Developing Slide Film: Unicolor EZ – E6/Fujichrome Provia 100F.

• Accidental slide film usage meant I did not use it like I normally would use slide film. I.E. avoid mixed lighting.
• Mistakenly thought it was 400 speed film when it was 100.
• Then just for fun I lunched and skipped the rinse between the 1st and 2nd chemistry baths.

Yay! It is a miracle that I got any images at all.

Developed a second roll of slide film. I gave it the best chance possible:

• Used my best and most consistent metering 35mm film camera, the Contax 137 MA Quartz.

This Old Camera Part 3: Contax 137 MA Quartz – Photo Update

• Used the correct ISO.
• Did not skip the 7 x rinse between the 1st and 2nd chemistry.
• I shot it like slide film, i.e. no mixed lighting.

And the results were much better. Has that highly detailed, deep color slide film look.

Backing up a bit.

After the first roll, I was like slide film is not that hard, but I think it has more to do about working my way up to it. Went from the simplest to a bit more complicated, and got quite comfortable, so the jump to slide film was not that far. If I had started with slide film, it would have been much more challenging.

Reminds me of something my Father would say.

“Do not fear not understanding. It is a natural part of the learning process. Do not be intimidated. Everyone started there. Even the most complex concept is nothing more than a series of simpler concepts strung together in a complex manner. If you cannot yet understand the concept then you need to break the concept down further. You cannot do this while caught up in a panic because you do not yet understand.”
-RLW

I will say that the full chemistry kit for slide film purchased locally is quite a bit more expensive at $54. Nearly twice the price as color developer. But I just saw that I can save $10 by ordering it online, even with shipping, which I just ordered. The film is more expensive than other films, also, but that would not change no matter who was developing it. There are advantages though:

• At $20 a pop for E6 development locally, developing three rolls more than pays for the chemistry, no matter where I buy it from.
• Much longer wait time than even B&W film, compared to near immediate return.

Moving on.

I bought a a traditional slide development kit. Due to my need to push the film I could not use the chrome 1st developer Cinestill kit I had purchased.

As mentioned above, I was initially intimidated by slide film. The first thing I saw in the instructions was 6 steps. Eesh. But after some reading and a watch of a video…

…I realized that this was misleading. There are actually only three steps involving chemistry. The other are rinses. Not bad. A natural progression. Started with Cinestill monobath… 1 bath.

Developing with Cinestill Df96 Monobath: A KEH Repost and Update

Moved on to CS41… 2 baths.

Developing Color At Home Made Easy: Cinestill CS41 2 Bath and TCS 1000

Now 3.

Even mixing was easy. Used Cinestill TCS1000 to get the water up to 105 degrees F and pour in the chemistry and top it off at 32 oz. EZ. Like in the name.

But courtesy of my shenanigans the results were not what I expected. Do not get me wrong, I liked the pics that survived.

But, they did not look like slide film to me. They reminded me of more experimental films like Harman Phoenix 200.

What I was looking for was something like this.

Rich colors full of detail.

The question I had was what happened? The mystery. Was it because…

• I used the wrong ISO?
• I did not shoot it as I would slide film?
• I did not rinse between the first two baths?
• Some or all of the above?

My choices. Do I…

• Risk using the potentially contaminated, by not rinsing away the 1st developer, color developer bath again, and see what happens.
• Try to buy just the color chemistry bath and remixing it.
• Just buy another kit and just remix the color development bath.

But if I did that, I would not know what caused the results I got. I am far too curious for that… and cheap. I really did not want to buy part or all of the chemistry if I could avoid it.

So I chose to use the same chemistry again.

Here are the surviving images. Many more this time than last time.

Thoughts.

This is much more like it.

Mystery solved.

No rinse did not completely ruin the color developer.

The likely cuplrit for the less than expected results the first time around was having to push the film in development. Something I would have never done on purpose.

Slide film developing at home sorted.

Next up. To try it with 120 film and I need to find some manner of photo session worthy of the film expense.

That is all for now.

Happy capturing.

-ELW