Ted Neild, of Quinton, Birmingham,
responded to a call asking for more information and articles to go into
Area 9 local Newsletters. Ted’s commonsense report on his methods and
the equipment he uses for colour slides and colour reversal printing has
appeared piecemeal in area 9 local letters, but I am sure it is an article
which would be welcome to all of the C. R. C., especially those with ‘Do
- it - Yourself ‘ intensions.
Here is Ted’s letter ………
Colour
Slides
In Area 9 local letter No.
32 a reference was made to possible cross contamination of the various
stages of development, which could be caused by chemical baths dribbling
down the bottles whilst they are immersed in a temperature controlled
water bath. I can see the logic of the reasoning although over the years I
have engaged in home processing I have never knowingly suffered from it.
Perhaps the reason is because I do not
use bottles during processing, but instead employ laboratory beakers of
400 ml capacity. These have a diameter of approximately 8cm, which is
roughly the same as my Durst tank used for processing. It means that the
tank can be emptied directly into a beaker without the intervention of a
funnel and furthermore when a beaker’s contents has to be poured into
the tank it has a well shaped pouring lip and thus any dribbles of
chemicals down the outside are rare, in fact almost unknown.
The Durst tank uses rather less than
250m1 to cover the 35mm spool and so this quantity of liquid by no means
fills the beakers used for the several stages of processing. Again, this
is some advantage as a generous surface of glass can be heat maintained
with ease by the water bath.
As a means of temperature control I use
a fish tank heater as supplied by Polysales. In fact I have two, one being
used for Agfachrome ‘S’ processing and the other for E6 processing up
to 38deg C. Over several years I have found them to be quite reliable. The
heater and beakers are placed in a rectangular domestic washing-up plastic
bowl around which I have secured Polystyrene ceiling tiles to reduce the
heat loss. To protect them getting wet they have been protected with
Polythene sheeting. The water is circulated by a simple paddle rotated by
a discarded fan motor slowed down by introduction of a 40 watt electric
lamp in series. To avoid unwanted light the bulb is enclosed in a cocca
tin. The arrangement works well and is quite trouble free.
To maintain the temperature of the Durst
developing tank I use a separate earthenware basin which I stand on a dish
heater fitted with variable thermostatic control. Thus I am able to
transmit sufficient heat to the basin for Agfachrome S or E6 requirements
with ease. I put sufficient water to the basin to come up to the top of
the tank when it is immersed, so that the only heat loss is via the lid,
which is minimal.
Of
the last year or so . I have used Barfen film exclusively, I made up. each
,processing bath from raw chemicals obtained from Messers Hogg Laboratory
Supplies, Sloane Street, Birmingham. For first developer and colour
developer I follow the formulae supplied to the C.R.C, some time back by
Arnold Moorhouse. (see CRC News, Issue No. 15, October 1979). All other
stages I follow the suggestions given by Gilbert Mathewman in the same
issue. I have no means of checking the pH but have not experienced
difficulty so far in this direction. I have tried chemical reversal
instead of exposure to photoflood, using Hydrozine Sulphate with Tri
Sodium Phosphate but the result is inferior and I have abandoned it.
Finally I must extol the virtues of the
Durst tank with its centre loading spiral and loader, which feeds the film
so easily. Furthermore the pouring aperture is such generous size that the
contents could be filled or emptied in 5 sees which is extremely useful in
maintaining effective control of processing.