For my sins, I am occasionally asked to present myself at various local
photographic clubs and to tell the members how to process an E6 slide
film.
When they see my
collection of battles the first thing somebody in the front (the experts
are always in the front) asks, “How do we know whether or not you are
kidding us and the film was already processed and the chemicals are merely
coloured water?” Not a bad idea, I think, because processing in a club
room is not the-best environment for success; usually no hot &cold
running water and no sink and often you have forgotten to bring such
trifles as a thermometer or a clock. However, to prove that there is no
‘fiddle’ I fire off the last few frames at the congregation in the
room.
During the processing
you are beset with questions. My trouble is that when concentrating on one
thing, such as how many seconds have I got in hand before I stop the
development, or what the temperature, my mind goes. Blank when it comes to
answering questions, so a reminder for myself and for the benefit of the
audience I printed some short notes as to what I am trying to do, and pass
the notes around. Let me point out, they are not a treatise on the theory,
merely a few notes. Here are the notes, which come in useful as a reminder
on other occasions.
FIRST
DEVELOPER 6 to 7 mins (see kit details)
Developes the three
colour-sensitive layers of the film as for three ordinary black and white
negatives all in one go. This is the most critical stage of the whole
process as it decides the correct exposure and, to some extent, sets the
final colour balance of the transparencies. If the final results of your
slides are too dark for your preference, then in the next film increase
the time a bit, or if the slides are too light, decrease the time; or if
you like alter the ASA settings of your camera.
15 seconds extra, plus
or minus, will make a small but noticeable difference in the density of
the film but possibly a larger change may be necessary to suit your
methods.
WASH
2 mins.
This is to stop the
action of the first developer and to prevent the developer carrying
contamination into the reversal bath. Be quite vigorous in agitation and
use plenty of changes of water.
REVERSAL BATH 2 mins.
This bath is to fog all
the remaining sensitive silver (silver halides), which was not converted
to metalic silver by the action of the first developer. Apart for a short
initial tap or two, to shake off air bubbles, DO NOT AGITATE this bath.
Agitation can cause oxidation of the bath and complete reversal of the
image may not take place.
Do not rinse the film
after this bath has been poured back. The film is now laden with reversal
chemicals, but the reversal does not really take place until there is
reaction with the colour developer chemicals.
COLOUR
DEVELOPER 6 mins.
Pour in the colour
developer and agitate smartly for the first agitation period. If it is not
smartly done it may affect the colour balance.
The silver halides
fogged by the reversal bath is now converted into positive metalic silver
by the colour developer. In doing so chemical agents in this developer
reacts with the dye couplers which are built in the three separate colour
layers of the film and produces the three dyes, Cyan, Magenta and Yellow
ready for the final colour slides, but still containing black silver,
which has got to be removed at a later stage. The time and temperature
ratings for this bath is not as important as the first developer ratings
because the colour developer action goes to finality. You don’t have to
stop at a critical point of time. But don’t over do it, too much time
and temperature may cause a slight magenta cast and the same thing applies
if you are using a motor-drive for six minutes; something like 5 minutes
will be enough.