WAY DOWN SOUTH (In Hampshire!)
A letter from Bill Wilson of Eastleigh in Hampshire raises a similar point to that of Brian Asquith on pages 14 & 15 in regard to the E6 process having been evolved primarily for the high-speed commercial people.
Well, of course, this is perfectly true. But it is equally true to appreciate that this chemistry was evolved in concert with the E6 emulsion. The two are comrades in arms, as it were, and consequently completely compatible.
Further it is now quite without question that, as a result of some absolutely sterling effort and experimentation by members and officials of the CRC, that the club formulae is equally at ease when confronted with the small tank of the amateur as with the endless belt system of the commercial people.
Bill further asks whether the Chelating agent number 4 is the same as Calgon. Well the short answer is that it is not! Though the two are there to do much the same job but Calgon is seldom used now for photographic purposes as it is not, apparently, too neighbourly with certain metals in tap water. The constituents of Chelating agent Number 4 is not known and is probably patented.
On the question of whether the Moorhouse formulae (a further point raised by Bill) is still producing results with E6 which compares with those obtained with the Club mix I can assure him and other members ... absolutely not! Though it must be admitted that a few people still remain loyal to this now outdated system. The results are NOT consistent and are confined, in the main to Fuji film. Whereas the Club formulae will give first class results with virtually any emulsion.
Bill goes on the attack in regard to extra costs - the cassette which cannot be re-loaded, the discontinued, and cheap `Hypo` against the expensive Ammonium Thiosulphate! There doesn`t appear to be an answer to the point of the crimped cassette which seems to have arrived in order to boost sales of the pre-loaded 35mm film in favour of the bulk length.
But the old-fashioned `Hypo` is neither as clean- working, as efficient or as long-lasting as the ammonium salt. I doubt whether a cost comparison would show all that much advantage in favour of `Hypo` - though I haven`t gone into that particular situation.
The other point raised: that of Ammonium Thiosulphate taking over from `Hypo` in order to more easily re-claim the silver deposits. Well, again, I`m not too sure that this is so - though I know that reclamation of silver from fixer baths goes back many years and was always possible from the `hypo` type of bath. One thing is certain... silver is now a very expensive and extremely scarce.
Ron Knowles (Area 11).