----- Original Message ----- From: "Francis"
Subject: Do-it-yourself slide developing
Hi folks,
I was so discouraged by the prices named on the previous thread (High saturation Slide film) that I'm looking into doing my own color slide (E-6) developing. Unfortunately I know almost nothing about it so I have a few questions:
Is there chemicals that are bio-degradable/flush-down-the-toiletable, and if so do they do as good a job?
How expensive would the chemicals be per roll of film?
Would it be possible to do it in my bathroom with out too much fancy setup?
What is the best kind of chemicals/developer setup?
Check your local environmental ordinances. Except for the silver bearing chemistry (fixer), the stuff is pretty benign, but you may not be allowed to dump it into the sewer system anyway.
I really think that to do a proper job of slide film processing, a mechanized processor is needed. The time and temperature is quite critical.
Look for a Jobo processor, even the small CPE-2 is a good machine, but get one with the lift.
The best chemistry is the stuff you can buy.
I'm not being facetious, you may have a very limited choice on what you can get.
For myself, I would try to stay with the chemistry that is supplied by the manufacturer of the film you are using.
E-6 is a licensed process, only Kodak supplies it.
Everyone else is using a knock off, which may work better for their own film, and not as well for film it wasn't formulated for.
William Robb
