"Toni Nikkanen" wrote in message
...
"K W Hart" writes:

E6 processing (for Ektachrome and others) may be the same number of steps
as
C41, depending in which variaition of the process you use. K14 (for
Kodachrome) is not a home process, at least not for actual color slides.
The
downside of C41 and E6 is temperature control and the storage life of the
chemicals. The developer must have minimal contact with air for longest
life
and even then, the life is only a couple weeks.

Lots of people have found that at least for Tetenal's C41 chemistry,
temperature
control and storage life are not even nearly as critical as one could
imagine
given the manufacturer's recommendations.

I've never used Tetenal's product, so I can't speak about the storage life.
As for temperature control, if you are doing critical work where one roll
has to match the next roll, temperature control is more important. But not
everyone is doing such critical work...

Basically, if you fill a kitchen sink with 40C water, put your processing
tank
and bottles with chemicals in it, let it cool down to 38.5C, then start
processing,
the temperature will stay in the 37.5-38.5C range allowed within the
tolerances
of said chemicals, during the 3:15 - 4:30min processing times, with no
extra
work involved.

There is a temp control procedure called "drift-by". Basically, you
determine how much heat will be lost (or gained if your darkroom is over
100F!) and you start out at a higher temperature. The average temp will be
correct.

Shelf life of mixed chemicals is also typically multiple times that of
promised. If
you're really worried you can of course mix only half of the chemicals for
use
at a time, but after going through 2 sets of Tetenal 1-liter sets of C41
chemistry
and quite frankly, abusing it way beyond promised longevity, I'm no longer
worried
about it at all. Hell, I use 1L plastic (PET) lemonade bottles for storing
the
stuff! Of course I squeeze all the extra air out etc. but still...


Manufacturers are usually very conservative in their product ratings.
Fortunately C-41 developer (like many B&W developers) goes dark as it ages.
The darker it is, the more risky it is to use it.
I mix 2L at a time, so I use 2L Coke bottles for my developer. If you are
using soda/drink bottles for chem storage, please make sure that no one will
mistake your chems for what was originally in the bottle. The bleach I
replenish and reuse, and the Fixer and Stabilizer I mix 5 gallons at a time
and store in 5 gallon tanks with floating lids.

I've yet to try the E-6 stuff, because I do somewhat less slides AND my
local lab
is probably the best E-6 lab in the country. But eventually I will.

The toughest thing I've found about E-6 is mounting the slides! I have
trouble making the cuts between the frames, proably because it's black
instead of clear.