E6 chemicals - gone off?

[dave_whatever]

Its been a slow few months for me in terms of film turnover (boo hoo), so today when I've gone to use the remainder of my 3-bath E6 chemicals (which I had decanted into smaller glass bottles with minimal airgap and supposedly airtight lide) the Blix part A looks decidedly iffy - cloudy and got bits of sediment floating in it, and stuff stuck to the inside of the bottle. Probably doesn't take a genius to work out that this has gone south.

But what about the rest? Everything else looks OK as far as I can see (not that you can see very far into into Blix B), no cloudyness etc. Anyone else had E6 chems long enough to go off, and if so, is it fairly obvious when they do without burning some film? I'm trying to work out at the moment whether to sling the remaining chems and get a new kit, or just try and locate some blix-A, or decide I don't have the film turnover to sustain home E6 processing. The third option is a bit daunting now I notice Peak are asking £2.75 a sheet.

[Baxter]

Just use it as it is. I've had this happen a number of times with a yellow sulphurous 'scum' and all has been fine. I tried heating in microwave to get it to go back into solution to no avail.

Obviously for first batch it's worth trying some less than vital sheets, but I am pretty confident it'll be ok. It certainly surprised me that this was the case, but pleasantly so.

[dave_whatever]

Hmmm interesting - thanks for that info Banxter that's really useful. And here I was about to stick the CPE2 on ebay...

As it happens I have a couple of rolls of 120 that are probably half spoilt from a camera lightleak, so I may give those a go and see what happens.

[dave_whatever]

Well, having developed those two rolls it looks like the sediment in the blix seems to make no obvious difference at all. Which is nice. My light leaks also turned out to be nowhere near as bad as I'd thought, so all in all not a bad evening. Thanks again for that advice Baxter.

I would still be interested to know how obvious it is when the rest of the chems go off, just out of academic interest.

[Sean Lewis]

Just as a matter of interest, how much does a set of E6 chemicals cost, where's the best place to get them and what sort of tank do you use for 5x4's. I'm considering the CPE2 route myself.

Thanks,

Sean

[gari]

Hi Dave, I concur with Bax, I have had my blix develop deposits and it seems to have had no adverse effect on the results.
@Sean, I get mine from first call or Ag, the cost is around £40, give or take. I have several tanks etc but the most popular with a CPE/CPP is the 2xxx series tanks and 2059n reels. You could go for a 3 xxx series pro tank but you would need to have a strong constitution when it came to paying!!!

I would encourage all to try it, and not just from a cost pov, the extra control it gives is great.
Gari

[Georges Giralt]

Hello !
Having done a bit of E6 at home, in a Jobo, I've some knowledge of it.
First of all, the CPE2 can't handle the Expert drums in order to use them you should go to the CPA/CPP route.
Then, you can use a Jobo 28xx /25xx tank with the 2509 reel in the CPE2. (the 28xx tank is for paper use. The difference lies in the absence of centre core and in the presence of a beaker in the lid instead of the funnel of the 25xx. Funnel and cores are the same as in the 15xx series tank. So if you own one small film tank, you can re-use the funnel and the centre core, provided it is of the proper length.
Then comes the maximum film one can do in a procesor.
you should consider two factors : the CPE2 is limited to 600 cc max in order not to strain the motor too much. (1 litre for the CPA/CPP)
Then you should check the minimum amount of chemistry you need to process one sheet of film by reading carefully the instruction leaflet which came from the kit manufacturer. Sometimes it is not so obvious... Cross this with the minimum chemistry Jobo state for the tank you plan to use and use the bigger of the two figures.
This calculation will show you that you normally do not need the extensions to have a monster tank with tens of sheet film inside....
Then comes the chemistry problem. At the amateur end, are the 3 bath kits and at the other extreme lies the Kodak E6 6+1 step kit. Yesterday we had the Agfa AP44 4+1 kit. Long gone.
IMHO, the E6 single chemistry use kit from Kodak is the perfect choice for us as it provides detailed instructions to process small batches of film and get consistent and perfect results. You can also tweak it a bit to cool or warm your slides (you should know what to do first...). As this chemistry is not cheap, wait to have a bunch of film to process before buying one kit. The chemistry does not last long when in partially filled bottles. Keep in mind that colour chemistry is nasty stuff and take appropriate actions and procedures not to be poisoned by nor poison nature with it.
Then the processing process itself. Get the Jobo instructions and times for their processors. They depart from the E6 standard times a bit. So if you do not want to ruin film, follow them !
It is not difficult to process your E6 at home. One need care and consistence in procedure to get very good to perfect results. And it is rewarding, if not cheap.
Hope this helps.