Well Stroll Round, Charlie…
And see what’s new.
In the case of the Murray Street Camera Electronic shop, the eye popper on a recent visit was the introduction of pre-packed colour developing kits by Ilford.
Home colour development for film has been possible for decades, and has been surprisingly successful for people willing to learn the routine and to provide the necessary temperature and agitation control. it is a bit tougher than plain old black and white work, but not insurmountably so. My own experience - buoyed by advice from the late Ron Frank - was over a ten year period and eventually I was able to turn out perfectly good exhibition prints with processing in my own darkroom.
The ECN-2 process deals with modern motion picture film development and shooters may encounter the film repackaged for still camera use. It may produce a thinner negative than the C-41 process.
C-41 is, of course, the standard colour negative film process we all encounter with minilab processing.
E-6 is for transparencies - of the Ektachrome or Fujichrome types.
These boxes of chemicals come from Ilford, Japan, and are intended to make about 2.5 litres of all the various solution needed. They can be broken down to smaller quantities but the instructions for this are quite specific in some steps - you mix some baths completely.
You also need to consider constant agitation - the sort of rotational action the the Jobo processors provided - or deep dip tank work in total darkness. It is possible to make
your own rotating processor ( proudly puffs out handyman chest ) but the commercial ones were always a lot more sophisticated and did not splash as much water around the darkroom.
Be careful with the chemicals for any colour process as they are a lot more dangerous than plain B/W mixtures.
You’ll also need to achieve temperature control to + or - 0.2º Celsius for one of the steps…though others are much more forgiving. Pre-heating tanks and solutions is a must. Accurate time control as well.
But it can be done. And the independent thrill of pulling your first roll of neg or transparency from the tank - and dropping it on the darkroom floor - cannot be equalled.
The provision of uniform and easily accessed colour chemicals is wonderful news. We struggled with Kodak, Agfa, and Fujifilm supplies for years as they changed and repackaged everything. Let’s hope Ilford keeps this act together.
All text and images by Richard Stein
