Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/01/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 10:14 AM 1/1/98 -0500, ted grant wrote: > >As far as do your own at home "Ektachrome Processing kits". I would take a >chance and say that it is "highly unlikely that any member of the Leica >Users Group process their own "chrome E6 film." Maybe, but not likely. > > >ted grant I processed all of my Ektachrome (starting with E2) for the past 40+ years. Over the past seven or so years I've almost exclusively switched to Velvia. I just shot some of the new E200 Ektachrome and I like it. One of the reasons I always processed my own E2-E6 films is that I didn't have a professional lab close by and I refused to send my film via mail or carrier across the country to who knows where. There was a Kodak Lab in Palo Alto, fifteen minutes from my house so my Kodachrome went there. When they changed to Qualex, I stopped shooting Kodachrome. About six or eight years ago a Pro lab (Calypso) opened and are only ten minutes from my house. They are a seriously professional lab and, I believe, now have the lions share of the pro/commercial/digital business here in Silicon Valley. When I found Calypso, I quit processing my own E6 film. It's much easier to have someone else do it AND they run daily controls on their processing line to keep it in balance. They will also push and pull processing, in 1/4 stop increments, up to four stops either way. Processing E6 yourself, today, is easy. For consistency, you should use a rotary processor (Jobo) and make sure your chemistry is fresh. But it's time consuming and prone to error. Jim