Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/01/12

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Subject: [Leica] I'm not Tina.... Jobo and E-6
From: "Birkey" <dbirkey@uio.telconet.net>
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2001 20:59:08 -0500

Well I'm not Tina.... but....

I use a CPP-2 with the lift for E-6 processing  and the Kodak Professional
E-6 6-step "single-use" 5 liter kits.

The one shot chemistry is great when you develop slide film once a week or
every other as it has a longer shelf life than the previous 1 gallon kits...
The quality is also much better than my lab with cleaner highlights.  It
provides great roll to roll consistency with chemistry sensitive films like
Fuji's CDU slide dupe film.  I'm able to develop 35 rolls (700 ml per 5
rolls) with the kit..

I used to buy the E6-R chemistry that made 5 gallons, except for the bleach
which easily made 10 and you could replenish it and stretch it out
farther...  but you needed to add starter... and the mixed chemistry went
bad faster.  I always divided the first and color developer concentrate into
quantities to make 1 gallon and squeezed the air out of the bottles...
When I mixed a gallon of chemistry...  I divided the first and color
developer into my 700ml quantities and squeezed the air out of those bottles
as well.

With the E6-R chemistry I could do 10 rolls with the same 700ml of chemistry
provided I did the second 5 right after the first...  (50 rolls per gallon)
But I wouldn't go this route unless you are developing a lot of film a
month.... mixing chemistry was a hassle too.

But... I shoot a lot more neg film now than slides and now I'm shooting more
digital as well.... so.... I'll stick with the 5 liter kits.

The CPP2 with the lift is not an auto processor.....  It has motor to drive
the drum, a pump to circulate the water and keep it a constant temp..... but
you need to pour in the chemistry...  watch your time.... use the lift to
empty out chemistry etc....  By the time you load reels, process the film,
do
the final rinse and hang things up to dry.... you've killed an hour....  But
you also need to mix chemistry before hand... get the chemistry and water
bath to temp.... and mount the slides afterwards.... And if you don't have a
clean drying area.... you'll have dust impregnated in your film for life...

If you've had a bad day or if the baby kept you awake the whole night
before, you might dump the next step's chemistry down the drain instead of
pouring it in the processor.... I've done that a couple of times....
fortunately it usually happens at the end with bleach or fix... so the film
isn't ruined...

But I have ruined some film by overdeveloping it by 4 minutes....
essentially pushing it 2 stops...  I carelessly  I set my gralab timer back
to the start of my 4 minute warm-up time instead of the first developer
mark....  My week was really bad after that as I had to reshoot a whole
bunch of work...

So... you need to decide whether it is worth the time involved...  The only
reason I do it in-house is that I can do a better job than my lab...

I also like the CPP-2 as I can develop 4x5 sheet film in the expert drums
and do
large Ciba or Reversal  prints from slides...


But it would be nice to have auto processor so I could do something else for
40 minutes while it is running.....

Duane Birkey
HCJB World Radio, Quito Ecuador
Duane's Photographs of Ecuador:
http://duane_birkey.tripod.com