[MF3D.FORUM:851] Re: Processing E6

["Kevin Kelley" <kevl9@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Re: Processing problems.

A lot of problems with processing can be eliminated if you do a good water 
bath first - i.e. before processing soak the film in water and agitate it 
enough to make sure you do not have any bubbles adhering to the film and 
that the film is uniformly wet.  I have even tried a very small amount of 
water softener (photo flow) to this bath to assist this process (but would 
not suggest you try that without full experimentation first)

A pre wetting allows immediate and uniform wetting by the developer and 
softness it attacks on the film.  This will eliminate most streaks and 
ununiform development.  If you try this you should do some experiments to 
ascertain the development time because it will change somewhat from your 
norm.

Also, the more you can control the temperature of every agent that touches 
the film during processing and washing the better.  When I was a photography 
student at Art Center College of Design one of my fellow  students, Co 
Rentmeister, was an absolute master of 35mm.  He was the only student who 
was allowed to use miniature film (35mm film was considered miniature – our 
standard was 4x5 and occasionally 70mm).  Co could make 36" prints from a 
35mm frame and they looked equally as sharp as a Hassy.  He told me his 
trick was to control the temperature of all chemicals, washes etc to be 
exactly uniform to within 1/4 degree.

Absolute uniform processing protocals, agetation timing and sequencing from 
one batch to the next are also necessary for uniformity.  Most streaking, 
and ununiformity are caused by the inappropriate agetation techniques.

Kevin Kelley
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