E6 Home processing
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TheBigYin
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It's easy to do - but it's pretty difficult to do consistently, and well.
It's a few more chemicals, a little bit more time critical, and a bit harder on temperature control (38c being harder to keep stable than 20c), but eminently do-able in a kitchen sink and patterson tank. All the consistency is needed to get a handle on colour consistency, and it did take me the first 1L Tetenal kit to get the hang of things, but otherwise it's quite enjoyable. The chemicals involved, however, are much nastier than B&W, and if you're doing a lot of processing you'll need some method of disposal that's a bit better than tipping it down the drain.
It's a few more chemicals, a little bit more time critical, and a bit harder on temperature control (38c being harder to keep stable than 20c), but eminently do-able in a kitchen sink and patterson tank. All the consistency is needed to get a handle on colour consistency, and it did take me the first 1L Tetenal kit to get the hang of things, but otherwise it's quite enjoyable. The chemicals involved, however, are much nastier than B&W, and if you're doing a lot of processing you'll need some method of disposal that's a bit better than tipping it down the drain.
OneTen
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I had a lot of success with a Jobo CPE-2+ with lift. All the chemicals are kept in a water bath to the correct temperature and the film tank is partially submerged and rotated through the same bath. The lift allowed for quick and easy removal of chemicals.
TheBigYin
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It's definitely much easier to be consistent with the timings agitation and temperature using something like Richard says, and BITD, when i was shooting plenty of E6, I had the very same bit of kit. Don't think i've space to keep one on the go anymore, and seeing as they still manage to go for around £300, I'll stick with my lower tech. solution.
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Temperature consistency is the main thing as TBY says. It's pretty easy to get around though by keeping your various containers of chemicals in a larger volume of water, e.g. a large bowl or sink, with the water temperature just a little higher. Keep monitoring the temp of your chemicals and add warm water to the larger volume as required.
TheBigYin
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Best way I've found is to use a large coolbox (those plastic insulated job's) with a lid, to use as a "tempering vessel" Fill it with water at around 45c and dunk the chemical bottles in there. Put the lid on and go off and transfer your film(s) into the spirals. By the time you've finished faffing, the chemicals will have warmed up, and the water dropped to around 39-40c. If not, take the lid off, and wait 'till it does. At that point, you can use some of the tempering liquid to pre-soak the films for 5 minutes, dunking the tank into the coolbox to maintain temperature. Replace the lid, and leave it for 5 minutes.
With the lid on, the chemicals usually stay up to temperature for long enough to complete processing the film. I'm currently toying with fitting a immersion heater with the thermostat set to 38c into the insulated box, but at the moment, the coolbox is far too handy for taking beer to barbecues
With the lid on, the chemicals usually stay up to temperature for long enough to complete processing the film. I'm currently toying with fitting a immersion heater with the thermostat set to 38c into the insulated box, but at the moment, the coolbox is far too handy for taking beer to barbecues