| Those of us who don’t feel that
we have fully earned the right to rely on prayer and faith
to avert disaster appreciate your keen interest in having
processing available as a form of insurance against a defective
camera, sync cord, or strobe for an entire trip, only to discover
the problem when your slides come back from the lab. By processing
a roll or two at the beginning of the trip, you can check
your technique as well as discover an equipment malfunction
before it ruins a trip. Hopefully, you’ll also have
a backup for the failed item with you if you can’t remedy
the trouble. At the very least, you should convince your dive
buddy to purchase the same gear—so that you can seize
the opportunity to switch the offending item in an unguarded
moment.
You can become E-6 capable with an unbelievably small investment,
a modest amount of dedicated space and weight, and very little
preparation. Any E-6 film, including all Kodak Ektachromes,
Fukichromes, and Fuji Velvia, can be processed using the Kodak
hobby kit. This kit, which processes six rolls of thirty-six
exposure 35nn film, retails at $18.50. You need a thermometer,
a timepiece, a developing tank with a couple of reels to load
film on, a changing bag (optional), a way to measure liquid,
scissors, and four one-pint containers for the mixed chemicals.
Some sort of funnel is almost mandatory for transferring chemicals
from the tank to the storage bottle after completion of a
step. A piece of ten-millimeter plastic rolled into a cone
and held together with a small piece of duct tape will do
nicely and requires no space in your baggage.
An adequate discussion of the procedure is included in the
directions that come with the kit, so it will be omitted here.
Although the "long" Kodak E-6 process involves seven
steps, not including washes, and requires fairly rigid temperature
control at 100 degrees, the four-step hobby kit allows processing
at a wide range of constant temperatures. There are even instructions
to allow for a drop in temperature during processing if maintenance
isn’t possible in cooler climates. In the tropics, however,
normal ambient temperatures will be very suitable for processing
and will require no special control measures. If you’re
going to process at ambient temperatures, you simply allow
the chemicals and wash water to stand for about a half hour
before starting. And if you have an accurate temperature readout
on your dive computer, you don’t even need to bring
a thermometer. Just follow the sliding time/temperature scale
which is included in the kit. I prefer to process at around
100 degrees, mainly because this higher-than-ambient temperature
reduces the time required for each of the steps. I use one
of the ice chests that I pack my gear in for a water bath.
Bring the bath water to about 104 to 105 degrees, place the
containers of chemicals along with your thermometer or computer
in the bath, and close the chest. Wait about fifteen minutes,
and the whole system will have come to about 100 to 101 degrees.
Only the first step is highly temperature-critical. Subsequent
steps can proceed at lower temperatures. Controlled variation
from the normal time/temperature values for the first step
allows you to increase or decrease the effective ISO of your
film. This is covered in the "push/pull" instructions
for use of the kit.
The film must be loaded onto the reels and locked into the
tank in total darkness. You may use a changing bag for this
procedure, however, any area dark enough for you to be unable
to see your hand several inches in front of your face after
a couple of minutes of dark adaptation is safe for loading
film—providing that you’ve practiced loading the
reel in daylight with a throw-away roll and thus don’t
take an hour for the procedure. You can darken your room or
cabin and load the tank under your blanket if all else fails.
Simply closing your eyes will not work. I’ve tried that—several
times. The rest of the process may be completed in daylight.
Processing at 100 degrees takes about forty-five minutes,
start to finish.
You’ll need a means to hang your film for drying in
a still, dust-free, and hopefully bug-free area for around
an hour in normal tropical conditions. You can use the blow
dryer you brought for drying the camera you planned to flood
to dry the end of the roll and then hang the film by a small
piece of duct tape. You can pin the end of the roll in a doorway
(not to the varnished woodwork), or if you aren’t the
creative type, you can get a couple of film hangers for about
fifty cents each from your photo store. Need I remind you
that any bug in the area of your drying film will have taken
an oath to seek out all freshly developed film emulsion, immediately
make a kamikaze dive, imbed itself in same emulsion, burrow
around until it finds the single frame of the thirty-six that
has the highest artistic merit or the rarest subject, then
drag itself to the area in that frame of sharpest focus, and
die there. A hammer and chisel will be required to remove
its remains. I have seen six-legged broncos in the tropics
that would require a chainsaw for the removal process.
Just a few small tips before you start. Be absolutely certain
the reels are completely dry before you attempt to load them..
Be sure that your hands are perfectly dry also. Any dampness
will cause the film to become sticky and utterly impossible
to load onto the reels. If you’re not certain that the
reels are perfectly dry, use that hair dryer to finish the
job—from a good distance away, of course. Melted reels
are tough to load too.
You’ll find that processing-temperature wash water
is a limited commodity. If you keep your bath container and
tank and bottles clean, you can use the bath water for the
first couple of washes. You’ll appreciate the savings
of time at these steps and your film won’t be harmed.
Unless you’re going into big-time processing, your tank
will probably accommodate two rolls. If more rolls are to
be developed after the day’s diving, consider sharing
bath and chemicals with your buddy or another buddy team.
You need only a second tank and set of reels. This saves a
bunch of time and energy and saves a lot of space in your
baggage.
Please don’t be intimidated by anything you may have
heard about how precise and touchy film developing is. Using
the hobby kit is easy and uncomplicated, and I assure you
that you’ve seen the results in virtually every magazine
published, including this one. I encourage you to include
processing in your quality control procedures on your next
trip.
Remember, read the instructions carefully. Pay particular
attention to the safety instructions as well as the processing
details.
Warning: photographic chemicals may be harmful if swallowed—duh!
Don’t take them internally or place them in your eyes.
Don’t eat the foil packaging or swallow the little bottles
that the chemicals come in. Don’t put the empty film
canisters in your ears.
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