Pushing Color Transparency Film ?

All aspects of color film developing and printing.
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neal.niemiec
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Pushing Color Transparency Film ?

Post by neal.niemiec »

I do not process my E6, rather i rely on a local lab (chicago) that is well regarded. I was advised that you can push a stop if needed, however, the results were terrible. I did recently check out Fuji's spec sheet on velvia- they indicated that you can push 100 a stop if needed. I continue to wonder if maybe there was a miscommunication on the instructions I gave the lab - any experience w. pushing E6 positive or negative? thanks,
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perfesserkev
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Pushing Color Transparency Film ?

Post by perfesserkev »

I pushed Fujichrome 400 to 800, only when it was a matter of getting an image or not getting an image. The results generally are grainy with loss of black density. You can't get a slide film faster than ISO 200 now, though. In negative films you can get up to 1600 still, and if you need the speed I would try that instead. A color negative at box speed would be better than the slide pushed to that speed. Better results from ISO 400 or 800 negative film than the slide film pushed to 200 or 400.



What is the ultimate form of the image? A print? Projection? Digital? Let us know how you would like to use or display the pictures and we may be able to aim you at the best route to that!
"You compose, you decompose." -- Ernst Haas
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sanchell
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Pushing Color Transparency Film ?

Post by sanchell »

Fashion photographer Deborah Turbeville, who just passed away, became famous for pushing her Ektachrome 400 to 1600. The result was just as Herr Perfesserkev says, graininess, low resolution, and low D-max - a soft dreamy look. It was her signature style and for awhile everyone, myself included, tried to emulate her. The problem was that pushing film was one thing. Nobody had her eye!



Beyond that, there were three reasons to push chrome one was when you forgot to change your ISO and the second was to compensate for slight errors in exposure in the studio, where exposure was far more critical when you were being paid than when you were just fooling around. The third was to clean up the highlights of a transparency. Typically, film would be pushed in increments of 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, stops, up to as much as 1 1/2 stops - rarely beyond that, with quality decreasing incrementally after about 2/3 of a stop.



Hand developing labs were better at it than machine processing labs. Primarily because it was necessary to add magenta dye to compensate for cyan color shifts. Adding the dye to a hand developed batch of film was one thing, you tossed the color developer when you were through. But adding it to a machine line meant you had to stop the machine, add the dye, run a dozen rolls, stop the machine, change the chemistry. It wasn't cost effective and probably less so now.



The lab you are using is probably running a machine line. If they happen to be running a hand line then they don't have the skill or knowledge to add magenta. This was a specialty of the top pro labs.
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Steve Anchell
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perfesserkev
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Pushing Color Transparency Film ?

Post by perfesserkev »

Heh. Flashback. In college I ran E-6 in an Arkay sink line. I'd roll up to 30 reels of chrome film in the dark, drop 'em in a rack and have to hold dark until into the color developer. On busy days it was nearly an hour of total blackness.



I hallucinated often. At that much time your eyes want to invent stuff to see...
"You compose, you decompose." -- Ernst Haas
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sanchell
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Pushing Color Transparency Film ?

Post by sanchell »

:)
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themichael
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Pushing Color Transparency Film ?

Post by themichael »

Here is a video on pushing and pulling E6 from Dean Collins.



[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNR7GkbOQho[/media]
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sanchell
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Pushing Color Transparency Film ?

Post by sanchell »

Thank you. I don't have time now but I look forward to watching it. Dean Collins was a great educator, innovator, and magician in the studio. He was a genius at lighting and special effects. He passed away a number of years ago before he could leave his imprint on digital. As it was, much of what he did with film and light would make Photoshoppers envious. He was way ahead of his time.
Do it in the Dark,



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darkroommike
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Pushing Color Transparency Film ?

Post by darkroommike »

perfesserkev wrote: Heh. Flashback. In college I ran E-6 in an Arkay sink line. I'd roll up to 30 reels of chrome film in the dark, drop 'em in a rack and have to hold dark until into the color developer. On busy days it was nearly an hour of total blackness.



I hallucinated often. At that much time your eyes want to invent stuff to see...


Heh. I did the same thing with an E-4 line, love that pre-hardener.
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perfesserkev
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Pushing Color Transparency Film ?

Post by perfesserkev »

:)
"You compose, you decompose." -- Ernst Haas
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sanchell
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Pushing Color Transparency Film ?

Post by sanchell »

Not to one up you guys ( :) ) but, I learned on an E3 hand line using 3 1/2 gallon tanks. The total time of development from start to finish was one hour and 15 minutes + hanging 20 rolls of film.



The purpose of E4 was to shorten development time to 45 minutes making the process more profitable for commercial labs.



The photographer who taught me how to develop E3, Roger Davidson, claimed E4 was an inferior process foisted on photographers by Eastman to maximize profits. He refused to use it. Many pro labs, besides Roger, kept an E3 hand line for medium and large format, and an E4 machine line for 35mm.



Then Eastman announced the introduction of E5. They claimed it was even faster than E4. But before E5 came to market, they had a breakthrough and instead they introduced E6 with a development time of 37 1/2 minutes (E5 never came to market). Roger retired from developing film shortly thereafter.
Do it in the Dark,



Steve Anchell
darkroommike
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Pushing Color Transparency Film ?

Post by darkroommike »

perfesserkev wrote: Heh. Flashback. In college I ran E-6 in an Arkay sink line. I'd roll up to 30 reels of chrome film in the dark, drop 'em in a rack and have to hold dark until into the color developer. On busy days it was nearly an hour of total blackness.



I hallucinated often. At that much time your eyes want to invent stuff to see...


I did something similar with E-4, much nastier. The pre-hardener would kill you.



Back on topic, the old Kodak ESP-1 mailer insert pushed High Speed Ektachrome 160 1 1/3 stops to 400, that became the standard Kodak push for other films. Our little AV darkroom pushed E-4 2-stops and sometimes 3, it was awful in a not good way but not getting pictures was worse. We also pulled the Kodak duplicating film per the book to minimize contrast in our dupes.
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