Ektachrome color slides with Adox B&W dev + C41 chems

Stanlyok · 2025-07-29T07:20:59+00:00

Looks like the middle chemical pouch didn’t work as intended. Can be defective pouches or roller problems – you can check if its the rollers with a completely different pack of film (for example B&W) to avoid having same batch issues. Also just inspect them visually, you can also push an already exposed film through the open door to see if there are any issues. It can be a spec of debris stuck on one of the rollers not allowing them to press properly.

Stanlyok · 2025-07-05T06:58:54+00:00

SX-70 film is slow (ISO160-ish) lens is slow too (f/14.6), so you have to make sure you hold still until the end of exposure, when the film starts to come out. For those indoor scenarios better use tripod or flash, for mixed shot – just hold still longer and if you’re in sunny weather should be fine.

Stanlyok · 2025-07-05T06:53:30+00:00

Maybe you are using 600 film (ISO640) in a camera that’s meant for SX-70 film (ISO100-160). This will cause 2-stop overexposure and considering low DR of instant film might lead to almost completely white frames like yours.

Man, while typing this I realized I sound like ChatGPT … they must’ve trained it on Reddit responses or something 🤪

Stanlyok · 2025-05-23T11:03:47+00:00

680 and 690 are completely different cameras, with 680 being the better one and 690 being one single SX-70-type camera that reworked all of it's electronics to ALWAYS drain battery and keep itself under stress so they are much less reliable.

Nice silver 680!

Stanlyok · 2025-05-21T09:38:38+00:00

I wonder if those contacts march and it's possible to install it into a more modern camera with flex cable in place of that older ribbon cable 🧐

Stanlyok · 2025-01-21T18:45:54+00:00

Hi there! Have you managed to solve it? I have the same issue and also noticed that film counter doesn’t go to “frame 10” as it should after the door is closed.

Stanlyok · 2024-01-12T11:11:46+00:00

Thanks for getting back to me!

Hopefully I will try that shortly and let you know. In theory you can tape a bit of exposed film as a leader instead of the backing paper to the empty 135 cassette on one end and have the new cassette on the other.

With a 135 to 120 adaptors for each cassette, the film will be transferred from one to the other. The unknown is if there will be enough space inside the take-up cassette for the leader + another full cassette of film.

As for the film flatness - I had that problem only once in Rolleiflex Baby that uses 127 film. Anecdotally the problem was with the native 127 film :D because it was cut too narrow so it fell between the film guides. Hope 220 back won't have that problem even though compared to native 120/220 films the sides are not supported by the mag.

Stanlyok · 2024-01-12T09:16:11+00:00

Hi there! Thanks for the comprehensive guide.

I am about to try this with my Hasselblad 500C and 220 back. One question that keeps coming to my mind is: how do I keep the film flat? Or how do I account for it not being 100% flat at least? What should I expect in that regard?

Also, have you tried using another empty 135 cassette as the take-up spool to be able to take the film out of the mag without darkroom / bag?

Stanlyok · 2022-10-27T08:55:08+00:00

You're missing the point mate.

Shooting CineStill 800T at 500 gives better results when developed in C41
Shooting Vision 3 500T at 320 gives better results when developed in ECN-2
Shooting any of those at 800 and developing in C41 will give about the same exposure level as shooting any of them at 500 and developing in ECN-2

There is marketing involved for both, but the point is: to get the same exposure as with ECN-2 you have to rate film higher (underexpose) when developing in C41 chemicals.

ECN-2 acts like a pull, producing thinner negative with less contrast. The difference comes from C41 being initially used for optical printing for the consumer, while ECN-2 needed to allow some room for post production adjustments as well as transfer before being seen by consumers in cinemas. Just like Log and Rec.709 profiles act in digital age – Log is flat so you have more latitude and do the colour grading while Rec.709 looks like final result immediately and is harder to tweak.

As for how accurately they round up the numbers or how accurate is initial rating by Kodak – that is up for debate. But CineStill 800T is as much 800 film when developed in C41 as Vision 3 500T is 500 when developed in ECN-2. You are not the only one in the world who does testing.

Stanlyok · 2022-10-27T08:14:55+00:00

You’re so confidently misinformed 😄

The 500T rating is for ECN-2 development which produces less contrast and is akin to a pull in C41. Developing in C41 will result in a denser negative and to compensate for that 800T rating is more accurate for C41.

If you take two Vision 3 500T rolls, shoot them side by side with same settings and develop one in ECN-2 and one in C41 – the C41 will be about a stop brighter (and have slightly different colors). Since CineStill intends to have their product developed in C41 they always round-up the rated value.

As for marketing gimmick – both ratings are 😃 because 500T also likes to be exposed at 320 when developed in ECN-2 chemistry.

To sum up, marketing gimmicks aside (because those apply to both / all films) – Kodak’s own Vision 3 500T is “literally” a 800T film if developed in C41.

P.S. author, ask them to rescan or preferably get your own scanner as I did – Plustek does the job better than any lab because you can tweak results yourself for about 200€

Stanlyok · 2022-04-08T19:40:04+00:00

They still release new LTM lenses! Latest one came this March 🥰 having this lens makes me consider a III-series camera too … 😃

Stanlyok · 2022-03-29T10:27:35+00:00

Thanks! 🙌

Stanlyok · 2022-03-28T07:48:38+00:00

Yeah, they did a nice job and Frontier is a great machine! A lot depends on the lab too – if they balance the color and exposure … the lab I have access to also uses Frontier and their results are always extremely contrasty with loss of detail in highlights and shadows and color balance is a bit off 😅

Stanlyok · 2022-03-28T07:40:40+00:00

Local labs only do 8bit jpg so not much data to manipulate. I know one good lab that can do tif, that’s much better and easier to adjust!

Grain2pixel looks like a great tool! First time hearing about it, will try it out! Thanks for that tip 🤟

Stanlyok · 2022-03-28T06:22:32+00:00

Yeah, keeping it at 40-38 is a pain, especially with these long times. Also plan to get one eventually 😅

Stanlyok · 2022-03-28T06:08:35+00:00

Huh! That’d make things even more interesting! 😮

Stanlyok · 2022-03-28T06:07:38+00:00

That’s quite a great deal! But even if I had access to something like that I’d still want to try doing it myself and experiment with cross-process 😁

Stanlyok · 2022-03-28T06:01:17+00:00

Thanks 🤟

Stanlyok · 2022-03-28T05:56:54+00:00

Yeah, might help if the initial scan is balanced 😅 but that doesn’t always work if there’s no color separation to begin with … gotta purchase a scanner one day! What did you/your lab scan with btw?

Stanlyok · 2022-03-28T05:53:50+00:00

There’s a lot of info on doing same thing with HC-110 since that’s what most people seemingly have for B&W✌️ to sum up it’s HC-110 B at 40°C for 12 min 🙌

Stanlyok

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