8mm Forum: Processing Ektachrome E-160 super 8

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Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on March 04, 2008, 10:42 AM:

HELLLLLLPP!

I'm down to my last used roll of E-160 sound film. I had been sending them to Yale Film & Video in California for processing, but they have suddenly stopped processing the E-160!

Does anyone on the forum know of another lab in the U.S. that processes this film. If not, I will consider sending it overseas, but hope I won't have to.

Thanks.

James.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on March 04, 2008, 11:09 AM:

Hi James,

These folks are well known for processing old film:

http://www.rockymountainfilm.com/ektamovie.htm

Good Luck!

Posted by David Pannell (Member # 300) on March 04, 2008, 11:16 AM:

Hi James,

The only other lab as far as I am aware is Rocky Mountain, but I don't know where they are in the US. I always send my films to John Schwind, and up till now he has been using Yale.

However, my last batch of E-160 John had to send to Rocky Mountain, but unfortunately they let him down rather badly and my films took 12 months to get processed. John has just informed me that they are now on their way back to me here in the UK.

My advice to you would be to get in touch with John and seek his advice. He's a really nice chap.

His e-mail address is: jaschwind@operamail.com

His postal address is:
John Andrew Schwind
International Film
P.O. Box 1233
Dixon
California
95620

All the best and good luck.

Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 892) on March 04, 2008, 03:31 PM:

James, I'm sorry to hear that you got 'caught' by this change of circumstance. Not too long ago I caught wind of changes to Yale's processing line-up and used some Ektachrome as promptly as possible. In that case Kodak was no longer supplying chemicals and the old processes were not going to be possible once supplies ran out.

If you can cross-process Ektachrome 125T (VNF process) with the current 64T, with a bit of magenta shift, I wonder what would happen with this older stock if cross-processes. What process is specified on the box? Sounds like you've had good communication with Yale, but have you specifically enquired about cross-processing? Of course, it could be a complete disaster, what do I know!

Posted by Jim Carlile (Member # 812) on March 05, 2008, 04:45 AM:

Nanolab, Andec, and Frank Bruinsma process EM-26 (E160) on a more regular basis than the obsolete film 'rescue' labs in the U.S.

Nanolab will do it for about $28.

Posted by David Kilderry (Member # 549) on March 05, 2008, 04:52 AM:

As Jim says, try Nano Lab. They are here in Australia, but I would recommend them and they post world wide.

Do a search and you'll find their excellent website that details all the processing and other work they do.

David

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on March 05, 2008, 11:52 AM:

Thanks so much for the replies.

Yes, Yale really let me down on this one. I don't think they even posted a warning. I had been on their web site a few months ago, and it was still "once a month and $20 per roll.

Rocky Mountain is rediculous. $48 per roll (with postage), and, worst of all, 12 months to wait. I just called them to see if they were coming close to a processing date, and they just said, "plan on 12 months".

I will definately be looking into NANO labs. Of course, I prefer not to have to send film out of the country. Like sound striping. No one in the U.S. is striping anymore, so I started using ATV in England. The price was good and service was excellent.

Fortunately, this is my VERY LAST roll of E-160, so I won't have to deal with this problem after this.

Thanks again!

James.

Posted by Jim Carlile (Member # 812) on March 08, 2008, 02:04 AM:

I think Yale gave some kind of 'last call' notice-- I saw something mentioned about this awhile back on another site. EM-26 can also be processed as straight E-6 but the results are very mediocre at best and labs probably won't do it. It has a harder anti-halation backing that isn't as easy to remove as later stocks.

What most of these labs do these days is use a modified E-6 process to mimic VNF for older VNF-type films. VNF chemicals-- always hard to get-- are no longer supplied by Kodak so unless they can compound their own that's how it's done.

The obsolete-film labs wait until they get enough rolls to warrant loading up their machine. I think at Nano he does everything individually anyway, so there's not a reason to let them sit around.

The only problem with overseas processing is that our dollar exchange rate sucks and so it's expensive! I've heard good things about Nano and he seems like a nice guy.

Posted by James E. Stubbs (Member # 817) on March 09, 2008, 01:28 AM:

There is a lab in Canada still processing EM-26 films.
Exclusive Film, 50 Portland St. Toronto: EM-26 daily, VNF-1, old rolls older EM 25 (ME4) process scheduled once a month. Tel: 416.598.2700. Give them a call to check on this for sure.

I've not used them But I've heard that they are good. I have several E-160 sound films and process them at home in E-6 Chemistry w/ good results. The rem-jet layer makes a huge fargging mess however. So I only process them at the END of the chemitry life cycle. Then I have to take a tooth brush to my LOMO tanks clean them out. Plus you have to scrub the black goop off of the backing at the end of the film. It's really not so bad to do. Just a bit of a time consuming extra step. The first time I processed an EM-26 film was as an experiment of a 21 year old exposed cart that was found in a camera and stored God knows how. It was quite yellowed but still quite viewable with decent color. Most of the yellow could be fixed in transfer. I've asked Martin Baumgarten about the color shift and he says that can be compensated for a fair amount in processing. My sound films have been stored frozen, so when I get around to exposing/ processing them, I'm sure they'll come out just fine.

Martin also processes these films by special request, by hand. But his site is offline now, so he may not be doing this anymore.
Martin W. Baumgarten
18 Elm Street
Plattsburgh, New York 12901 U.S.A.
E-Mail: Super8mm@aol.com
Tel: (518) 561-6312

Cheers,

Posted by Jim Carlile (Member # 812) on March 09, 2008, 03:14 AM:

Do you just use straight E-6? When it comes to the backing, isn't there some kind of dilute borax solution that will help dissolve it?

Posted by James E. Stubbs (Member # 817) on March 09, 2008, 11:05 PM:

Yes, just use regular E-6 chemistry. You can work w/ the color devloper to pull the color shifts if needed. I think it tends to shift green/magenta over time and in E-6. I have a whole set of instructions for this from Martin Baumgarten somewhere. As to the remaining rem-jet layer, yes you can clean it off w/ a dilute borax solution. I actually cleaned it off w/ kodak final rinse solution and then rinsed it w/ water and photo flo and hung it up to dry. Just be sure to prewash in warm water. This will loosen up and rem-jet and most of it will come off during processing. Good luck.
Cheers,

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