Shooting/processing vintage 40s-60s era Kodak colour film: Part 2 Ektachrome

This is the 2nd part of the vintage Kodak colour film series which I will be discussing shooting/processing Kodak Ektachrome films of the 50s and 60s. Ektachrome film is a reversal positive slide type colour film that requires a bit more of a complex developing process which you first develop as a B&W negative, harden, re-expose the film to a photoflood lamp, then colour develop and bleach, harden and fix, today’s reversal colour process used is E-6. Having said that you can also cross process Ektachrome as a colour negative using a colour negative kit such as C-41 and get good colour on digital inversion and colour correction, the negatives will be blue instead of brown-mauve. I chose to develop my Ektachromes crossing them in C-41 as negatives because E-6 kits are twice as expensive as C-41 and I can simply scan, digitally invert and colour correct, so negative was the way to go for me for convenience. I have shot several rolls of Ektachrome with expiration dates from 1952 to 1962 and crossed them all cold in C-41 and found they all cross process quite nicely in C-41 opposed to the pre-C-22 era Kodacolor films so it goes to show Ektachrome is very versatile in different developing chemistry! Anyways here is my blog on those Ektachrome films.

First I will start with the oldest Ektachrome I have shot which is a 120 type that expired in December 1952.

Ektachrome films were in the early days much less sensitive than Kodacolor and this film was rated 8 ISO so in shooting the film I had to expose it 2 f-stops higher than I would for Kodacolor, so in sunny weather for this film I shot it at f-4.5 aperture, 1 sec shutter. I shot this film on a bike ride from Port Kembla to Shellharbour capturing anything of interest. After having troubles with Kodacolor of the same era I decided to reserve the last exposure as a test exposure which I cut into quarters and do test develops of each, so I did a test develop of the first piece in my standard cold C-41 method and to my joy it processed very nicely! So I then developed the whole roll using the following parameters:
Colour develop 20 min at 20 deg C
Wash 4 min
Blix 8 min at 20 deg C
Wash 6 min

The results were awesome, this film made beautiful colour negatives!!! 😀 It is unclear what the original process used was called but it was a pre E-1 era process used from 1947 to the early 50s according to the information on Photographic Memorabilia site on this page (1947 processing sequence), whatever the original process was, this film type crossed in C-41 very well!!! On scanning them I had to do some colour balancing correction on scanning and in Photoshop to get the colours looking best as possible but the end result is good and this is the earliest film I’ve used that produced really really good colour pictures! The film was sealed in a lead can which preserved the film very well from deterioration so only a bit of discoloration occurred at the edges. Anyways the entire album can be seen on Flickr (1952 expired Kodak Ektachrome 120) and below are a couple of images from the roll:

 

I also shot a 1953 expired Ektachrome and unfortunately that particular film had no protective inner packaging whatsoever which was strange, it was film inside box, so shooting/processing it the same way I got very deteriorated looking results which required a lot of Photoshopping for somewhat viewible pictures, see album here (1953 expired Kodak Ektachrome 620) so it pays to have good protective sealed inner packaging for longevity of the film!

Next Ektachrome film to talk about is Kodak Ektachrome Daylight Type 9x12cm sheet film, the original process for this film is likely to be E-2 going by the info on Photographic Memorabilia site on this page (1955 Process E2 Daylight Films). I bought two packs of them off Ebay extremely cheap, both expired February 1956! As I don’t have a large format camera to shoot them nor can my film scanner scan that size I chose to (in total darkness) slice each sheet in half to 6x9cm and blu-tack each sheet inside my 1920s Kodak Hawkeye 2A Model B 116 camera and shoot each slice that way so I get 2 exposures per sheet! This film was also 8 ISO so I used the same exposure index as that of my 1952 Ektachrome but with the Hawkeye set the aperture to f-32 for max depth of field and using the timer exposure left the shutter open for 30 sec upwards depending on the lighting. I’ve so far shot 2 sheets (sliced in half giving 4 exposures) and processed them in C-41 using the following parameters:
Colour develop 20 min at 20 deg C
Wash 4 min
Blix 8 min at 20 deg C
Wash 6 min
Stabilize 1.5 min

The results were variable due to the way I shot the films and some mistakes in processing but all yielded pictures!!! 😀 First exposure I unwittingly stuck it in the camera emulsion side facing to back of the camera and did a model set shot of a diecast car on glitter backdrop exposing at f-32 for 20 min, on processing and scanning I found that the whites were deep yellow and no amount of colour balancing could fix it so I just went with it and here it is:

The 2nd exposure was so much more successful as I had the emulsion side facing the right way, I did that exposure out near Wollongong harbour capturing the harbour and lighthouses and pool from a distance shooting at f-32 for 30 sec in sunny lighting, I got a very nice more accurately colourful picture, I think though I exposed it for too long as the foreground was overblooming so my next outdoor shot will be 15 sec exposure. On an artistic perspective the shot looks beautiful and dreamy and I love that pink vignetting, here it is below:

My 3rd and 4th shots taken on the 2nd sheet were indoor model shots exposed for 15 min at f-32, on developing them the negatives looked good, on scanning however there was clearly visible reticulation of the film emulsion. So I Googled reticulation of film and found it to be caused by variations in temperature of the chemicals, in my case it was a hot day and I cooled my developer and blix using a block of ice to 20 deg C but because the garden hose was hot the water to wash the film was of much higher temperature so that would of caused the reticulation, still it’s a cool effect nonetheless. So I learned a couple of lessons here, how to reticulate film and how to avoid reticulation! Here below are the exposures:

I will be progressively shooting more of these sheets and upload them to Flickr so check the album out here (1956 expired Kodak Ektachrome 9x12cm film) for new additions.

Next Ektachrome film to talk about is a 1958 expired Kodak Ektachrome 120 Type F film, it was my first vintage 50s Ektachrome I’ve shot back around April 2014.

Whilst the box was extremely shabby and reeks of cigarette ash the film itself is safely sealed inside its inner packaging. This film was rated about 16 ISO so it was a faster film than the earlier Ektachromes and was also an E-2 process film, I decided to shoot this film at f-8 aperture, 1 sec exposure in sunny weather. I did my shots around The Illawarra region capturing what I thought would look good on this film. I developed the film in C-41 using the standard parameters:
Colour develop 20 min at 20 deg C
Wash 4 min
Blix 8 min at 20 deg C
Wash 6 min
Stabilize 1.5 min

As it was my first vintage Ektachrome I wasn’t sure what to expect but once I opened the tank after processing I was stoked to see colour negatives!!! 😀 The colour was all there and on scanning and some colour correction the pictures looked very good! There of course was some deterioration to the film as there’s spots and discolouration at the outer regions and as I had trouble getting the film into the tank due to perspiration of my hands inside the change bag the film creased a bit causing defects in a couple of shots, but the stressed age look adds character to the pictures and overall I am pleased I got colourful pictures!!! 🙂 I have uploaded the album to Flickr (1958 expired Kodak Ektachrome 120) and below are a couple of exposures:

 

The final films to discuss are some Ektachrome Daylight 35mm films from 1961-1962.

They were all E-2 process films and had a faster ISO rating of 32. I shot various subjects on these films, the first roll I shot up in Sydney on a bike ride capturing planes at the airport and scenery during my trip, the second roll I shot down at Shoalhaven Heads capturing scenery and did a couple of experimental indoor model set shots under LED whit light, the third roll I dedicated to doing indoor mini model set shots and plastic army men battle set shots. In sunny weather I exposed the films at f-8 to f-11 aperture and 1 sec shutter on tripod and for handheld widened the aperture and increased shutter speed proportionally, for indoor model shots I used the zoom lens and shot at f-2.8 using 3 min bulb exposure. I processed all these films in C-41 using the standard parameters:
Colour develop 20 min at 20 deg C
Wash 4 min
Blix 8 min at 20 deg C
Wash 6 min
Stabilize 1.5 min

The results of all the films was great each time, they were grainier due to being 35mm in size and there was some yellowish edge discolouration likely due to scanning artifact as the film was curled like a half tube but overall the pictures looked great! 😀 All the albums are on Flickr so just go to my (Flickr Albums) page to find and view them all and here below are a couple of exposures from each roll:

To finish up this chapter of the series, I can easily say Ektachrome is a very versatile film when it comes to cross processing in C-41 as a colour negative, I’ve had no troubles like with the pre C-22 era Kodacolor films, they all produced great pictures. I will eventually experiment with reversal developing with an early Ektachrome and see if I am successful as it’s something I gotta try, when I do I will add the info and results to this blog.

Stay tuned for the third chapter which I will be discussing Kodak Ektacolor film.