[keithw]

I suspect I might be asking in vain but ...


... I have just found an old reel of Kodak Ektachrome slide film that I would have shot in 1977 (that was the year I moved to prints).

The problem I have is that E-4 was phased out about the same time. So, does anyone know whether it is still possible to find someone in the UK that could process the reel?

One problem that immediately springs to mind is that, even if it is possible, it will be expensive. And being a 40+ year old reel of exposed film, it is likely that film will have degraded and so result in nothing worth seeing. A costly exercise for nothing?

Ah well, first I have to see if it is even possible to process. Anyone out there have any suggestions?

Thanks

Keith

[AstroDave]

These guys do movie film from your era: Outdated Ektachrome Movie Film Developing

Might be worth checking about slides - in fact, here (http://www.rockymountainfilm.com/oldfilm.htm) they explicitely mention E-4

Not sure how much mailing would cost, but probably not tooooo bad for a roll of film.

[Dartmoor Dave]

Looks like Peak Imaging can do E4 here in the UK, although you'll get B&W slides only. I think it's unlikely anywhere will be able to do colour because of the extreme toxicity of the chemistry involved.

110, 126, E4, K14 Kodachrome Film Processing - Online Photo Printing & Personalised Photo Gifts

[keithw]

These guys do movie film from your era: Outdated Ektachrome Movie Film Developing

Thanks for the suggestion. Looks like a single roll with shipping back to the UK is $45.50. As I'm now retired, that is probably more than I would want to spend considering the age of the film. That said, it still might be worth the gamble.

Thanks again

---------- Post added 06-06-2021 at 12:48 PM ----------

Looks like Peak Imaging can do E4 here in the UK, although you'll get B&W slides only. I think it's unlikely anywhere will be able to do colour because of the extreme toxicity of the chemistry involved.

110, 126, E4, K14 Kodachrome Film Processing - Online Photo Printing & Personalised Photo Gifts

I'd seen that E4 was a fairly nasty process, hence my pessimism.

Will have to contact the company as they make no mention of transparencies, just prints.

Thanks for the link

[TonyW]

I suspect I might be asking in vain but ...


... I have just found an old reel of Kodak Ektachrome slide film that I would have shot in 1977 (that was the year I moved to prints).

The problem I have is that E-4 was phased out about the same time. So, does anyone know whether it is still possible to find someone in the UK that could process the reel?

One problem that immediately springs to mind is that, even if it is possible, it will be expensive. And being a 40+ year old reel of exposed film, it is likely that film will have degraded and so result in nothing worth seeing. A costly exercise for nothing?

Ah well, first I have to see if it is even possible to process. Anyone out there have any suggestions?

Thanks

Keith

E4 had some nasty chemistry it was discontinued around 1975 (?). No lab I am aware of would attempt to process E4 in E6 chemistry - risk of upsetting the chemical balance.


40 year old exposed film equals latent image regression, effects of storage, breakdown of dyes and colour couplers and a myriad of other things. So yes unless you are sure of hero images at the time of acquisition then most likely a costly excercise for nothing.

If you must try one of the labs that does a single shot process B&W or try yourself to see if you have any image data left.

[Bob 256]

You can always process it as black & white yourself. I think I have the first developer formula some place (and maybe the rest). I'll take a look tonight and get back to you (I'll append this post).

The toxic chemical in the E-4 set was TAB in the color developer which fogged the positive image so it could be developed. You can do without TAB if you do a good light flash of the entire film strip after the first development & stop bath. If you can replicate the E-4 color developer (minus the TAB), you should be able to develop the color image, and then any modern day bleach will clear the film. Color development shouldn't be too critical once you get the first development right but you need the proper color developing agent for E-4. Not sure about stabilization - will check on that too. In any case, you could copy the slides before any fading occurs.

APPENDED: I looked through my old notes and found the following information on the E-4 process.

I forgot about the prehardener which has some fairly exotic and potentially toxic chemicals in it. The attached pdf is referenced to an original publication by Kodak for the E-4 formulations (and there is a fomalin stabilizer involved which is not included in the formulations - another chemical to be avoided).

My intent here is to give you a compatible first developer option (actually two, the latter of which might be more practical to formulate) so you can develop the film as a B&W negative (following the stop bath with a hardening fixer). It would probably be a fairly monumental task to assemble the formulations beyond that and there are other toxic chemicals involved other than the TAB**** which is extremely toxic, so my recommendations would be to do just the B&W development. You might need to remove the rem jet backing before the negatives would be useful and you can probably find this process by Googling it.

Bottom line: probably not worth the effort (nor risks) unless you know the film has valuable photos on it.

ADDENDA:ADDENDA:
Here a website that you might check out with your very question. It makes mention of a UK lab (2009 post) but doesn't list anything. Just thought you might be interested (a very interesting read for film buffs). Also, it mentions the need for a ferricyanide bleach to accomplish color coupling so modern bleaches seems to be out.
https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/e-4-processing.48725/

[keithw]

You can always process it as black & white yourself. I think I have the first developer formula some place (and maybe the rest). I'll take a look tonight and get back to you (I'll append this post).

The toxic chemical in the E-4 set was TAB in the color developer which fogged the positive image so it could be developed. You can do without TAB if you do a good light flash of the entire film strip after the first development & stop bath. If you can replicate the E-4 color developer (minus the TAB), you should be able to develop the color image, and then any modern day bleach will clear the film. Color development shouldn't be too critical once you get the first development right but you need the proper color developing agent for E-4. Not sure about stabilization - will check on that too. In any case, you could copy the slides before any fading occurs.

APPENDED: I looked through my old notes and found the following information on the E-4 process.

I forgot about the prehardener which has some fairly exotic and potentially toxic chemicals in it. The attached pdf is referenced to an original publication by Kodak for the E-4 formulations (and there is a fomalin stabilizer involved which is not included in the formulations - another chemical to be avoided).

My intent here is to give you a compatible first developer option (actually two, the latter of which might be more practical to formulate) so you can develop the film as a B&W negative (following the stop bath with a hardening fixer). It would probably be a fairly monumental task to assemble the formulations beyond that and there are other toxic chemicals involved other than the TAB**** which is extremely toxic, so my recommendations would be to do just the B&W development. You might need to remove the rem jet backing before the negatives would be useful and you can probably find this process by Googling it.

Bottom line: probably not worth the effort (nor risks) unless you know the film has valuable photos on it.

ADDENDA:ADDENDA:
Here a website that you might check out with your very question. It makes mention of a UK lab (2009 post) but doesn't list anything. Just thought you might be interested (a very interesting read for film buffs). Also, it mentions the need for a ferricyanide bleach to accomplish color coupling so modern bleaches seems to be out.
E-4 processing | Photrio.com Photography Forums

Thanks Bob

Having never developed a film I think I'll pass on the DIY approach

Think I'll go with Peak Imaging. After all this time I doubt anything will come out and if it does, I can live with it being B&W (also not too expensive worth a shot)

BTW thanks for that post in the ADDENDA ADDENDA. There was a link to the UK lab in a later reply but the lab is long gone.

[Bob 256]

Thanks Bob

Having never developed a film I think I'll pass on the DIY approach

Think I'll go with Peak Imaging. After all this time I doubt anything will come out and if it does, I can live with it being B&W (also not too expensive worth a shot)

BTW thanks for that post in the ADDENDA ADDENDA. There was a link to the UK lab in a later reply but the lab is long gone.

Time marches on. I processed my first roll of Etkachrome E2 and was amazed when I pulled this strip of colorful images out of the processing tank. E2 was pretty simplistic compared to E4 and E6 to follow. I think Kodak was striving for better color and longevity with the latter processes. My favorite was actually Kodachrome which I detoured to for quite a while in favor of its even better colors (as some would think), and finer image details (probably due to its slower speed and thinner layers which didn't need to accommodate color couplers), and then I detoured again to shooting negative materials (color) while I watched Kodachrome disappear and Ektachrome almost do the same thing. Now, here we are with digital imaging but film still holds on and Ektachome is trying for a comeback. Your approach certainly seems to be the best for this remaining "artifact" of the analog age.

Hope you can get some satisfaction out of your roll in the form of usable negatives - you never know what might be on some of those.