Process ECP2-A and ECN-2

Eastman Color Positive process 2-A is a slightly older version of the standard process used by labs for color positive (print) film. As of this writing, the current version is ECP-2D, but for the purposes of the hand-processor, the differences are irrelevant. Eastman Color Negative process 2 is the standard lab process for color negative film, which is to say camera film and internegative film. Process ECP produces a high contrast image with a high maximum density, suitable for projection, while process ECN produces a lower contrast image with a lower maximum density, as you would want in a negative. Either can be used for either function; it just depends on the result you want. Prints developed in ECN chemistry - and there is at least one lab out there that has been doing this -- tend to lack real blacks, which is a problem to this viewer's eye, a good black being one of the film medium's major assets.

For the hand-processor, there are some modifications to the official formulas that are helpful, and what has been gleaned from personal experience and that of friends and colleagues is related here. The first and most significant of these is that the two processes can be treated as identical except for the developer. In other words, if you want to use both processes, you'll have to mix up a separate batch of developer for each, but the same stop bath, bleach, and fixer can be used for both. This is, of course, a major deviation from the very carefully worked out official plan, but we want to be filmmakers, not lab technicians, and it works fine.

Therefore, both processes are listed together in the overview, with a two possibilities for the developer, depending on which you're using.

Overview

All steps before the Stop must happen in TOTAL DARKNESS!

If you're doing bleach bypass, add these steps before the final photoflo step:

This is important because bypassing the bleach will result in the retention of the silver image, which makes the film susceptible to degradation over time by the presence of residual fixer. Therefore, it is necessary to fully wash out the fixer as you would in any black and white process. This is not necessary if you use the bleach, as then there is no silver left to potentially degrade.

Notes

These instructions are given for the bucket method, which uses 7-9 liters of chemistry per step in 2 1/2 gallon plastic buckets, and stores the chemistry in 2 1/2 gallon plastic gas cans. Both these containers are inexpensive and readily available. For the color developer, use a 12-16 quart stainless steel stock pot (NOT aluminum: stainless steel!) that you use ONLY FOR THIS and NEVER AGAIN COOK IN, and have a hot plate (NOT the kitchen stove! NEVER bring this stuff into the kitchen, not matter how careful you are!) to heat it up. The method is very effective for lengths of 16mm film up to 150 feet or so, and if done carefully can produce a clean, virtually scratch-free result. If you're really serious, get ahold of a tank of nitrogen gas and purge the air out of any extra space in the container holding the developer, and you will prevent its oxidation and considerably extend its life.

Agitate by gently rotating the film mass around in a circle for the first 30 seconds, and the last 10 seconds of every subsequent 30 seconds.

Use gloves (the near elbow-length ones you can get at janitorial supply stores, not the cheap yellow ones) for all steps except as noted below. All the chemistry should be treated as if it was poisonous, and handled with great care. None of it should ever go down the sink (except the photoflo): take it to your local household hazardous waste disposal place -- just about every city in the US has one! Don't be lazy about this! Please!

Pre-bath and Rem-Jet removal

*The first two steps here apply ONLY to film stocks that have a REM-Jet backing. REM-Jet is an opaque coating applied to the back of some film stocks to prevent halation, or exposure of the emulsion by light that passes through the emulsion layer and reflects back into the emulsion, reexposing it undesirably. This includes virtually all camera films (all that I know of), as well as the older color print stocks. The removal process works by first softening the REM-Jet in the prebath, then squeegying off (machines use a water knife, a stream of high-pressure water) the coating. It is very important to get it off in this step, because if you don't, it will never come off and will add streaks or outright opaqueness to your film. This has to happen in complete darkness, and presents something of a chore for the hand processor. The easiest method is to:

unspool the film into the water rinse, starting at one end and proceeding linearly along the length of the film. It works best if the water container is half full or less (a 2 1/2 gallon bucket is good). This is potentially slow, but it ensures that the film is not tangled, very important for the next step.

Transfer the film into the prebath, again starting at one end and proceeding along the length of the film.

Let it sit for at least a minute in the prebath.

Then, pull the film through two fingers so that they squeegy the REM-Jet off, starting at one end and continuing to the other, transferring it back into the water. The prebath is a solution of sodium sulfate, and does not seem particularly toxic or irritating; doing this well seems to require the use of bare hands. Feel free to try other squeegees instead, but beware scratching!

If you're nervous about there remaining any REM-Jet after this procedure, repeat the last three steps.

Washing and transferring between steps

In general, have an empty tray handy, and after every step, before the wash, pick up the film as a mass and hold it over the bucket you're taking it out of, so that most of the chemical drips back into its container, then put the film down into the tray. Shake the tray gently so that even more of the residual chemical drips into the tray, THEN put the film in the water to rinse. This saves a surprisingly large amount of chemistry from going down the drain, which you'll see if you turn on the light. Then, pour this remnant back into its container, so that it can be reused.

The wash should be a running wash, with water coming up from the bottom, at room temperature (unless you're after a special effect like reticulation)

Developer

With color developing, temperature is crucial. There are three layers of light sensitivity, one for each color, and if the temperature is off they will develop at different rates and not produce colors that are true. This might be your desire, of course, and it certainly begs playing with, but if you want it to turn out "right" adhere as strictly as you can to the prescribed temperature. Put the developer into a 12-16 quart stainless steel pot, and heat it up to 1°C above the correct temperature as the last step before you actually turn out the lights, then put it in the sink on top of an insulative substance, like styrofoam (good because it's also non-absorbant) or wood (bad because it will absorb any chemistry in the sink). Then turn out the lights and proceed.

Stop

After dripping back into the developer and draining into the tray, put the film in the stop bath, and make sure it's completely immersed.  As soon as you can feel that all of the film is immersed, you can turn on the the white lights.

Bleach

The ferricyanide bleach works by converting the developed silver metal back into silver halide (bromide) so that the fixer can remove it and you are left, in the end, with just a dye image.  If you skip this step -- "skip bleach" or "bleach byp0ass" or "silver retention," either completely or partially, then the fixer won't remove either all or part of the developed silver image, and you'll be left with both a dye color image and a black and white image of the same thing.  This results in higher density and more muted colors.

IMPORTANT:  wash well after the bleach step, as if any gets carried over into the fix, you can get beautiful blue deposits of Prussian Blue -- which would be fine, except that it's opaque!

Fix

This fixer is NOT the same as the fixer one ordinarily uses for B+W.  It is thiosulphate, like any other standard fixer, but in a non-acid, non-hardening solution.  It's pH must be nearly neutral, around 6, and not 4.25 as the F-5 fixer for B+W is.  Mix up a fixer just for color, and use it only for that.  Otherwise, you'll get the dreaded blue stains described above.

Final Steps:

For dye-only images

Just a five minute wash is fine, less if you want to risk it -- but what's five minutes compared to a possibly significant archival advantage?

For Bleach Bypass images

These images have both dye and silver, and must be treated according to the standard B+W protocol, which is: rinse, 2 minutes in Hypoclearing agent, then a five to ten minute running rinse.  Don't skimp here either; saving a few minutes here today may land you with unusable originals in ten or twenty years, which will come to pass sooner than you realize.

Photoflo

Not a big deal, but before you call it unnecessary, consider that using it will, in addition to reducing spotting, often dramatically shorten the drying time.  Just move it from one end of the film to the other along the length of the film, which will force you to untangle it, into a bucket of a couple of gallons of photoflo, then squeegy it through your fingers and hang it up to dry as you go.  Be careful to ensure, once its hung, not to let the strands of wet film touch each other, as they can cement together and when you seperate them all the emulsion stays on one strip, and tears off the other.