Bleach bypass test at Deluxe

[Travis Cline]

Hello all

 

I am shooting feature in a short while and I want to bleach bypass the negative for the first reel of the film or so. We are doing our processing as well as our prints at Deluxe. We do have money for shooting tests, but not that much, so I want to be judicial in my films. I have skip bleached my neg before, but never with Deluxe and not on 35mm, so I am wondering who has suggestions on where to start with the tests. I think I should start by at least underexposing one stop and go from there. Also, I am going to test their 1/3 stop skip bleach on the negative. Does that mean, as I think it does, that only a 1/3 of the exposure change. I mean underexpose 1/3 stop instead of a full stop? Anyway, any hints or suggestions would be great. Thanks everyone.

 

Travis

[John Pytlak RIP]

Hello all

 

I am shooting feature in a short while and I want to bleach bypass the negative for the first reel of the film or so.  We are doing our processing as well as our prints at Deluxe.  We do have money for shooting tests, but not that much, so I want to be judicial in my films.  I have skip bleached my neg before, but never with Deluxe and not on 35mm, so I am wondering who has suggestions on where to start with the tests.  I think I should start by at least underexposing one stop and go from there.  Also, I am going to test their 1/3 stop skip bleach on the negative.  Does that mean, as I think it does, that only a 1/3 of the exposure change.  I mean underexpose 1/3 stop instead of a full stop?  Anyway, any hints or suggestions would be great.  Thanks everyone.

 

Travis

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Have you talked to your customer contact person at Deluxe Laboratories? They should have advice based on customers who have used their ECN-2 silver retention process options, and may even be able to share some examples or demos. In general, when deliberately leaving silver in the negative, many will reduce the exposure of the negative to compensate for the increased density. But if you change your mind later, and rebleach the negative, you are "stuck" with the underexposure.

[Travis Cline]

Yeh, I talked with my rep there and we are going to look at some demos as well. I just wanted to get any advice I could get on the subject before going into it and know what's up. Thanks for the tip though John.

 

By the way, I am really glad that you get on this site and reply so frequently. Its good to have someone who really knows his facts answering questions for us.

 

Travis

[John Pytlak RIP]

Thanks for the tip though John.

 

By the way, I am really glad that you get on this site and reply so frequently.  Its good to have someone who really knows his facts answering questions for us.

 

Travis

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You're welcome! :)

 

I enjoy helping. B)

[F Bulgarelli]

HI There,

 

we are going through the same process with Deluxe.

I did a test to compare skip bleach and their own CCE process using 5279 and 5246 stocks. After seeing the test I think the CCE is closer to the look whe are going for. Their 1/3 skip bleach is not as dramatic as their CCE, perhaps because it's not a full skip bleach. CCE had deeper blacks, more grain and more desaturation. We were actually surprised.

 

Francisco

[Dominic Case]

I did a test to compare skip bleach and their own CCE process

Not surprising they looked different: the skip bleach you were talking about is applied to the negative (where it has no effect on shadows or unexposed areas of the image) whereas CCE is a print silver enhancement process - which obviously has most effect on the shadow areas - so you would expect deeper blacks and more desaturation particulalry in the shadows, with the CCE process.

 

Negative bleach bypass is intrinsically a more savage process,as there is more silver in the negative stock to retain. And any effect is multiplied up by the print gamma when you make a print. However if you went for the 1/3 skip bleach on the negative process, it would be a lesser effect.

 

I'm personally very cautious about partial skip bleach, as the nature of the process makes it hard to control from day to day, and from stock to stock. Different stock types are fully bleached at different stages within the 3 minutes of bleach time, and small variations in the equilibrium of the chemistry of the bleach (within standard control parameters) can affect the speed of bleaching as well. SO if you have a reel of neg that would be totally bleached half way through the bleach bath, then giving it 1/3 bleach isn't altering that much. If you have another reel of a different stock type that would normally take - say 3/4 of the bleach bath time, then a 1/3 bleach is cutting that siginficantly. It is one of the few areas of film exposure and processing where I think the results are unpredictable.

[John Pytlak RIP]

Generally, the higher speed films have more silver, and therefore tend to be the ones that require closer to the full 3 minute bleach time in the ECN-2 process:

 

http://www.kodak.com/US/plugins/acrobat/en.../h247/h2407.pdf

 

1. Prebath Softens rem-jet for removal.

2. Rem-Jet Removal and Rinse Removes softened rem-jet backing.

3. Developer Reduces exposed silver halide grains in all three light-sensitive layers. The developing agent is

oxidized by the exposed silver halide, and the oxidation product couples with the particular dye

coupler incorporated within each layer to produce dye images. A silver image is formed

simultaneously at the exposed silver-halide sites.

4. Stop Stops the development of silver-halide grains and washes Color Developing Agent CD-3 from the

film.

NOTE: The film can now be handled in white light.

5. Wash Removes excess acid stop.

6. Bleach (SR-29, SR-33, SR-34,

or SR-35)

Converts metallic silver from the silver picture image, formed during color development, to silverhalide

compounds that can be removed by the fixer.

7. Wash Removes residual bleach from the film, preventing contamination of the fixer.

8. Fixer Converts silver-halide compounds formed in the bleach to soluble silver thiosulfate complex salts that

are removed from the film in this fixer and subsequent wash.

9. Wash Removes residual soluble silver thiosulfate complex salts and unused hypo from the film.

10. Final Rinse Prevents water spots and controls biological growths.

11. Dryer Dries film for subsequent handling.