A concentrate kit for developing E-6 slide (reversal) film at home — enough for 4–5 rolls. A black-and-white first developer, a colour developer, bleach and fixer in four bottles, from which you make up 500 ml of each working solution. They mix with ordinary tap water: buffering and the sequestering of calcium and iron are already built into the formulation, so no distilled water is needed.
What is in the kit
Four concentrates — first developer (FD), colour developer (CD), bleach and fixer — packed as 100 + 100 + 100 + 100 ml in a zip-lock bag with a printed instruction sheet, making up 500 ml of EACH bath — a full set of solutions for the stated yield. In this process the reversal step is carried by the colour developer, so there is no separate reversal bottle in the kit.
How far it goes
The kit covers 4–5 slide rolls. E-6 uses solutions faster than C-41: there are more stages, and the first developer works close to the edge of its activity, so the yield per litre is lower than in a negative process. That works out to roughly 235–300 ₴ of chemistry per roll. The figures above are for the default size; the larger kits on this page work out cheaper per roll, and the selector above recalculates both price and yield.
Why you do not need distilled water
The solutions are formulated for tap water from the start: buffering and sequestering agents that bind calcium and iron are already in the mix. This matters more for slide film than for negative — haze and deposits show far more clearly on film you project or scan by transmitted light than they do on a negative.
E-6 in two sentences
E-6 is a reversal process: after processing the film is a positive you can view against the light. The first developer runs at 38 °C and it is what sets density and contrast, so an error in time or temperature costs more here than in a negative process: a negative can be recovered in the scan, a spoiled positive cannot. Take the actual times, stage order and tolerances from the instruction sheet in the kit — it is written for these concentrates specifically.
What else you need
A tank and reel, an accurate thermometer, measuring vessels and a water bath to hold 38 °C steadily. For E-6 the water bath is not a nicety but a condition of a repeatable result. All of it is in the darkroom equipment and accessories sections; slide film is in the film catalogue.
Frequently asked questions
Can I develop slide film in a C-41 kit?
You will get a negative with shifted colours, not a positive: C-41 has no reversal stage. It is done deliberately as a creative technique (cross-processing), but it will not give you a predictable slide.
How precisely does the temperature have to be held?
The first developer is the most sensitive stage, and that is where a deviation shows up immediately as a shift in density and contrast. The tolerances are in the kit instructions. Practical advice: set up a water bath and let the solutions come up to temperature rather than heating them as you go.
How long do the diluted solutions last?
The shelf life is given in the kit instructions and depends on how you store them. The general rule: the first and colour developers oxidise fastest, so keep them in tightly closed containers with no air space and do not mix more than you plan to use soon.
If you would rather not do it yourself, or you need a finished scan, we develop and scan slide film.
