Basic beginners guide to developing

ekimeno

ekimeno

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Confused is perhaps an understatement! There seems to be so many ways to develop film and so many different chemicals - the mind boggles :puke:

Can anyone point me in the right direction with regards to a basic guide on how it's done and what I'll need? SO far I'm aware that I'll need a dark bag to put the film on a spool and into a development tank (Paterson...?). Once that's done I need to add developer and run through a process of agitation - the timing of which depends on the type of film you have, the temperature and the developer you're using. Next up is stop bath and fixer.... :shrug:

I have no idea what kind of chemicals to buy for my films - basic Jessops 35mm 400 iso film. Please can someone kindly provide a step by step instruction and a list of recommended chemicals for me to buy... and where to buy them. Perhaps this will be useful to other beginners like me. Thanks in advance! :clap:
 
Film whats that (you mean the stuff you wrap food in ?) cling film.
 
Well done PapaLazarou - you managed to beat the conundrum.

Gaz81 - that link is extremely useful as it also has a link to colour processing. Many thanks ;)
 
The single most important thing is consistency. Do EXACTLY the same thing every time - temp, agitation/inversion, time etc. That way if the results are not what you want you can change one thing at a time and be sure that any difference really is is due to whatever you have changed and not a result of some other random factor.
 
It's great fun too :) Nothing really beats the feeling of getting that first film out of the developing tank. I know, it took me long enough!

I use Ilford chemicals too (Perceptol developer). The chemicals all come with their own instructions so don't panic too much. The developer you can use at different dilutions 1:1 1:3 etc and the times would need to be adjusted for that and temperature is important. There is a chart included (also on Ilford website) which shows you just how much time to shift for a given temperature.

You will need a dev tank (paterson is as good as any) a measuring cylinder, a stirrer and a couple of dark tanks to store the chemicals in.

Don't forget to buy a thermometer and a timer.
 
Its a matter of personal preference but I never bothered with a timer for film processing. I made a tape recording instead.

That way you do the precise timing once (when recording the tape) and can concentrate on the practical aspects. My tape had comments like "10 seconds to the next inversion" and then "3 2 1 invert". Also stuff like "one more inversion then drain developer and pour in stop bath". It all sounds a bit OTT but it frees you to check the temperature and ensures you don't do anything in the wrong order, forget to invert or invert too often.

I made a number of tapes for different film/dev combinations as that meant I didn't have to consult a chart every time. If you do this make certain that the first comments on every tape identify which film/speed/developer/temperature combination it is intended for.
 
John - that's just the sort of thing my wife would wet herself laughing at if I did it! I can hear her now, shouting out duff instructions from the other room - "throw film in bin, NOW!" "realise you're desperate for the loo... 3,2,1, now!" "Wish you'd sent the film away instead in 10 seconds...!":LOL:

It's a damn-good idea though, I can see how it would free your mind up so all you have to really concentrate on is keeping the temp right and it ensures you do every film exactly the same, which is really important!
:clap:
 
You don't have to keep the temp right Orby, the temp is just the temp you pour in into the dev tank at. Then it's just the cocktail shakin' that she gets to laugh at as you do all that agitating. :)
 
You're right of course Ali. I'm just getting back into film again after a l-o-n-g break, and in the 15 years since I developed my own film I'd got pretty rusty about the exact procedures!:)
I'm considering devving my own films again myself, it's just I'd still need to find somewhere to send them away for printing seeing as I have no darkroom anymore, so, so far I've just been sending B&W films away to Ilford for D&P. At £15 for 36 7"x5" prints it's a bit pricey.
If I can find somewhere to just do prints at a decent price I'll be making up one of John W's tapes! :D
 
Get a scanner!

If you are going to shoot a few rolls it will pay for itself. Scan the negs into photoshop and print the ones you want yourself.

Developing is great fun, like you I had not done one for about oohhh longer than 15 years :)
 
Another guide to developing your first film can be found here http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Developing-your-first-black--white-film

Its a really simple guide that helped me feel less worried when things got a bit nerve wracking, and just spelt everything out simply. The other links like Ilford make more sense when you've done your first couple of films.

Good luck. It is great fun... and you might get hooked and start doing colour negatives, slide, or even start messing with more whacky chemical developers like instant coffee...
 
AliB said:
Get a scanner!

If you are going to shoot a few rolls it will pay for itself. Scan the negs into photoshop and print the ones you want yourself.

Developing is great fun, like you I had not done one for about oohhh longer than 15 years :)
Click to expand...


I think this is the truth, as much as it hurts to say it, and as much as film has had its uses, i think scanning is pretty much all film has left now, the digital era is in full swing in my eyes, so whilst getting the classic film results scanning them is much the best thing to do once its processed.
 
I just developed my first roll of B&W! Just hung it up in the kitchen to dry and it's already looking great - I'm so chuffed!

The film is Ilford FP4+ 125 and I used all Ilford chemicals except the developer - the chap at Silverprint in London recommended Kmax Kodak professional developer.

Method I used...

Blind reel onto spool and closed into developing tank under the duvet with all the lights off (practiced with lights on first with an old unused film)
7 min agitation with developer (5 sec every 30 sec)
30 sec with stop bath (constant agitation)
1 min with fixer (constant agitation)
10 flushes with water and stood still with water for 10 min, then final rinse with a drop of wetting agent.
Squeeze dry through fingers and hang up

I must say, I was expecting to find the film ruined as I took it off the spool, but it wasn't... I feel like a mad scientist now :nuts:
 
How EASY is it ?...tell em, goo on tell em...

Well done ekimeno (y)
 
It's EASY :love:

:LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

EDIT ...with a bit of trial and error of course (seeing some scratches and watermarks in the scans :( )
 
OK - here's the results. Next time I won't try manually drying the film with my fingers for a second time... ten minutes into the drying process! Scratch city here we go!

Images are clickable for larger versions:

1


2


3


4


5


6

 
Heh. Got some nice scratches there.

Maybe a few more seconds development or less agitation would have given a bit more contrast, or autolevels in PS can sometimes give you a bit more punch.

Quite rewarding though innit?
 
Hardly stopping to bask in the glory of my first B&W 35mm development, I jumped straight in the deep end today and completed a C41 colour development of a roll of 120 - my first roll used in my new Bronica I might add.

Once again, the results appear to be OK on the drying peg... but looks can be deceiving. More to come in roughly 30-minutes once it's dry and scanned in...

I must say that C-41 is quite a bit harder than B&W developing - constantly running around checking temperatures, taps running, chemicals slopped all over the counter in my kitchen... not to mention that it was a bit of a battle to get the film on the reel in the dark. I spent 5-minutes trying to reel on the outer paper that covers the actual film before realizing something was not working and checking it up on the net...

Still, it's fun! :)
 
OK, here's the first one - I think my scanner is a bit narrow for this format of film, so tried centering it as much as possible...

I think it came out all right! :naughty:

Click for larger image

 
Yeah, they do seem a bit weird - maybe I need to play a bit in PS... but I reckon I might have been able to do something better in developing...

B&W ingredients... got them from Silverprint in Southwark, London
 
Hmmm, I think I've got a light leak :(

Does anyone know if this is something that's a problem with the camera or did I stuff something up in developing? The light spot is in the same place for most of the roll...



 
Well its not on you're b/w's, so it must be something you did during processing.
It's not on that first colour neg either, the one with the train.
On the two that show it, its not exactly the same, maybe the car shot is cropped so it looks higher up, but it isn't as intense as the house shot.
Check the position on the roll of these three shots, maybe you can rule out a camera light leak altogether.
Did you use the same back for both the b/w and colour neg..
 
The colour shots are using the Bronica, wheras the b/w ones are from a 35mm camera. I believe the train one covers up the light spot as it appears on the white of the bridge and the sky

I'm going to try shooting another roll of 120 today, but b/w... but I'll be really anal when it comes to developing to try and rule out the camera being at fault.

EDIT: Hmm, there's something seriously wrong with this Bronica... I loaded another film, but the counter wasn't advancing as I wound the film on. Have now wasted three films trying to sort the problem out )following the manual to the letter as I did with the first roll of film). Also, the winder feels rough and one of the tiny silver rollers came loose of it's holding. I think I'm taking this Bronnie back to the shop either for a refund or a working one...
 
I bought a spare back for my Bronica EC, that wouldn't cock the shutter or wind to frame one, it just wound the film straight to the take up spool.
It was definitely the back not the camera, it worked fine with the other back.
This is where buying from a shop rather than fleabay, really comes into its own.
That is an odd light leak though, usually if its a seal, it spreads from the edge of the frame, not a blob in the middle.
Maybe its getting in the top through the wlfinder, I'm not that familiar with the etrs or how it goes together.
 
Reading through this made me want to go out and buy some black and white developing stuff.

Powder or liquid?? Quite a lot of people say ID-11 is good? Then I'll just use water as stop then fix Ilford rapid fixer.

Also is it silly to go out and buy the largest amount you can get ie 1L of developer as how much can you make?

Sorry for all the question, just wanted to clear some stuff up really
 
Hey cherryrig - I bought these from Silverprint for about £35-£40 and they should last me quite a long time (developer about 20 films and the other chemicals much more)


 
Thanks for that. Just wondering what people think about reels and tanks. Steel or plastic. I've used plastic before at college, and they seem the easiest to get hold of, however quiet a lot of people say steel is easier to load :(

I'll be doing 35mm and 120
 
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