Ooo, gonna have some fun with this . . .

[Ian D J]

My uncle is going to give me a 35 mm film development kit! But I have never done any home film development in all my life. At the moment I have no idea what to expect, apart from this email from my Unc . . .

" I don't think the items are bulky. There is an enlarger, negative bag and a round tub (to put the film in and the negative out) Not asking for money".

Ooo heck, sounds like I'm gonna have some fun soon! Especially since I've recently put a 35 mm film into an oldish SLR camera.

So, any tips and hints and advice on what I should do/expect would be most appreciated. Will it involve dangerous chemicals? Do I need to allocate lots of room for it? Do I need to get that red bulb and black everything out?
If I need to get bits for it, that'll be no problem as there's an independent camera shop that deals with traditional film as well as digital stuff literally only a stone's throw from my home.

 

[Yardbent]

If I need to get bits for it, that'll be no problem as there's an independent camera shop that deals with traditional film as well as digital stuff literally only a stone's throw from my home.

I would take the "stuff" you get round to the camera shop, and have him explain what to do, what you need, and buy the extras from him

anything gets SNAFU - then it's his fault.....

 

[Ian D J]

I would take the "stuff" you get round to the camera shop, and have him explain what to do, what you need, and buy the extras from him

anything gets SNAFU - then it's his fault.....

Hehe, at the moment work really is keeping me on my toes (I'm a tomato farmer) so I suspect I won't get around to having a play with it for a couple of months yet. But when I have my three weeks holiday break in late August . . . then watch this space.

 

[TheBigYin]

My uncle is going to give me a 35 mm film development kit! But I have never done any home film development in all my life. At the moment I have no idea what to expect, apart from this email from my Unc . . .

" I don't think the items are bulky. There is an enlarger, negative bag and a round tub (to put the film in and the negative out) Not asking for money".

Ooo heck, sounds like I'm gonna have some fun soon! Especially since I've recently put a 35 mm film into an oldish SLR camera.

So, any tips and hints and advice on what I should do/expect would be most appreciated.

Will it involve dangerous chemicals?
Not massively dangerous for B&W,theres a guy on ebay that does all the chem's you use for developing B&W film. You'll need Developer,Stop and Fix
Instructions on developing your first film here

Do I need to allocate lots of room for it? Do I need to get that red bulb and black everything out?
I keep all my developing kit in a plastic box under the utility room sink, and just get it out when needed. For printing (i.e. the developer) you would need to set up somewhere blacked out and preferably static. Instructions on printing setup here

If I need to get bits for it, that'll be no problem as there's an independent camera shop that deals with traditional film as well as digital stuff literally only a stone's throw from my home.

Welcome aboard...

Edit: just noticed the LCS (local camera shop) comment - definitely try and support them - treat the ebay links as a fallback, but the 3 I mentioned are a good all round starter (the stuff I started on, and still use most of the time). The Fix will also work as fix for prints as well as film, so you may wish to buy in a larger pack size than the 1/2 litre...

 

[david1701]

funsies. Enlargers are in no way 'not bulky'

Will be great fun, support that camera shop. Nowhere in exe carries that kinda kit

 

[Ian D J]

Keep these excellent advice coming in. Like I said I will need to know what I'll be up against as I'm quite concerned for my own safely, haha.
The owner of my local person is very easy to get on with and I know he'll sort me out one way or the other should I get really stuck on something.
In the meantime, there's plenty of time to get some research on so hopefully it won't end in tears when the time does come.

 

[Scarecrow]

Never got on too well with the printing side of home developing - too much messing about doing test strips to get the exposure right, and lots of fiddling with colour dials to remove colour casts. Probably why I used to shoot a lot of slide film!

For developing of the actual film, you don't actually need a darkroom, which makes it a lot easier.

Basic kit consists of:

A 'darkroom' bag, which allows you to load the film in to the developing tank without exposing it to light.
The aforementioned developing tank.
Thermometer to check temperature during the processing.
Stop watch or clock for timing the various processes.

I also used to use an old paint tray as a water bath to stand the chemical bottles and developing tank in to help keep them at the right temperature.

If any of that is absent from the bits you acquire from your uncle, you should be able to get hold of them easily enough to get you started.

You'll also need some sort of containers to hold your developing chemicals in. Don't know if it's still true of current developing kits, but I was always advised to keep the air in the chemical bottles to a minimum as it helped prevent the chemicals oxidising and losing their potency. To that end I used plastic bottles that had a concertina section that allowed you to squeeze them down to expel excess air before tightening the cap.

 

[Ian D J]

Never got on too well with the printing side of home developing - too much messing about doing test strips to get the exposure right, and lots of fiddling with colour dials to remove colour casts. Probably why I used to shoot a lot of slide film!

For developing of the actual film, you don't actually need a darkroom, which makes it a lot easier.

Basic kit consists of:

A 'darkroom' bag, which allows you to load the film in to the developing tank without exposing it to light.
The aforementioned developing tank.
Thermometer to check temperature during the processing.
Stop watch or clock for timing the various processes.

I also used to use an old paint tray as a water bath to stand the chemical bottles and developing tank in to help keep them at the right temperature.

If any of that is absent from the bits you acquire from your uncle, you should be able to get hold of them easily enough to get you started.

You'll also need some sort of containers to hold your developing chemicals in. Don't know if it's still true of current developing kits, but I was always advised to keep the air in the chemical bottles to a minimum as it helped prevent the chemicals oxidising and losing their potency. To that end I used plastic bottles that had a concertina section that allowed you to squeeze them down to expel excess air before tightening the cap.

It's replies like this one that is the reason why I can always rely on good ol' Talkphotography.

Have noticed all that down. Naturally I will let you know how it goes along although it won't be for quite a while.

 

[TheBigYin]

Never got on too well with the printing side of home developing - too much messing about doing test strips to get the exposure right, and lots of fiddling with colour dials to remove colour casts. Probably why I used to shoot a lot of slide film!

For developing of the actual film, you don't actually need a darkroom, which makes it a lot easier.

Basic kit consists of:

A 'darkroom' bag, which allows you to load the film in to the developing tank without exposing it to light.
The aforementioned developing tank.
Thermometer to check temperature during the processing.
Stop watch or clock for timing the various processes.

I also used to use an old paint tray as a water bath to stand the chemical bottles and developing tank in to help keep them at the right temperature.

If any of that is absent from the bits you acquire from your uncle, you should be able to get hold of them easily enough to get you started.

You'll also need some sort of containers to hold your developing chemicals in. Don't know if it's still true of current developing kits, but I was always advised to keep the air in the chemical bottles to a minimum as it helped prevent the chemicals oxidising and losing their potency. To that end I used plastic bottles that had a concertina section that allowed you to squeeze them down to expel excess air before tightening the cap.

Still need to keep the air out of the chemicals - either use the concertina bottles, or stick a plastic bag in the neck of the bottle and inflate it, keeps air from surface of chemicals (tip (c) uncle Arkady ) - personally, I bought a box of these... hold just over a litre - soft enough to squeeze the air out of - and although they're translucent, if you keep the chem's in a dark cupboard as storage they'll be fine.

 

[erding]

Think I still have some of those concertina bottles and dev. trays if they are of any use to you Ian.

 

[Ian D J]

Think I still have some of those concertina bottles and dev. trays if they are of any use to you Ian.

That's very kind of you! I haven't got the kit yet so I don't know how complete it is but if it is missing any of those items then I will give you a shout. Like I said, it's going to be all new and experimental to me.

 

[erding]

That's very kind of you! I haven't got the kit yet so I don't know how complete it is but if it is missing any of those items then I will give you a shout. Like I said, it's going to be all new and experimental to me.

Just give me some notice Ian as it will be a 'look in the loft job'

Nothing like going back to the dark ages though.....