How did you learn to develop?

If you use your kitchen for cooking--some people don't cook--then don't use that as the darkroom. All chemicals are water soluble. If you smell them in the air, they also end up in your soup, coffee, and anything else with water. If you work in a hot darkroom for long periods, you can even get sores on your scalp because of chemistry in your sweat.

Use the bathroom.

I started developing when I was 13. I learnt by following the direction or making mistakes. It is not rocket science--it is sensitometry.
 
I cannot stress how easy developing your own B&W films is!

PM me your email address and I will send you the Ilford PDF mentioned previously, and a youtube video.

After these, all you need are the 'tools' and chemicals, and you will be away..

Best regards,
RoyM
 
Got a pretty much unused developing kit in eBay about three years ago, googled up a howto in German and just tried it. It was almost embarrassingly easy. Seriously, if you can brew coffee, you can develop b&w.
It's very hard to screw up with b&w. The results might not be optimal - the negatives might turn out a little thin or grainy - but you always have results.
 
Reading and practising.

I don't agree with Finder, though. If you smell sh*t in the air, it doesn't end up in the food. Providing you're reasonably careful, 'kitchen sink' developing is perfectly safe. Countless thousands of photographers have done it for well over a century. Work in the sink and sluice it out well when you've finished. Precisely because the chemicals are water soluble, they wash away.

Cheers,

R.
 
I learned through a man named Donald Eugene Camp who walked me through the basics in 1965. After that it was all experimentation through the guidelines he suggested, and then later exploration of my own.

It ain't rocket science.
 
I started to poke around for a commercial "beginners kit" but it seems like it's just as easy to assemble on on your own.

I found this list of basic items. A couple of items look a little superfluous based on what I've seen on the Youtube clips, like the white cotton gloves and squeegee. Is the list basically complete?

http://www.hybridphotojourney.com/2010/01/16/creating-a-black-and-white-film-processing-kit/

Not sure on the changing bag. How dark is dark? Not being a smart a**! Many years ago I tried 4x5 and loaded the film in my bathroom with the door shut and the lights out and door shut & lights out in the bedroom it was attached to. Never saw an ill effect on my negatives or prints. Will that do for loading onto the reels?

Thanks again. I'm impressed with the quantity and information shared here.

Bob
 
Bobonli said:
Not sure on the changing bag. How dark is dark? Not being a smart a**!
Click to expand...

Haha...dark is dark. As in, go in the room, turn out the lights, and stand there for a few minutes. If you can see anything, it's not dark enough. The changing bag is worth it for two reasons. First, it's pitch black darkness, so no worries about fogging film. Second, you can load film at any time of day if you don't have a true darkroom. I got the one from Freestyle for $20 or $25...very worthwhile.
 
Developing B&W film is easy but the "trick" is attention to the
details.

Exact mixing ratios, temperature, time, thorough mixing
procedures, clean water, proper drying habits, proper and
consistent agitation, etc. are all important. The more exact
you are with these "little details" the better and more consistent
your results IMO.
 
High school darkroom which was a converted closet. I still remember developing my first roll of film and my first print!
 
I didn't have any book about developing film, so i was reading the net, i use few websites and i asked many question there until i feel myself i am ready, bought all the equipment i need and the chemicals but didn't start by myself for some reasons. Then i took a workshop about darkroom and there we started to develop film, honestly speaking it wasn't accurate, we just develop whatever and got some results, because i checked the developer and found that we used wrong time, and also we were using so hot tap water so it should change the time for developing, but from that workshop i decided to develop at home by myself with better temp and time controlled and i got amazing results so far and i am happy, but i keep reading and asking to get better knowledge about it as much as i can, and even we started to print in that workshop but i will not start to print by myself until i get good enough negative and affording some equipments for printing then will start it.
 
My 14-year-old kid brother taught me 45 years ago. The only thing that has changed in all that time is the RC paper I'm using now, and the rapid fixers we have now. Still Tri-X, still D-76, still 35mm, still Nikkor SS tanks and reels. I think I've been improving at it all these years, though. You might want to get a copy of Fred Pickers' book, "Zone VI Workshop" for a quick tour of the method. I see it used on Amazon starting at thirty-four cents.
 
youtube ....

youtube ....

Read a bit here, watched a few you tube videos.

Bought the first round of stuff new from freestylephoto.biz.

Did not buy the kit. Bought a plastic tank with two reals, and the chemicals.

The rest I got from a local supermarket. One 1 liter soda bottle for each chemical. I did get 4 one gallon brown photo bottles from the photo store, but the prevailing wisdom seemed to be that was not necessary. Had a cooking thermometer and timer. If not, dollar store is fine. I use bulldog clips from work as my film clips.

Went through three scanners as I wound up shooting 4X5.

It's simple.

I did quantitative chemistry lab in school, when folks said I had to watch my ratios, I was thinking in terms of milligrams and milliliters. Developing film with prepackaged chemicals is much more like baking than chemistry. I use a measuring cup that probably gets me to the closes 5ml, in 600ml, that works out. just fine. When I use HC110, I have a medicine syringe that is labeled to the nearest ML, and I need 9.6 in 600ml, so I never get the decimal part right, but it is close.

The more important parts are measuring the temperature of your chemicals, making sure you use the right ones in the right order, and having them at the same temperature. ( I use a tempering bath )

Hope that helps.

Dave
 
I learnt it at university!
They showed once during the first year and then it was up to you to go discover and explore what it was all about so I did that and learnt processing as well!
 
I learned by reading articles in Popular Photography in the late 1970's. I took over the kitchen (somehow there were always dishes in the sink on the nights that I said that I was going to do darkroom work). At first I just developed B&W negs but then I purchased a small Durst F60 enlarger a year or two later. I never got around to taking a formal course until about 12-14 years (and 2 kids) later. The Darkroom Cookbook and Film Developing Cookbook have lots of practical advice. David Vestal's old photobooks were my bibles, but I am not certain that they are still available.
 
djonesii said:
... making sure you use the right ones in the right order...
Click to expand...

Indeed. And also making sure not to contaminate the solutions. A few drops of Step 2 into Step 1 (or Step 3 into Step 2, etc.) will typically ruin the solution. So if you're checking temps of several solutions with the same thermometer, always wash it off first.
 
Ok. I think I'll give it a try. One last question:

How dust free is "dust free?"

I live in an ordinary building with central AC. There's no place that doesn't have some dust. The two most dust free places are the kitchen and bathrooms. Is it okay to hang the film to dry from a shower curtain rod or something similar in the kitchen?

Thanks again
 
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