Complete Newbie....

I tried 4 hours. Too soon. Emulsion was still soft. 5 hours was no better. I have now decided to wait 24 hours before handling film. Many will jump up and down. Shout. Holler. Too long! I can hear Roger's fingers typing already. All I know is, 24 hours works for me and my negatives. That is all I care about.
YMMV.

Haha thanks for the pointer. How then do you dry your film and avoid water stains?
 
The one thing that confuses me: a roll of 36 exposure is LONG. If you're not cutting it after developing, where are you hanging it from...a tree?

Edit: googled it. Apparently is 63 inches, not as long as I thought. The film seems 50 feet long when you're spooling it for 20 min in the dark. :)
 
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The one thing that confuses me: a roll of 36 exposure is LONG. If you're not cutting it after developing, where are you hanging it from...a tree?

Edit: googled it. Apparently is 63 inches, not as long as I thought. The film seems 50 feet long when you're spooling it for 20 min in the dark. :)

I normally hang it from a clothesline that's suspended slightly above my head's height. I'm 1.71m btw. Haha. And yes, it really feels like the reel goes on forever when you're spooling, doesn't it?
 
btw, if anyone can tell me how to post a pic from flickr directly onto the thread i'd appreciate it.

Open your pix on flickr, open the 'actions' menu, open 'view all sized', click on 'medium' then right click on the image and 'copy'.
Come back here and go to the thread you want in the response box, click 'print' and you should have your pix. You may have to add a few words or symbols to get the software to accept the post.
 
Alright...so I just got the shipment of my chemistry. Now I'm going over my checklist and I've written down all the procedures, times, etc.

Very good info, but IMHO:

D-76 is very forgiving-a degree or two, an inversion or two, a few seconds etc. is ok.

Use a water rinse instead of stop bath. 2-4 rinses.

Stop is critical so I go at least 5 min. with recommended inversioins.

A drop of mild dishwashing detergent in the final rinse/bath works for me.

The biggest, most critical is consistancy in the basic procedure.
 
Haha thanks for the pointer. How then do you dry your film and avoid water stains?

Hang it from the shower curtain rod in the bathroom.

Final rinse in distilled water with 3 ml Photo-Flo per liter. Approximately. I don't get too fussy about the dilution. I just keep it on the week side of what Kodak says. That seems to work for me.
 
Use a water rinse instead of stop bath. 2-4 rinses.

Stop is critical so I go at least 5 min. with recommended inversioins.

This isn't the first time i've heard this. What is the benefit of not using a stop bath and using water instead...besides the fact that water if free?
 
No worries about an acid stop bath fizzing on your emulsion & making pinholes. Probably an overstatement. Some folks think this is a problem.
I have used plain water since forever. lately I have wondered that maybe plain water doesn't stop fast enough. The last time I developed film I added 10ml of print strength Kodak stop bath to 700ml water. The theory: make the pH of the "stop" water just slightly acidic and therefore make it stop development faster. I saw no harm. Next time I'll add 20ml. I have the stop bath mixed anyway. I might as well use it.
 
ps: The 24 hours is the time I hang the negatives before cutting/scanning/sleeving. I try real hard not to ever touch the emulsion.

HUH.....
I hang dry in a humid bathroom for 2 hours, and cut and sleeve.. I don't have problems with soft emulsion getting scratched.
I do make sure the Emulsion is face up when I cut.
I have custom 30" high solid Oak wood L shaped desk with rounded edges that the base of the film moves over and a light box on top. I cut the negatives with 3.5" scissors.
And I wear cotton gloves also.
I use Delta (50-400) and Acros 100. Maybe some emulsions take a very long time to dry.


How long do you water rinse? 25min is plenty with 2-4 changes per minute. Then 1min in Photo-Flo.


@venchka
PS, What do think about making Bubba a Panda M5. :cool:
 
I just developed 2 different rolls of film (1 HP5 and 1 Tri-x) and noticed something strange. Don't know if this is an error I made or if it's the normal characteristic of the films I used. After I hung them I noticed that the Tri-x is more transparent and is an almost pinkish color. The HP5 on the other hand is much darker and looks thicker and more "black and white". I used the same process for both rolls except for the developer times (process outlined above in this thread). I'm afraid that 3 minutes of fixer for both rolls was wrong. Are these results normal?
 
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