Developing my first roll... Help? Advice? Pointers?

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Ryan1938

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Hey guys, I'm not at all a photographer. I'm just a hobbyist that recently got a wild hair to develop his own roll of Tri-X 400. Essentially, I hastily shot a roll around the house while pestering my family with a Leica M7 and a 35mm summilux. I then slapped the roll into a Rondinax 35U, mixed some D76 and some Kodak Fixer, and had at it.

Here's a couple from the results:


04 by The Jalopy Journal, on Flickr


03 by The Jalopy Journal, on Flickr


02 by The Jalopy Journal, on Flickr


01 by The Jalopy Journal, on Flickr

These are directly from the scanner with no fixing. Note all of the scratching/dust marks. Is this a result of me mishandling the film or? I can easily fix this in photoshop, but I do plan to make my own prints and think I need to do cleaner work.

See anything else wrong? Any pointers for me?

Have at me and don't be gentle. I appreciate all the help I can get!
 
I think these are great results for a first try
Dust spots are minor - if you improve your technique
And try to process and dry in as dust free environment as possible
You can reduce but perhaps never eliminate this

I don't see significant scratches

Remember to clean the negatives prior to scanning and keep the scanner
Clean as well

All in all - I would be happy with these results
 
I just shot my first full roll of Tri-X in years, and I am sending down to Dwayne's for processing.
If I thought that I could do as well as you just did at home, I would be very very happy to give it a shot.
 
That makes me happy to hear. With all of the steps of mixing chemicals and then actually developing the film, I thought I would surely screw something up obviously enough for you guys to tell.

Lucky I suppose...

But, I will say that this Rondinax 35U gizmo was really easy to use and being that I will probably only develop one roll at a time, it's perfect for me.

My next step in this process is to restore a really rough Leitz Focotmat 1C that I was given and then try to make a print or two.

It's kind of fun to act like I know what I'm doing!
 
Ryan1938 said:
That makes me happy to hear. With all of the steps of mixing chemicals and then actually developing the film, I thought I would surely screw something up obviously enough for you guys to tell. Lucky I suppose... But, I will say that this Rondinax 35U gizmo was really easy to use and being that I will probably only develop one roll at a time, it's perfect for me. My next step in this process is to restore a really rough Leitz Focotmat 1C that I was given and then try to make a print or two. It's kind of fun to act like I know what I'm doing!
Click to expand...
Ryan,
you are very lucky; summilux 35 and focomat!
I like your photos. I like interiors photos a lot. Usually I use liquid developer (my preferred is Rodinal); if spots on yourt negatives depend on incomplete dilution of D76 powder, you eliminate the problem with a liquid developer. Or you can use warm water while mixing D76.
Since I noticed the tap water wasn't pure, for chemicals I use demineralized water (the same you use for steam ironing and sold at supermarket). At the end of the washing (Ilford method) always leave the negatives a couple of minutes in wetting agent and then hang on them withouth wiping (absolutely unuseful and to be avoided bad practise). Minimal spots (powder is #1 public enemy of darkroom) are less visible with diffuse light enlarger I use (laborator 1000). The light source of your focomat requires negatives very very clean.
Enjoy
 
These look good to me. To my eye the first one looks just a touch dark in the skin tones (compared to #3) but the shadow detail seems to be there so that's more a personal preference rather than a problem. You can always adjust the tone curve in a scan, or exposure and dodging in the darkroom.

Here's some resources to bookmark: Roger and Frances' site (click on photo school link) for expert advice; also Chris Crawford's site and Bruce Robbins's site. All three are RFF members.

Those spots look like dust in the scan to me rather than problems with the neg. Examine the neg through a loupe to see which. Spotting dust from a scan is a chore, so try to keep your scanner, neg and work area as dust-free as possible. I find an Intuos graphics tablet makes spotting in Photoshop a lot quicker and easier.

These are nice results. Have fun!
 
Looks good. I find that scanning (and the attendant levels/curves adjustments) itself has a fairly steep learning curve, and you could probably pull up the mid tones a bit digitally.
as for dust…it's always dust, isn't it? I wipe down every roll with PEC-pads before they're in the scanner. If you're using a flatbed, obviously the platen needs to be kept clean, too.
Seconded on liquid developers; they're easier to manage with less mess and keep pretty well. I prefer DD-X, and I know HC-110 is always popular.
 
Congrats....
My 1st roll after 40+ years was a disaster...
Bad Water mainly.... had to get a charcoal filter attachment to rid 97% of the dust issue... then used a steamy bathroom to dry it after 2m in Photo-flo w/o any wiping for the balance.

Liquid chems are better to help dust or chem specks down..
If you like D76, Just mix it in warm filtered water a day ahead of time. And keep it in a dark cabinet at room temps to cool down.
(Charcoal Water Filter Attachments can't handle temps higher than 90* F, that is plenty warm to desolve the powders).

Photoshop is good to learn for dust removal... BUT, get it right in the development workflow, and use PS to tweak the image instead of repairing it 1st. (you will find far less spotting in PS, if any, with good habits in your developing workflow).

BTW... A great set of exposed and developed negatives for your 1st try at it...A Focomat... I'm Jealous .. :angel: I long for the time and $$ needed to print again......
 
Very good results indeed. I would think a moment about your exposure - judging very quickly, most of these shots would probably benefit from another 1/2 to 1 stop exposure. With my M7 I routinely set the speed for Tri X at EI 250. As to scratches - do not touch the film with the squeege or fingers after you pul it out, that should eliminate most of them.
 
Here's exactly what I did:

Tri-X 400 @ 21 Degrees C

D-76 - 6:15
Rinse (water) - :30
Fix - 7:00
Final Rinse - I poured water in, turned the device a few times, and then dumped the water. I did this sequence ten times. On the final sequence, I added a couple of drops of wetting agent.

I then took the film out and hung it over night to dry.
 
Your washing regime may or may not be adequate. Ilford found that you can get ANSI standard archival washing with NON-HARDENING fixers by filling; inverting 5 times; drain, refill, invert 10 times; drain, refill, invert 20 times. It's indecently easy. Each inversion needs only to take three or four seconds, and (according to Ilford, whose research is easy to replicate) you do not need a 5-minute rest between sets of inversions. Hardening fixers require much more washing.

See also http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps how process 35-120.html (near the bottom) for the trick of drying film diagonally, which gives faster, cleaner drying unless you have a drying cabinet.

Cheers,

R.
 
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