Developing sessions

michaelwj

michaelwj

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On Saturday, John (jmilkins) and I developed 11 rolls of film in one hit. It was pretty easy, and we managed to almost clear my backlog after a month of heavy work and make a small dent in Johns. I find it quite easy to do large batches like this; we started developing one tank and then when the developing done and it was time for the stop/fix/wash, we started to develop the next one. It works pretty well with no stress, and we get to reuse the stop and fix so its a bit more economical.

We could have kept going like this for a long time, but a few things ended up limiting the number of rolls we could do at once. The first was we basically ran out of dry reels. We had 1 Paterson five reel tank, 1 Paterson two reel, 2 Jobo tanks, one with 1 and the other with 2 reels, and a generic Paterson compatible tank with one reel which gives us our 11 rolls (7 HP5@400; 1 Kentmere400@400; 3 Fomapan400@250). The other thing that held us up (and caused us to slow down) was drying space. We had run out of film clips and had to hang the rolls outside. Fortunately it was a nice day and the film dried quickly.

filmdrying.jpg

So, whats the most number of rolls you've done in a single session? And what was the limiting factor?
 
I keep a bottle or two of isopropyl alcohol as a drying agent.
My final rinse for film is purified water.
I mix in about 200ml's of alcohol into a one gallon jug of pure warer to speed water droplets off the film and reduce drying time.

With regard to drying reels, you can wash them in water as normal and then dunk them in pure alcohol to dry them.
The alcohol mixes with droplets of water and helps evaporate any remaining water quickly.

It's a pretty old and reliable method.
 
When I was Photo Staff chief in high school, we'd have events that generated dozens of rolls of film. I and my "shooters" would clear all exposed film before closing the lab after the event, that way we could run proofs the next day for the school publications that we serviced. It was always a bit of craziness.

In my little business in the 1980s, I'd process between four and eight rolls of film for every shoot, the same night or morning after. That used all the gear and space I had.

Nowadays, I process and scan one roll of film at a time. Never more. And as soon as I can after shooting it. That's enough ... 🙂

G
 
I did 9 rolls max - but it hardly ever happens that I have that many undeveloped film, perhaps only after trips.

I have a 5 reel Paterson tank and 2x2 reels AP tanks.
Develop at the same time almost, start one tank then at the 1 minute mark I start another tank and at the 2 minute mark the last tank. I set the timer from the beginning to be 2 minutes longer and I dump the developer from the first tank 2 minutes before the end etc.... It's really all simple. Washing is done immediately - fixing can wait once developing is stopped.

My only problem is the drying and then scanning - as I don't want to leave film hanging for long and since I scan uncut rolls, I need to do that before cutting it into strips of 6 and filing them away.

I always recycle fixer and stop solutions, never dump chemicals prematurely even if I only develop a few rolls at a time. With my Chugai fixer, I can run 24 rolls through a 1Liter batch. I know people who dump chemicals like a one shot developer but I think that's both a waste of money and bad for the environment.

Ben
 
13 rolls. My buddy & I had a long session of street shooting one Saturday in Philadelphia. I did my 8 rolls in my 8 roll Patterson and he did his 5 in my 5 roll tank.
 
I develop 5-10 rolls in an evening pretty regularly. Last night I developed 9 rolls - 6 rolls of E-6 and 3 rolls of b&w. The night previous I developed a bunch of C-41 and a few other b&w rolls.

If I'm shooting 4x5 I can develop 12 sheets in a batch, and sometimes I'll develop 20-25 sheets in an evening.

This week was busy and I shot 20 rolls (135/120).

I never really understood the problem with developing large amounts of film. I can develop 4-6 rolls at once anyway in one tank. I have a long line hanging near the back door in my house where I can get about 20 rolls/sheets hung, and another line in my office that can hold another dozen sheets.

Scanning all the film used to be the real problem but investing in a large scanner that can do a whole roll and a half of 135 or 120 (or half a dozen sheets of 4x5) at once was the solution.
 
Corran said:
Scanning all the film used to be the real problem but investing in a large scanner that can do a whole roll and a half of 135 or 120 (or half a dozen sheets of 4x5) at once was the solution.
Click to expand...

What scanner is that which can do a roll and a half in one go? How do you even feed a "half a roll"?

I have a Pakon which does a roll at one but sadly no MF 🙁
Ben
 
bence8810 said:
What scanner is that which can do a roll and a half in one go? How do you even feed a "half a roll"?

I have a Pakon which does a roll at one but sadly no MF 🙁
Ben
Click to expand...

I have a huge Screen Cezanne (which is about 5 feet long with its "wing" and almost 200 lbs). The bed is big enough to scan my 8x20 film, plus some extra. Very uncommon and a pretty penny, but I actually bought it for about what some people pay for a Nikon LS-9000. Best photographic tool I've ever bought. Realistically I could actually scan probably 3-4 rolls, cut into proper lengths, but I just don't do that.
 
Corran said:
I have a huge Screen Cezanne (which is about 5 feet long with its "wing" and almost 200 lbs). The bed is big enough to scan my 8x20 film, plus some extra. Very uncommon and a pretty penny, but I actually bought it for about what some people pay for a Nikon LS-9000. Best photographic tool I've ever bought. Realistically I could actually scan probably 3-4 rolls, cut into proper lengths, but I just don't do that.
Click to expand...

I see - never heard of the scanner. Does it come with holders or you just lay the negatives on the bed and cover with a sheet-glass to keep flat?

Cheers,
Ben
 
Oh boy you have no idea. To say I've done a few miles of film would be an understatement. A standard film day was 4-5 of the 4 reel tanks in the morning and another the same size in the afternoon. Did that 3-6 days a month. For years.

Some well earned tips:
The dry reels problem can be worked around with quality stainless reels (Hewes) which can be rolled wet or most likely damp, although be careful with any heat when drying on reel when doing multi-tank batches, the next batch will carry some thermal residue and you'll end up with overdevelopment as the developer temp will rise.
Don't try to dry reels with paper towels or cloth towels to speed up the drying of reels. Any lint present will deposit itself right on the forehead of the bride on the best frame of the wedding.
 
bence8810 said:
I see - never heard of the scanner. Does it come with holders or you just lay the negatives on the bed and cover with a sheet-glass to keep flat?

Cheers,
Ben
Click to expand...

Both. There's a ton of large pre-press scanners out there (iQsmart, Eversmart, Cezanne, others) - look into them if you want a big scanner. They can sometimes even be found for free from print shops and graphic arts businesses getting rid of old equipment, though sometimes they are trashed. I bought mine from a photographer but it was a turnkey system, hence the price (but worth it).
 
f16sunshine said:
I keep a bottle or two of isopropyl alcohol as a drying agent.
My final rinse for film is purified water.
I mix in about 200ml's of alcohol into a one gallon jug of pure warer to speed water droplets off the film and reduce drying time.

With regard to drying reels, you can wash them in water as normal and then dunk them in pure alcohol to dry them.
The alcohol mixes with droplets of water and helps evaporate any remaining water quickly.

It's a pretty old and reliable method.
Click to expand...

Interesting, you learn something new every day!

bence8810 said:
I did 9 rolls max - but it hardly ever happens that I have that many undeveloped film, perhaps only after trips.

I have a 5 reel Paterson tank and 2x2 reels AP tanks.
Develop at the same time almost, start one tank then at the 1 minute mark I start another tank and at the 2 minute mark the last tank. I set the timer from the beginning to be 2 minutes longer and I dump the developer from the first tank 2 minutes before the end etc.... It's really all simple. Washing is done immediately - fixing can wait once developing is stopped.

My only problem is the drying and then scanning - as I don't want to leave film hanging for long and since I scan uncut rolls, I need to do that before cutting it into strips of 6 and filing them away.

I always recycle fixer and stop solutions, never dump chemicals prematurely even if I only develop a few rolls at a time. With my Chugai fixer, I can run 24 rolls through a 1Liter batch. I know people who dump chemicals like a one shot developer but I think that's both a waste of money and bad for the environment.

Ben
Click to expand...

If you had more than 9 to develop, would a lack of reels then stop you? It sounds like our process is similar, once you start, just running out of loaded reels stops you.

I sleeve before scanning if I have to, and usually keep stop/fix for a week max, I find it gets a bit funky otherwise.

Noserider said:
Some well earned tips:
The dry reels problem can be worked around with quality stainless reels (Hewes) which can be rolled wet or most likely damp, although be careful with any heat when drying on reel when doing multi-tank batches, the next batch will carry some thermal residue and you'll end up with overdevelopment as the developer temp will rise.
Don't try to dry reels with paper towels or cloth towels to speed up the drying of reels. Any lint present will deposit itself right on the forehead of the bride on the best frame of the wedding.
Click to expand...

So I've been curious about these stainless reels for a while. I see how I could load wet reels in a darkroom, but in a dark bag? I can't see it ending well but I am prepared to be told I'm wrong!

I admit I rarely have more than 2 rolls to dev at once, I'm always keen to see the results. This session was a result of being pretty busy last month, with work trips to Long Island, back to Australia, and then Trieste in Italy, plus, I like to get John motivated through his backlog...
 
What you said, dry reels are the limiting factor, even with a hair dryer.

BTW, I successfully develop three batches of b&w film with the same developer. Adding 10% of time to each batch gives very consistent results. Saves the planet and a bunch of money.
 
michaelwj said:
If you had more than 9 to develop, would a lack of reels then stop you? It sounds like our process is similar, once you start, just running out of loaded reels stops you.

I sleeve before scanning if I have to, and usually keep stop/fix for a week max, I find it gets a bit funky otherwise.
Click to expand...

I never had the need to develop more than this and don't think it'll ever happen. I only hit the 9 mark once or twice if memory serves me right.

The drying of the reel problem did stop me a few times but that was before I had the 5 reel tank. It gets really sticky and unless it's fully dry - film will get stuck.

I usually soak the reels after usage in dishwashing solution for a minute or two then scrub them with a toothbrush. After 170 rolls (and counting) they are still nice and white and hardly have trouble with films sticking halfway through loading.

Since I scan with a Pakon - I get it done much better if I use an uncut roll - that's why I prefer not to sleeve before scanning.

Fix and Stop can be kept longer if you keep it in closed bottles - at least according to my experience.

Ben
 
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