Do you develop your own B&W film?

Do you develop your own B&W film?

  • Yes - I'm still addicted

    Votes: 727 89.3%

  • No - I opt for convenience

    Votes: 87 10.7%
  • Total voters
    814
I plan on starting to develop first 120 TMX and TMY, and maybe 4x5 B+W films later on. Paterson kit in the mail. Will be a steep learning curve. Never did develop that much those 20 odd years ago, so I´ve not much experience to draw from. But hey, that´s half the fun.
 
Yes, back to running my own film. Souped my fourth roll last night. I have been shooting Tri-X and Kentmere 400, developing in Tmax. I ordered 12 rolls of Arista Premium 400 tonight. Probably will switch to D-76 when the Tmax is gone (It is the only one-shot developer available at a shop here; I wanted to see if I could run my own despite hand tremors; I can; D-76 is next.) Scan with the mighty Epson V300. Enlarging probably coming in the fall ...
 
Yes, i develop my own B&W film, i developed all of them and didn't send one to the lab yet, but i didn't shoot many rolls anyway, so maybe later if i feel so tired and lazy i may send some to the lab.
 
I just got back into developing (and shooting film for that matter) last December. I think I've developed a good 40 rolls since then.

I've only done black and white so far but I really need to start developing color and E6 soon. I have a lot of film but don't shoot it often as I don't want to pay the price for good development.
 
Oh yes - the anticipation beats digital hands down!
My dark room is a harrison pup changing bag in the garden shed. I love it.
 
I developed film and printed my own photographs for a lot of years. Got away from photography for about 15 years, moved a couple of times, sold my darkroom equipment. When I started shooting again it was with 120 & 220 Velvia, Provia & E100VS. I used a local pro-lab for E6 and scanning and I printed them with an inkjet printer. Yes, it cost a lot of money but I was selling a few photographs. The same lab does a good job on black and white so I use them. Don't really have space for a darkroom and I can't really say that ever really enjoyed spending a lot of time printing in the darkroom. Love photoshop and lightroom. If you really like working in the darkroom I think that's really great. I did like it in the beginning. I worked in a photo lab for awhile and I think I just got my fill of it.
 
I answered yes and have just got back into developing my own film agian because C-41 is so limited. Have found that I really enjoy that part of it. Agree with Stu on experimenting with different developers makes the whole process more enjoyable. And loaded 120 film into the reel is so much easier than the old days for me with 135. I am only scanning my film because I live in an apartment with no darkroom and have an old timer here in Auckland who does great scans cheaply. Would rather wet print and am investigating hiring a darkroom here in Auckland at present. Great thing for me as well is I only have 2 films or 24 images a week to play with rather than trolling through 200 when I had my M8. And most importantly everytime I pick up my Mamiya 6 it makes me happy and my 7d is looking very dusty these days.
 
Yes and Yes!

It all started at school long time ago. Then nothing.

A few years after I was working in a country where I could not find B&W films nor lab service. I build my darkroom and imported all chemicals and lab stuff. Was fun flying with chemicals at that time...

Then I stopped, moved to NY and after being so disappointed by the quality of the labs (I guess I did not go to the right place!) I started again doing my processing and replaced the wet print by a scan and a good printer.

Now I am so addict that I reload my cartridges with 100ft films rolls.
The nightmare is over.

I will add that places like Freestyle, photographers' formulary and all the other (sorry for not listing all of them) allowed me to resurrect my hobby.

I shoot in 35 and 120 with RF only!
 
Back to the Future

Back to the Future

Recently got some Acros 100 to try out, first B & W film I have done in years other than the C-41 stuff. Was using Agfa Vario XL till they stopped making it, tried XP-2, then the brown Kodak stuff. Got a fresh bottle of Rodinal (thank goodness they still make it) some new stop bath and fixer and went at it. Got it processed, scanned.............it's good to be home again. Didn't realize how much I missed that look, seems even better now. Could be simple nostaligia, but I love it nevertheless.
 
still thoroughly enjoying developing b&w :)
up until may this year i was left without a proper developing tank, so did the whole process in the dark, cooking pans, lids, fingers and all. smashed my clumsy head against bathrooms walls and sinks a bunch of times, but the negatives turned up just fine :)
dunno if i'd do this again tho, now i have a gorgeous new paterson tank :eek:
i develop color films at a store... and i'm thinking of going back to printing b&w at home.
 
Uhm photokina just started, Fuji announces their sweet X100 thing, but...
I have way too much fun with film!
I just ordered the paraphernalia for souping TriX at home: looking forward to it! :)
 
Yes - I do develop my own BW. I do not want to get used to different results every time I switch to a different lab. And it is fun. And it makes me feel more like a ... photographer ;)
 
Mablo said:
Allan, you better buy a film changing bag for a few dollars :) On eBay a seller named "roger_luo" offers some good ones.
Click to expand...

I can also recommend Roger Luo's bags, but with some authority. And now that I'm on my 4th cabernet sauvignon I feel like talking at some length about these bags.

My ladyfriend, who is a tailor, http://www.laurajeanduncan.co.uk/ if you need alterations/repairs in Blackheath, London, examined my Roger Luo changing bag and turned my mild excessive-expense-regret (£17 rather than £8) in to mild self-satisfaction. She says that it is extraordinarily well made, definitely by someone with more pride in workmanship than commercial ends; that the stitching will last and also because the materials are not actually pure cotton but a polyester and cotton mix that should mean a much longer life but with the advantage of cotton. Not much of a business plan if you ask me, but perhaps better value than the price suggests. In anycase I suppose his strategy is understandable if you consider he is a small fish in a big sea with no desire to tool up and make factory (nor much reason to do so).

She added that it would have been much more expensive if I had had her make it, to which I was able to please myself with the thought of Roger Luo's claim of "with much attention to functional detail" or words to that effect, that she could not have assumed for herself. I'm supposing that it's design has been tweaked with usage experience though I'm not in any position to judge that claim.

In any case for me it seems to have worked out: I got it because of warnings of sweaty hands in cheaper bags and as a beginner I knew that would probably undo me and so I had to spend the money. Since beginning I've had some hair-raising experiences that took a while to sort out and no sweaty hands (UK summer, pretty mild here). Functional detail doesn't mean light won't go in if you remove your hands: so don't do that (except in a cupboard, perhaps).

I can also add that for 35mm shooters putting a 30m roll in to a bulk loader in the smallest of his bags is just fine. Also that it is fine with a two reel Patterson system 4 (not super, I haven't one to try). There seems to be quite a bit of room. I also opened a camera and loaded a reel just fine in to the Paterson. I couldn't find this kind of space/size info but risked getting the smallest bag; so hopefully someone may find this info useful and share my joy in saving a few pounds.

And while I'm feeling over-enthusiastic I recommend to all fans of St Francis to see Franco Zeffrilli's movie "Brother Sun, Sister Moon" life of St Francis. I'm also starting a novena for this fellow at http://novenaforfrancozeffirelli.blogspot.com/.

Now, where's that bottle gone....
 
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yes, I've started this year you develop B&W, I've joined a photography club here in Buenos Aires where you can use their labs everytime you need it so its great since I dont need to buy my own stuff.
'Black alley' is right my first developed film ever came out to be way better than the one I requested to be developed at the local shop...
 
I did my first stand development on some Tri-X @3200. Rodinol 1+100 for an hour. Results look interesting and I'll scan them this week and throw a few up.
 
I marked YES, but, I plan to get started in a month or 2.
I did when I was 15 to about 18, and wet printed also.
But, No room for a darkroom, so a changing bag instead.
I will shoot a section and decide what brand to go with for fast and slow films. And use HC-110 most likely..

Can't wait,
My M5; and just arrived Pentax Super Program are waiting to get more use.
 
As of this past Sunday, I can vote "yes!" Developed my first roll of HP5 with only a minor spill (don't ever buy a clear graduated cylinder with clear measurement markers; it's impossible to see!)/ What a treat. I've wanted to do this for almost 30 years and finally worked up the courage to do it. It's simply magic.

Next weekend's project: learn to work the film scanner.
 
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