Ronald M
Veteran
How else to get a perfect contrast to match your paper and enlarger?
Do you develop your own B & W films
- Thread starter fixbones
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 111
- Views 1K
Turtle
Veteran
I have given my project printing to a genuine master, but will be keeping my film development. I have to develop my own to see what I have got, besides it is cheap and easy whereas it costs a fair amount to get a reliable pro to do it and there is no advantage (unlike getting prints done by a legend). I will continue to print landscapes and family stuff, but i don't have the time to crank out 50-100 perfect 20x16s and 20 x 24s in my time off.
eli griggs
Well-known
Tony, also try using distilled water for the Photoflo.
Eli
Eli
robert blu
quiet photographer
After more than 30 years since previous time, a few month ago I started again to develop myself my B&W films, choice to stay with Ilford delta 100 and 400. It's a joy to do it again.
robert
robert
Brad Maestas
Established
At this very moment, I am outsourcing nearly all my film. I am mainly shooting chromogenic B&W but I also have some trad B&W rolls that are waiting to be developed by me. I first fell in love with the darkroom back in junior high/middle school. I continued on through high school at the school newspaper, freelanced for the local newspaper and was an assistant to a local portrait photographer. I had access to all of those darkrooms and if I had known about the dry spell that would follow, perhaps I would have made better use of them.
I studied music at college on full scholarship so apart from making my own darkroom at home (which wasn't feasible), I had little chance of spending much time in one. At that time digital had just started to become relatively affordable and that also distracted me. This dry spell continued through my initial move to NYC up to my third move here to Queens. I definitely don't have the room to print but I nearly have all the parts in place to start developing again. All I need now is the chemicals and a good scanner and I'll be all set.
I studied music at college on full scholarship so apart from making my own darkroom at home (which wasn't feasible), I had little chance of spending much time in one. At that time digital had just started to become relatively affordable and that also distracted me. This dry spell continued through my initial move to NYC up to my third move here to Queens. I definitely don't have the room to print but I nearly have all the parts in place to start developing again. All I need now is the chemicals and a good scanner and I'll be all set.
Roger Warren
AddlepatedWight
These days processing negs and making your own prints is part of the romance. I think if you don't do it yourself, you should just shoot digital.
abumac
Well-known
I do it myself. 35 and 120. My favorit combination is: Neopan Across 100 or Neopan 400 in Tmax-Dev. Great tones, very fine grain.
nikon_sam
Shooter of Film...
Another 4 rolls of Neopan 400 (120 format) to develop...hopefully later today...
John Robertson
Well-known
Ilford has just posted a 50% increase in sales and processing of their B/W films over the last 12 months. For the first time I tried their in house processing of XP2 using a prepaid mailer. Superb!!! beautiful clean prints well presented in a nice white box, and reasonably quick.
10 days, most of which time was due to the British Post Office.
They say there is a serious resurgence in interest in silver prints.
I will still process my other films myself but WILL use their service again.😀
10 days, most of which time was due to the British Post Office.
They say there is a serious resurgence in interest in silver prints.
I will still process my other films myself but WILL use their service again.😀
surfer dude
Well-known
For me, one of the greatest strengths of digital, ie its speed and convenience, is also its greatest failing. There is not so much connectedness. However there most certainly is when you develop your own films (even the acts of carrying film packages, loading and rewinding film etc increase this feeling). Loading film onto spirals (in the case of roll film and 35mm), pouring in chemicals, hanging them in the shower cubicle or whatever to dry - these lend you a certain ownership of your images which is, quite frankly, too easily come by with digital.
With digital, I don't feel I actually "earn" the right to enjoy my work as much, and as a result I can't look at the images as having so much intrinsic "value". You press the button, the technology does the rest. Sure you can sit in front of a computer photoshopping for hours, but it is not the same as actually getting your fingers wet and smelly with chemicals, and doing the chemistry and the whole thing. And we (or at least I) use the computer for so many other things in life, whereas the darkroom (or laundry) exists for developing film (or washing clothes!).
So, yeah, as long as there's film, I'll develop it. Because, for me, it feels better in the end. It makes photography a set of skills allied to art.
With digital, I don't feel I actually "earn" the right to enjoy my work as much, and as a result I can't look at the images as having so much intrinsic "value". You press the button, the technology does the rest. Sure you can sit in front of a computer photoshopping for hours, but it is not the same as actually getting your fingers wet and smelly with chemicals, and doing the chemistry and the whole thing. And we (or at least I) use the computer for so many other things in life, whereas the darkroom (or laundry) exists for developing film (or washing clothes!).
So, yeah, as long as there's film, I'll develop it. Because, for me, it feels better in the end. It makes photography a set of skills allied to art.
John Robertson
Well-known
Phil I could not have put it better myself. Its like preparing and cooking a meal, instead of buying a "ready meal" and zapping it in the microwave!!
mark-b
Well-known
I do process all my b&w film, but all of my e6 and c41's are outsourced.
douwe
Jazz and Silver
I process all my B&W myself. I think I use 2 rolls a week. I've been developing with a variation of Pat Gainers Vitamin C developer. There is an interesting article on unblinkingeye I think.
Initially it takes some experimenting to get it right. There are no manufacturer's instructions with your own developer! I can do several film types reliably; Tmax 100 and 400, and Neopan 1600. Making the developer yourself really makes shooting film a lot cheaper, and it is better for me and the environment as well.
Before I had a scanner (minolta 5400) I thought my negs were clean enough. When I bought the scanner I was in for a shock, and a steep learning curve followed. To get perfectly clean and scratch-free negs I do the following:
- I bend the last 5mm of the film outwards before it goes on the paterson reel completely, so the end can't scratch the other negs when I agitate by rotating the axle of the tank.
- I am extremely careful with the fix. It must be absolutely clear. any bits in your fix can and will get stuck on the film.
- I agitate continuously when fixing, so the waste products of the process cannot stick to the film.
- I use demineralized water for the last rinse, with 2 drops of dishwasher rinse (easier to get than photo-flo in Amsterdam, and basically the same. The brand I use is called 'Sun')
- I dry the film in the shower cabin, and I stay out of the room for at least 2.5h, so less dust gets stuck in the emulsion. I do not use any kind of squeegee (silly word really!) because it scratches your film. Again, it scratches your film, and you don't need one anyway!
Have any of you got a special trick in developing that you think is worth mentioning? Do tell me!
Douwe
Initially it takes some experimenting to get it right. There are no manufacturer's instructions with your own developer! I can do several film types reliably; Tmax 100 and 400, and Neopan 1600. Making the developer yourself really makes shooting film a lot cheaper, and it is better for me and the environment as well.
Before I had a scanner (minolta 5400) I thought my negs were clean enough. When I bought the scanner I was in for a shock, and a steep learning curve followed. To get perfectly clean and scratch-free negs I do the following:
- I bend the last 5mm of the film outwards before it goes on the paterson reel completely, so the end can't scratch the other negs when I agitate by rotating the axle of the tank.
- I am extremely careful with the fix. It must be absolutely clear. any bits in your fix can and will get stuck on the film.
- I agitate continuously when fixing, so the waste products of the process cannot stick to the film.
- I use demineralized water for the last rinse, with 2 drops of dishwasher rinse (easier to get than photo-flo in Amsterdam, and basically the same. The brand I use is called 'Sun')
- I dry the film in the shower cabin, and I stay out of the room for at least 2.5h, so less dust gets stuck in the emulsion. I do not use any kind of squeegee (silly word really!) because it scratches your film. Again, it scratches your film, and you don't need one anyway!
Have any of you got a special trick in developing that you think is worth mentioning? Do tell me!
Douwe
Last edited:
topoxforddoc
Established
You must be insane (or extremely busy) not to develop your own.
Arjay
Time Traveller
Came back to film after several years of exclusively shooting digital. I liked the direct feedback of "chimping" my shots directly after having taken them.
Taking a film to the lab and having to wait for it means that any learning curve is becoming shallower and slower, because there's no more immediate feedback. This was my biggest frustration recently when I picked up film again, using chromogenic films.
I'm just now starting to develop silver halide negatives again. My main reasons for that are more direct control over the developing process (pushing/pulling, better shadow detail), and obtaining faster feedbackfor my actions.
It's priceless to still remember how I did a shot when I hold the negative in my hands - that's so much harder when you have to wait for a week to get back your C-41 negatives.
And then - you can't push chromogenic film, or else you'll have terrible scans....
Taking a film to the lab and having to wait for it means that any learning curve is becoming shallower and slower, because there's no more immediate feedback. This was my biggest frustration recently when I picked up film again, using chromogenic films.
I'm just now starting to develop silver halide negatives again. My main reasons for that are more direct control over the developing process (pushing/pulling, better shadow detail), and obtaining faster feedbackfor my actions.
It's priceless to still remember how I did a shot when I hold the negative in my hands - that's so much harder when you have to wait for a week to get back your C-41 negatives.
And then - you can't push chromogenic film, or else you'll have terrible scans....
cweg
Well-known
Santa Claus brought me 20 Rolls of Rollei Retro 100, 500ml Rodinal and the remaining stuff for developing. So I hope I'm finish with BW400CN and scratched negatives by supermarketdeveloping.
BTW HAppy new Year and best wishes for you all !!
BTW HAppy new Year and best wishes for you all !!
Biggles
My cup runneth amok.
Never. Not once. I use a professional lab for all my traditional black & white films, and have done so since I began.
Reasons include laziness, being too nit-picky for my own good, too impatient for reliable chemistry, an inability to find a reliably dust-free environment to hang film in (very real problem), a fear and dislike of handling undeveloped film because I'm a klutz, and a combination of dyslexia and a housecat's attention span that have convinced me to stick to simple thermochemical reactions like mixing Martinis and making instant soup.
I've used a succession of professional labs, most of whom have given very satisfactory results with developing and scanning to disk. My present one's supremely competent. And besides, my exposure skills are so crude that I've never heard my negatives scream for that subtle, personal Ansellian touch. Jobo does 'em just fine, for my purposes.
Printing, though... That's another story. I get do-overs, at that. So I print wet, old school.
Reasons include laziness, being too nit-picky for my own good, too impatient for reliable chemistry, an inability to find a reliably dust-free environment to hang film in (very real problem), a fear and dislike of handling undeveloped film because I'm a klutz, and a combination of dyslexia and a housecat's attention span that have convinced me to stick to simple thermochemical reactions like mixing Martinis and making instant soup.
I've used a succession of professional labs, most of whom have given very satisfactory results with developing and scanning to disk. My present one's supremely competent. And besides, my exposure skills are so crude that I've never heard my negatives scream for that subtle, personal Ansellian touch. Jobo does 'em just fine, for my purposes.
Printing, though... That's another story. I get do-overs, at that. So I print wet, old school.
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
bgb
Well-known
not at the moment but i have previously
going to start again soon ... it's the only way if i want to keep shooting film
gonna get some 100 ft HP5 and roll 'em
and a scanner too i suppose 🙁 no room for a wet darkroom
going to start again soon ... it's the only way if i want to keep shooting film
gonna get some 100 ft HP5 and roll 'em
and a scanner too i suppose 🙁 no room for a wet darkroom
robbeiflex
Well-known
I just started a few weeks ago, and there's no turning back! I have a changing bag instead of a darkroom and I'm only scanning, not printing,but I'm really enjoying it!
Similar threads
- Article
