How many of you develop your own B&W film?

blindrobert said:
Well - I have already built up a good collection of lenses that I am using with my M9. I have: 90 Elmarit chrome (latest version and 6 bit coded!), 75 APO Summicron, 50 lux (new version), 50 Summarit, 35 summicron ASPH (current), 35 summarit, and a 35 Lux FLE should be here any day now (been waiting for months!).

I know - it's a lot of lenses, I probably won't keep them all, but have the luxury of being able to afford to try lots of things out and see what I want to keep. Resale is great on all of these so I'm not too worried about losing money.
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Well ... there goes my pre-conceived image of a struggling RF newbie who has finally bought their first piece of Leica gear and now wants to develop their own film! 😛

Lots of home black and white developers here ... an absolute wealth of information and all you ever have to do is ask. 🙂
 
Do ot yourself. However , to those people who say developing film is fun, you haven[y been shooting long enough. Developing film is the only part of the process i consider work. 😱ve shooting, love printin. Developing is a PITA. Having said that I would NEVER let someone else develop my film
 
I do my own BW and I owe my meager abilities to this forum. Thanks RFF. blindrobert you should go for it.

Let me suggest that home developed Tri-X (aka Arista Premium 400), then taking the uncut rolls to Sams club for scanning = the cheapest, most satisfying, hybrid film to digital workflow on earth.
 
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Been doing my own B&W 35mm, 120, and 127 since I learned back in college in 1976. Not printing anymore as I don't have a darkroom and sold the enlarger, but I scan all my negs with a Nikon Coolscan.

Something "pure feeling" about B&W and processing it yourself. Sorta like hanging onto the history of photography, even though we operate in the digital world.

My 2¢.

Best,
-Tim
 
I started doing my own developing and printing in 1995. I develop all my b&w and some of my E6 and C41 color. I send out the color film for processing if I only have a few rolls. I enlarge and contact print B&W on gelatin silver paper, and I do platinum and palladium prints in a pizza oven style UV cooker I made myself. Every now and then I'll do RA4 prints. I've got an Ilfochrome P3 kit in my fridge that I hope to try soon. I've never printed Ilfochrome before.

I just hung a new door with a light tight louver for my darkroom today.
 
I've been developing my own B&W for a little while now. I love it! Such an intimate process and the results are so rewarding! Recently bought my first leica and a bulk loader which I'm stocking with arista premium 400! Can't wait
 
I did all my own processing when I started photography 40 years ago. I stopped around 1980 when I did a degree course and restarted with film two years ago. At the moment I use both digital and film, but develop and scan all my B & W film. Its the scanning I have most trouble with, but slowly getting the hang of it.
 
I started taking B&W in 1959 when I was 7, and have developed my own since about 1963. While I had the luxury of school or work darkrooms, i did all my own wet printing too. These days I scan but hope to build a darkroom in my attic (I have 3 enlargers just waiting to be used).

As others have noted, it is so much cheaper and quicker than using a lab, and you get to have total control over the process. I don't experiment much with developers, but there are so many possibilities to explore to find your "killer" combination of emulsion and chemistry. Given the cost of ready mixed chemistry at the moment, I might even look at the economics of buying the base ingredients.
 
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I've been developing and scanning for about a year and a half now, and doing well but still improving constantly. I average about a roll a week. I hope to try printing ASAP, the next time a friend has time for me to join him in his darkroom. I say go for it!
 
Keith said:
Well ... there goes my pre-conceived image of a struggling RF newbie who has finally bought their first piece of Leica gear and now wants to develop their own film! 😛
Click to expand...

Don't worry, once we hook... erm, I mean connect him with darkroom printing, he'll be a big help to keep Freestyle afloat with orders 🙂

Just kidding!
Welcome to the development!
 
do your own development, you will never regret it.

Freestyle Photo has some good development charts and here is another: http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php. these are great places to get a baseline for common developers.

B&W vs color, B&W has more options. change, the developer, the time, strength, etc. will change the output, semi-stand, stand or constant agitation will also change the output. Some developers have cult status, pick any of the pyro versions. I like pyrocat quite a bit, http://www.pyrocat-hd.com/ and over on apug you will find all kinds of options times, etc. DONT ask about scanning on apug...there is a specific sub-forum for that.

I develop large format (11x14) down to 35mm both color (c41 & E6) and B&W. when doing contact prints w/ LF, b&w development times can be adjusted to deal w/ density/contrast for printing to contact papers...just be careful if you follow a 'recipe' for b&w it could be set for contact printing (chloride, platinum, palladium, cyanotype, etc.) which makes it very difficult to wet print via an enlarger.

Do it yourself. its fun, easy, much much cleaner negatives and cheaper.

Steve Anchell's Darkroom cookbook is a great book and steve has a forum where he will answer questions posted. Ansel Adams the negative is also very good. There are a bunch of other good books all depends on time, money and what is desired.

have fun!

./e
 
B&W I do at home, C41 and E6 the shop in town sends off for me.

All scanning done at home, including 6x6, 6x7 and 6x9 negatives. See the used scanners in my signature. Minolta software and VueScan Pro, combined with vintage PhotoShop and LightRoom.
 
The thing about scanning is that you can muck about with the curves in Photoshop (or whatever you use) and get a bigger tonal range than you could ever manage on photographic paper. Anyway, I lost interest in paper when Agfa Record-Rapid was discontinued :-(
 
I do my own Tri-x but only because that way I can then scan it or process prints in my darkroom. Labs I send to do overdevelop.
 
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