Is anyone interested in developing my BW negs ? I will pay of course.

[haagen_dazs]

Hi everyone.
I am quite new to BW photography and am learning alot about it.
I do like C41 processed negs because it is easier and more convenient to process them at the labs.

I find it very odd. Although it is easy to DIY and process BW film at home, the pro labs still charge alot more to develop BW than colour. I find that strange.
Are there any reasons why so?😕


Recently, I tried using Neopan 400 push to 1600 recently.
I also found out that it cost alot (~12USD plus) to develop one roll that is pushed 2stops. 3 rolls will set me back by 36dollars.😱
At that cost, I might as well buy my own chemicals and equipment right?😕

However I am not sure if I will like using BW much. I do feel like buying the necessary equipment and be stuck with it
Thus I just dont feel like diving into it as yet.😱

Basically who those who develop alot of such negatives, I was wondering if you are interesting in developing my negatives. I will pay😀 but hopefully no one will milk me dry... I just want to evaluate if real BW negs will appeal to me.🙄

I can only trust my negatives to members who have are very active and have a great reputation. Only then will I send the rolls to you.

Please let me know 🙂

ps. everyone here has been so helpful. Its a great place to learn alot.

Mark

 

[sweathog]

One of the main reasons for the increased price is that C41 can go through minilabs, and it is more popular.

 

[Chris101]

From putting the cassette into the changing bag to cutting the negs into protector sheets takes from an hour to an hour and a half, and it's intensive work in between.

Twelve dollars seems like a good price to pay.

 

[murrayatuptown]

Look for a local arts council or similar - you'll eventually find someone local who trusts themself with their own film so you should be able to trust them. Their work probably won't be any worse than yours initially, unless you find you quickly develop a knack for it.

I have 120 b/w done locally at a pro lab for about $4. I have it processed only (no prints) and scan it myself which can be time consuming.

I haven't asked them to push process but I don't think it's triple the price.

In deciding whehter you like b/w or not, I guess something to think about is hoe many f-stops of light range the various filmscan work with...chrome/slide being the most unforgiving, color print being not as bad, and b/w being the most tolerant. With b/w you don't have lighting issues with color shift etc.

 

[matt fury]

From putting the cassette into the changing bag to cutting the negs into protector sheets takes from an hour to an hour and a half, and it's intensive work in between.

Twelve dollars seems like a good price to pay.

Even when I was developing all by hand in school, I would hardly have called it "intensive effort." Getting it on the reel kinda sucked, but the next biggest hassle is cutting and sleeving, which you can do yourself after you get your film back. I pay $5/roll for b&w developing, pushed or not, and I feel that's about right.

 

[Bryce]

$5-$12 sounds reasonable to me for negs for a business to do it.
The reasons are as follows- each film/ developer/ speed/ enlarger combination requires tinkering to do a good job. This is quite unlike c-41 or even e-6 processing where there is an industry standard method, and automated to boot.
Then there is labor. Even if your lab has a proven method of developing the film you chose, at the speed you exposed it, in a developer you like, each roll or series of rolls you bring in represent an hour of someone's time. And then there's the chemistry- how likely is it they'll get more than one use out of it before it goes south?

 

[alexz]

I don't really understand all that fuss about B&W lab processing - even though this sounds to be quite labor-intensive work that naturaly can't be cheap by itself, I just wonder what forces people shooting a real B&W to pay such prices while home processing (at least for 135 format) is so easy, straight forward and uncomparably cheaper then the lab at our days...
Lets do some hoem processing costs math:
1. Delevoper: European half liter bottle of HC-110 - dilution B (1:9) makes 24ml for 240ml Jobo tank processing 2 35mm films at single session (unless these are different films requiring different processing). 0.5 liter covers 20 sessions (10-20 rolls of 35mm film). The bottle costs (at least in my part of teh world) around 9 US$, so that developer is 9 US$ per 10-20 rolls or 0.45 - 0.9 $ per roll.
2. Fixer: 1 liter bottle of Tetenal Superfix Plus - costs approx. 13$. Dilluted 1:3 - makes 16 sessions, but it is re-usable and I figure single solution is enough for 3-5 sessions (3/6 - 5/10 35mm rolls). So that at maximum cost makes approx. 0.25$ per roll (actually even less).
3. Initial (one-time) investments: Jobo 1520 tank ~ 30$, few measuring glasses + lab termometer + timer ~ 40-50$, in total makes 70-90$. But those are one-time investment - can be written off for long-term B&W "relationship"...

So that we got maximum: 0.9 + 0.25 = 1.15 $, in reality is is even less (since with litle expertise I figure processing 2 rolls at single session is reasonable and econimical), something like 0.5-0.6$ per B&W 35mm roll. Additional asset is your ability to fully control the process, push/pull, infinite number of development recipes, etc...all at solely your disposal.
OK, there are some water to waste during processing you about a hour - up to 2 hours of your time (but I prefer this kind of time spending as opposite to sitting watching TV)
On the other scale is 5-7 (or even more) US$ per roll to pay the lab, wasting your valuable time diving to the lab (not to mantion in rush hours), controlling nothing of the processing (except probaly of asking to pull/push if necessary - but at the cost...)...

For me - no brainer....

 

[angeloks]

I dealed with a pro photolab in Paris, it's about 5usd to get developped a B&W film. 7usd if it has been pushed. On the other side, you could try some XP2, C41 processed B&W...

 

[rxmd]

To be honest it is no problem either to process B&W automatically, then it's much less labour intensive. You can even do that at home. I used an automatic Mafina processor for a while that was controlled by a laptop and could process four strips of 120 or three of 135 at a time. The process was completely customisable regarding order of processing, bath times, temperature, rinsing etc. and completely automatic, all I needed was (cold) running water. Total running time was about half an hour. I paid nothing for the processor except collecting it from the cellar where it stood. That was quite comfortable!

Given the absurd price drops of processing gear, you could set up that sort of thing at home with an older ATL, a Filmetta or an older Mafina model for sub-$200. At $12 per film development, it pays off after about 20 films, and it also allows you to do C-41 and E-6 at home. I know this is not the true school of B&W film development, but I'm a lazy person.

 

[haagen_dazs]

$5-$12 sounds reasonable to me for negs for a business to do it.
The reasons are as follows- each film/ developer/ speed/ enlarger combination requires tinkering to do a good job. This is quite unlike c-41 or even e-6 processing where there is an industry standard method, and automated to boot.

why is it that c41 and e6 requires no tinkering while bw needs that?
i am sure there is a standard for bw too right?

i am just asking anyone in the forum who might be interested in developing my negs for a lower price than what i want to pay at the stores.

if anyone is interested to help, sure you can pm me 😱 😱

 

[BJ Bignell]

The reason that C41 and E6 don't need tinkering is because there is only one developer (and therefore only one process) for each, and that process always works the same. With traditional b&w, there are lots of developers, and therefore lots of processes.

I'd be interested in helping you out, if you don't have a problem with cross-border mailing. Send me a PM, and I can give you an idea of what I'm thinking.

Cheers,
BJ

 

[raid]

I pay someone at PN exactly the same rate as I would pay locally a lab. Then I pay for shipping both ways. The results are far better than what I used to get at the only lab in Penscaola offering B&W developing.

Raid

 

[rxmd]

The reasons are as follows- each film/ developer/ speed/ enlarger combination requires tinkering to do a good job.

That's true. But since a lab is not going to "tinker" with a customer's film, all they are going to do is to put it through a standard set of baths, using development times from the manufacturer's spec sheets or from sites like the Massive Dev Chart. Unless you have a lab that handles a large amount of B&W materials, nobody there will start "tinkering" for better results; instead they will compromise for suboptimal results and more standardised processes. If you give your lab a roll of Fomapan, they're not going to start experimenting with lots of rolls of Fomapan of their own, trying to optimise the development for grain and contrast and the enlarger you're using. Instead, they will put it through D76 and that's it. If you want that sort of thing, you have to do it yourself.

Prices are higher not because of tinkering, but because B&W is a rather labour-intensive hand process for most labs, while C-41 can be processed automatically on every minilab. Amateur and semiprofessional machines for B&W are cheap on the used market, but that's not an option for a commercial lab. I have a B&W lab in Berlin that offers B&W development on a hanger machine, and there is no tinkering going on - they say what developer they're using, and if you want custom processing times for your film you can tell them, otherwise they use a standard set of times from a database. No tinkering taking place.

Philipp

 

[dpbell]

Hi Philipp,

PMed you about the Berlin lab.

Cheers,

David.

 

[rxmd]

David,

sent you the coordinates. 🙂

Philipp

 

[audible]

mark, the equipment cost for developing isn't really that high.

to start, you need a changing bag, a developing tank, a thermometer, a few beakers and bottles. plus developer, fixer. (there's also stop bath, hca and wetting agent, but it's quite possible to do without these)

even if you buy new instead of used, they aren't really that expensive. and buy the time you develop a few rolls, you'll have recouped your $12 per roll costs.

plus you won't have to wait to see your results.