New to developing questions

[Ross D]

In the next week, I should have a daylight 35mm bulk film loader, reload able film canisters, a roll of HP5+ 400 film, developing tanks, and chemicals arriving to my home. I'm reading a lot, and trying to learn all I can.

My first two rolls I process, should I just load up short 12 exposure rolls? I see where people say about testing your system and getting your developing dialed in. When photographers do this, do they load up short rolls to test and shoot and develop?

Thanks for all the help. I about asked for what recommended developer to use, but that is like asking what's the best film, so I just researched and made a solid guess as to what I see seems to be a popular developing chemical and went for it.

Ross,

 

[De_Corday]

You don't have to do that but I would. Do you have a film changing bag (or a "dark bag" as I like to call it) for loading the film into the bulk loader and the dev tanks?
The only reason to go with short little rolls is because there are tiny little errors that can be made and it'd be best not to wreck 36 exposures when you could instead have wrecked 12. Honestly though the best thing to do is just to throw yourself right into it. Make peace with the fact that your first few rolls will be over or under cooked, over or under fixed, and probably covered in water spots. But soon you'll develop a rhythm and find some combination of every variable that works for you. Sounds like you are already approaching it this way, but for now stick to one film and one developer. Eventually you'll branch out, but for now stick to as few variables as possible.
In terms of developer... my first developer was Ilfosol-3. Liquid, one-shot, and that made it a lot easier to work with. It goes bad in a few months though.
Now I use rodinal on my 125 ISO films, D76 on Tri-X and HP5, and DDX to push. But there are no right answers. I would suggest starting with a liquid one-shot, but others may disagree.

 

[Ross D]

No dark bag. But my plan is to close off, my bedroom as dark as possible, then go into the closet with door shut and block off any light I can see with blanket or towels and what not.

Just to share I ended up ordering Ilford ID-11 developer. Seemed like a bunch of people use it, and it wasn't expensive.

 

[mcfingon]

I suggest making exposure notes of the photos as you shoot them, and the film development time, temperature and agitation as you process it, so you can repeat what works and learn from what doesn't. I have standardized on 12 shot rolls from my bulk loader so I get feedback quicker. Liquid chemicals last much longer in the fridge - who needs space for food?

 

[lynnb]

Find a copy of Beyond Basic Photography by Henry Horenstein (second hand is fine) for a very useful few chapters on development and printing - and/or go through the well written and very helpful detail in Roger and Frances's site http://rogerandfrances.eu

Have fun, remember everyone stuffs up development from time to time 🙂

 

[mcfingon]

ID-11 is my favourite. And be careful you don't asphyxiate yourself in the closet. Make sure you get some air in there somehow.

 

[sevo]

Get that dark bag! The speed rating means that 1/400 second of daylight through a hole smaller than a key hole will expose your film - over the course of a few seconds (to start with, sometimes even minutes) of loading even a microscopic crack will fog it. Unless you happen to live way out in the backwoods with no street lighting in visible range and limit your activities to new moon nights, you will fail at temporarily sealing a room to darkroom levels without employing expensive professional darkroom door curtains, roller blinds etc. And random fogging will permanently leave you puzzling why your processing seems to be inconsistent.

Start out with the basic standard developer (ID-11/D-76), box speed and standard development times, temperatures and procedures as per spec sheet.

 

[mpaniagua]

Get that dark bag! The speed rating means that 1/400 second of daylight through a hole smaller than a key hole will expose your film - over the course of a few seconds (to start with, sometimes even minutes) of loading even a microscopic crack will fog it. Unless you happen to live way out in the backwoods with no street lighting in visible range and limit your activities to new moon nights, you will fail at temporarily sealing a room to darkroom levels without employing expensive professional darkroom door curtains, roller blinds etc. And random fogging will permanently leave you puzzling why your processing seems to be inconsistent.

Start out with the basic standard developer (ID-11/D-76), box speed and standard development times, temperatures and procedures as per spec sheet.

Strongly agree with the dark bag. My usual routine is putting an empty cartridge on the bulk charger and put both of them on the black back. Then I load with the bulk load in the bag. There is a ticking sound on my charger so I know how many frames Im loading on the roll. That way, the last frames are not veiled and I dont lost the last frame.

Just sharing what I do. I tried doing on a closed room but I got constant fogging that could be discouraging.


This like give you some starting point for the developing times. I usually adjust the time when testing new film. Takes one or two rolls to get it righ 🙂


http://www.digitaltruth.com/chart/print.php


Regards.

 

[Ross D]

Thank you all for the quality advice and tips. I appreciate all of it. I'll keep the community posted as this carries on.

I'll keep an eye out for a dark bag. Sounds like it would even be a good idea to use the dark bag in a dark area, can't be too safe.

All the stories of others trials will hopefully help my own first, be more likely to be successful.

 

[Ross D]

Find a copy of Beyond Basic Photography by Henry Horenstein (second hand is fine) for a very useful few chapters on development and printing - and/or go through the well written and very helpful detail in Roger and Frances's site http://rogerandfrances.eu

Have fun, remember everyone stuffs up development from time to time 🙂

Just ordered a used copy of the book from the Internet for 4$ total including shipping.

Thanks

 

[mpaniagua]

Just ordered a used copy of the book from the Internet for 4$ total including shipping.

Thanks

Nice 🙂 sounds you are very motivated . Wish you luck and have fun.

 

[De_Corday]

I'll keep an eye out for a dark bag. Sounds like it would even be a good idea to use the dark bag in a dark area, can't be too safe.

Dark bags are double ply and double zippered so you are fine in the daylight. Just remember to take off any watches with lumed hands...

Oh and get one size bigger than you think you need.

 

[Bill Clark]

My thoughts to help:

There are a lot of variables with film and developers.

Break them apart.

Concentrate on one film type, one developer. Get it down to your satisfication.

I have been doing this for around 60 years and I'm still learning. And having fun!

12 exposure rolls seems like a good idea.

I don't use a changing bag. I use a bathroom, in the shower, towel under the door, pull the shower curtain before loading exposed film into developing tank. Sitting on the floor of the shower and, at my age, I think I could take a nap in the shower!

 

[mpaniagua]

The 12 exposure roll seems a sound idea to get you a ballpark development routine.

Like Bill said, there are many variables so try to get things to your satisfaction (temperature, dilution ratio, time, etc.). Remember that the times you get by the manufacturer and on internet are just starting points. Get them to your liking and have fun 🙂

 

[flavio81]

In the next week, I should have a daylight 35mm bulk film loader, reload able film canisters, a roll of HP5+ 400 film, developing tanks, and chemicals arriving to my home. I'm reading a lot, and trying to learn all I can.

My first two rolls I process, should I just load up short 12 exposure rolls? I see where people say about testing your system and getting your developing dialed in. When photographers do this, do they load up short rolls to test and shoot and develop?

Thanks for all the help. I about asked for what recommended developer to use, but that is like asking what's the best film, so I just researched and made a solid guess as to what I see seems to be a popular developing chemical and went for it.

Ross,

My two cents of advice:

- All film made nowadays is very good film so pick one and stick to it until you get beautiful results out of it. For example FP4.

- As a developer D76 (or ID11) can do everything you need so master it before trying another developer.

- There are three main qualities when developing film: Shadow detail (aka "speed"), sharpness, and grain fineness. Practically all developers will optimize two in detriment of the other (except for Xtol). So D76 is like a "good compromise" of these three factors.

- The key is CONSISTENCY, choose a film, developer, temperature, a dilution, and an agitation criteria and stick to them; then, adjust your development time to get the results you want.

- It's all, or mostly, about CONTRAST. You develop your negatives until, when properly exposed, they reach a contrast that gives nice prints (or nice scans). So you need to find out the development time that gives you such contrast. Manufacturers' development time charts are a good starting point but sometimes you'll need to adjust.

- Once you can get the appropiate contrast with your chosen developer/dilution/film/agitation/temperature combination, then you might like to try a different film, or a different developer, etc. To get for example finer grain, higher sharpness, etc.

- Cleaniness is very important.

- The final wash/rinse step is very important if you want your negs to last several decades.

 

[De_Corday]

^^ Yes. And Cleanliness and rinse/wash can be the hardest to master, IMHO. Maybe I'm just too impulsive.

 

[Blaidd_Drwgg]

Liquid chemicals last much longer in the fridge

I remember reading that that is a bad idea.
The logic was that as the temperature drops, solubility of solids in liquids decreases and the active ingredients precipitate (I hope that is the right word).

Here in german: http://forum.fotoimpex.de/index.php?showtopic=1897

 

[mpaniagua]

I remember reading that that is a bad idea.
The logic was that as the temperature drops, solubility of solids in liquids decreases and the active ingredients precipitate (I hope that is the right word).

Here in german: http://forum.fotoimpex.de/index.php?showtopic=1897

Also, Im not sure its a good idea to store dangerous chemicals alongside food stuff . Unless you use caffenol of course 🙂

 

[Roger Hicks]

From http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/choosing bw films.html

We do not, however, endorse the view that you should pick one film and use nothing but that for three months or six months or a year or the first 100 rolls or whatever. By all means, if you want, buy a couple of rolls of Delta 100, a couple of rolls of Fuji Acros, a couple of rolls of Kodak T-Max 100 and a couple of rolls of Foma 100, and try them all. Or Ilford Delta 400, Kodak T-Max 400 TMY, Fuji Neopan 400. You may find one you love, and a couple you hate. THEN is the time to stick with the same film for a while, at least 10 rolls and maybe 20. Maybe even forever, or at least for years. If you've bought 'own brand', now is the time to buy 50 rolls, or a couple of 30-metre rolls for bulk loading.

In other words, the "choose one film" advice is worthless until you've had the occasional success. There's as much alchemy as chemistry in which film works for you, and even first-class films such as Ilford FP4 may not give you results you like as much as the results you can get from something else: HP5 maybe. Or vice versa: you may prefer FP4 to Tri-X.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Bill Clark]

Roger has a good idea.

However, my previous post worked for me. Back when I started, the 1950's, I considered it fortunate to be able to work up enough cash to buy one roll at a time, using one developer, D-76. Then I thought I really moved up in the world as Kodak sold bulk film in a 50 foot reel in a can. I had to either mow quite a few yards or shovel out, during the winter, a bunch of driveways to buy one bulk roll! The high school I attended had an extra bulk film loader and a teacher gave it to me! I still use it!

But those were the good old days for me!