Prepping to Develop my first roll of B/W film...

M

Morca007

Matt
Local time
1:25 PM
Joined
Mar 13, 2007
Messages
889
Location
Oregon
View My Gallery
So, I've had the equipment for a few months now, but I've been quite nervous about actually developing my own film. Well, I finally decided it's time to do it.
I figured I would run the plan I plan to follow by you guys first to see if I'm missing, or misunderstanding something.
Equipment:
-1 small changing bag (Did a few dry runs in it, cramped, but it works)
-Scissors
-Film
-Bottle opener (To open film)
-Developing tank (AP Compact daylight tank)
- Adorama B/W developer
-Adorama Fixer
-One 35mm roll HP5+ 400

I'll be following the Ilford film hobbyist instructions, with slight modifications.
Questions I have:
-When mixing up the developer, should I trust the label? The instructions say 1 part Dev, 19 parts water, and it has a table showing HP5+ time to be 7:50, but no ISO rating...
-When I feed the film into the reel, is it horrible to take all the film out of the canister and let it sit in the bag while I reel, since I cannot get the leader through the slot?
-When washing the film, is it necessary to leave it in the reel and, er, somehow get a hose in there? The directions are somewhat confusing.

Thanks
 
Morca007,
First off, well done on taking the plunge! You will not regret it.

The first caveat I would offer is that whatever you do, be consistent and record your actions and results. In other words, keep your variables (time, temperature, dilution, agitation) under control.

Second, I would suggest that you follow the instructions on the bottle of developer, at least it is a jumping off point.
Although the developer doesn't state an ISO rating, IIRC, box speed is used. Unless you've radically under or over exposed, go with the 7:50 time on the box at 1+19, and go with 20C for a temperature.
Personally, I don't like to unroll the whole spool, I like to keep it under control in my left hand; but really, whatever floats your boat. If you haven't already done it though, I would strongly suggest you practice spooling a reel in the light a few times just to get the hang of it.
For the wash, I would suggest the Ilford wash method, followed by Ilfotol or some other wetting agent. You can find the exact method on the Ilford site, but I use the 5,10,15,20,15,10,5 method with clean water.
Lastly, I would suggest using a stop bath, but not everyone does. I like it because it's cheap and effective and takes yet another variable out of the mix.

Hope that this helps,
Kent
 
I agree with Kent's advice in doing a dry-run (practice roll) first, second and third. Don't start anything until you can get the film in the spool without looking at it. Then I agree with the stop bath. It's basically a vinegary bath... but since I don't know the proportions of vinegar and water I won't say a thing. Suffice it to say that you can use water to stop the developing (some 20 or 30 seconds) before pouring in the fixer.

My first roll went down perfectly. Not one problem, no incidents, nothing. Overconfident, my second roll was a massacre. I bruised the film, then I underfixed it... a disaster. I learn not to assume, and even wrote the order and directions of how to use the chemicals in the labels I made for each bottle. For instance, my fixer bottle says I should fix for as long as I develop... and a bit more. My stop bath says "swish in tank for 20-30 seconds" and the same applies to the HC bath.

But nothing teaches you better than experience. Go ahead and enjoy the ride! 🙂
 
Whew, that was exciting.

A few minor accidents (mostly to do with timing, and finding that my thermometer couldn't read properly), but now I'm done, and the negs look great!

One big problem, however: I just remembered that I'm out of sleeves, and my next order of them isn't coming until August First!
If I take some old, non-important ones out of their sleeves, where could I temporarily store them safely?

EDIT: Looking at these scans, it seems I may have overdeveloped somewhat, probably a temperature problem.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom