processing @ home with no darkroom

[irq506]

Chris101's pictoral explanation is perfect!

Ive been running a dev-room for the last five years in a place with no running water. Its totally fine. I use two Jobo Systems one for B+W and just recently have started E6 processing. My enlarging days ended with a trip to hospital and a doctor telling me that I had blood poisoning from extended exposure of noxious photographic chemicals. I now have a scanner. Five hundred quid buys you a crackin' scanner and the results are good enough for most.

 

[Roger Hicks]

If you go to http://www.rogerandfrances.com/photoschool/ps howdoi.html you'll find information on choosing tanks; loading film into tanks; processing film; and even converting the smallest room to a darkroom.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[Solinar]

Here are some old photos of my kit from 2 years ago. I notice that my two thermometers aren't in the photo. I no longer use acid stop and that ice chest used to temper the chemical solutions has been replaced by a more robust one from a sporting goods store.

Looking at the photo - I can tell that I was about to develop two rolls of 120 in Rodinal and there is a pre-wash bottle. For beginners - I recommend a two part compensating developer - such Diafine. This allows you to use a water rinse instead of acid stop and loose the prewash bottle.

A nice side benefit of Diafine is that it is reusable. The water rinse instead of an acid stop bath means one less smelly chemical. Diafine can be used at 75 degrees Fahrenheit / 24 degrees C - which makes it a nice summer developer. Negs developed in Diafine scan pretty well, too.

 

[smileyguy]

HOLY COW!!! Thank you all! I wasn't expecting this kind of response in such a short period of time.

I haven't had time to read all the responses in detail but it looks like a lot of valuable information. I'll read it all over later and I will likely have some further questions that come out of that.

Thank you again to everybody.

 

[Broke]

Great home developing info guys -- very helpful.
I'm from the London area originally -- used Stan C Reade's for film processing before. They're great there, very helpful, results were good (last used them a couple years ago). They're on Richmond St. downtown. There's also Forest City Imaging which is downtown also (incidentally they sell digital gear fairly cheaply at cameracanada.com). No affiliation with either.

 

[Muggins]

Here in the states we have to resort to dumping Budweiser down the drain to get 40oz. bottles...

It could be worse, you could have to drink it...

On a slightly more serious note, I may just bookmark this thread and hide it somewhere my girlfriend can't see it - it has serious potential to lead me astray! I haven't D&P-ed since the electron microscopes where I used to work went digital, and I miss that moment when you bring the film out and feel like Fox-Talbot as you see the image.

Adrian

 

[vieri]

lots of good info. I recently setup a similar developing system and found someone who went digital and got some used stuff cheap and new chemicals and it's worked out well.

I've been dumping fixer after every use, but re-using sounds like a good idea.

...

Definitely don't dump your fixer after every use, is an unnecessary waste and is not very environment friendly either. A liter of fixer is good for about 20 rolls or more, test the fixer by dumping in it a piece of the leader of your film and see if it clears: if it does, the clearing time is your minimum fixing time (usually add a couple of minutes or three to be safe). If it doesn't, the fixer is spent and you need to mix another batch.

 

[ampguy]

Thanks - I'll re-use

Thanks - I'll re-use

I have been mixing the stock 1:1 though.

Definitely don't dump your fixer after every use, is an unnecessary waste and is not very environment friendly either. A liter of fixer is good for about 20 rolls or more, test the fixer by dumping in it a piece of the leader of your film and see if it clears: if it does, the clearing time is your minimum fixing time (usually add a couple of minutes or three to be safe). If it doesn't, the fixer is spent and you need to mix another batch.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Definitely don't dump your fixer after every use, is an unnecessary waste and is not very environment friendly either.

Seconded. But when it is spent, it's not actually environmentally irresponsible to dump it down the drain -- or dilute it 100:1 and water the garden with it (see how well the grass grows).

Cheers,

R.

 

[robbert]

You don't even need a changing bag per se, I get in my toilet room, put a towel beneath the door and close it, close all the other doors. Excellent results

 

[vieri]

I have been mixing the stock 1:1 though.

Indeed, mix the stock to a working solution (whatever ratio your fixer is), and keep & use it as per my prior instruction 😀