Pirate
Guitar playing Fotografer
I'm sure this has been discussed before but I'm curious as to your current techniques. Maybe you've learned something or found a trick that helps out the whole process since the last time this was discussed.
For me, I've been shooting for 30 years (since age 10) but am just now getting into the developing, so every roll I do, I learn something, and it's a great feeling.
My agitation has been as instructed by my mentor so far:
Initial development stage: agitate constantly for first minute, then four times per minute (every 15 seconds). I have just started changing this to once every minute, and things seem the same.
Stop Bath: constant agitate for 30 seconds (that's the entire length of the Stop Bath).
Fixer: about 3-4 times every minute (4 minute Fix).
Here's where I'm learning.... The Wash. I was doing almost a constant agitation for the entire 10 minute Wash. I'm now changing this to three 5-minute cycles: 5 minutes Wash, change water, 5 minutes Wash, change water, 5 minutes Wash. This came about from just finishing a roll of 220 Plux-X (maybe the last in existance?) with Notra Dame pics. After my 10 minute Wash, I put in fresh water and added the soap to deter the water from sticking on the film. Got the film good and soaked, squeegeed off, and hung to dry. When I emptied the bucket, I noticed a good bit more of the chemicals had washed off. The film was a little on the dark side (it's a very old roll so I should have developed for a few extra minutes too). So I'm going to change my Wash and see what happens. I'll bet this is where I'm not finishing things enough.
So, what ya got?
For me, I've been shooting for 30 years (since age 10) but am just now getting into the developing, so every roll I do, I learn something, and it's a great feeling.
My agitation has been as instructed by my mentor so far:
Initial development stage: agitate constantly for first minute, then four times per minute (every 15 seconds). I have just started changing this to once every minute, and things seem the same.
Stop Bath: constant agitate for 30 seconds (that's the entire length of the Stop Bath).
Fixer: about 3-4 times every minute (4 minute Fix).
Here's where I'm learning.... The Wash. I was doing almost a constant agitation for the entire 10 minute Wash. I'm now changing this to three 5-minute cycles: 5 minutes Wash, change water, 5 minutes Wash, change water, 5 minutes Wash. This came about from just finishing a roll of 220 Plux-X (maybe the last in existance?) with Notra Dame pics. After my 10 minute Wash, I put in fresh water and added the soap to deter the water from sticking on the film. Got the film good and soaked, squeegeed off, and hung to dry. When I emptied the bucket, I noticed a good bit more of the chemicals had washed off. The film was a little on the dark side (it's a very old roll so I should have developed for a few extra minutes too). So I'm going to change my Wash and see what happens. I'll bet this is where I'm not finishing things enough.
So, what ya got?
