Success!

I processed my first film in at least 25 years tonight. 4 rolls - one 120 and three 135-36 rolls of Ilford FP4 Plus. One of the 35s was done

in a small tank, the rest all in one tank.

 

Everything looks great so far. All the reels loaded right, there was enough of the chemicals in the tanks, and the negatives all look good,

pending closer examination & scanning. The negatives seem to have a good density, so I'm hopeful they came out well.

 

Later this weekend, perhaps I'll do up a couple rolls of 400TX...

 

Thanks all for the suggestions and encouragement!

<p>GOOD. I am waiting until I have something to shoot.<br>

and we are a feww weeks away from getting the hc-110.<br>

I have some Rodinal and "doughtful " microdol-x<br>

it's old but seems clear. also a pouch of d-76..</p>

 

<p>Walter if your Microdol-X is old mixed stock solution (powder mixed into water), it could have gone bad on you. Check the specs, some chemicals will oxidize once mixed with water and only last x number of days.</p>

<p>Congratulations, Larry.</p>

<p>Which developer did you use?</p>

<p>Congratulations! That's a good story. You are a very confident man to process that many rolls in one tank after a 25 year layoff. I wish I had had those sort of results initially, but you may wish to hold the celebrations. Next time could be the time you try to fix the negs w/ Photo-Flo, something I have a lot of experience with. Strangely, it doesn't work. Every time I think I have it going pretty well I do something "creative", which in developing is not necessarily a good thing.</p>

<p>Old Buddhist Saying: Remember, when you get a good thing, you also get a bad thing. Another of my favorites is from an ancient art book I used to have. It said, roughly, that "Failure is simply success on a level that we don't yet understand". I have NO idea what that means, but I like it.</p>

I used all Ilford chemistry, with Ilfosol 3 as the developer. I used the 1+14 dilution, which meant a 7:30 development time.

Maintaining the temp wasn't too hard, but I may pick up a submersible aquarium heater. I've got a spare submersible

pump, too, so that might make the temp part all he easier.

<blockquote>

<p>You are a very confident man to process that many rolls in one tank after a 25 year layoff.</p>

</blockquote>

<p> <br>

Meh. To be fair, I did the single 35mm first. At least I knew when I hung it to dry I got something! The content wasn't all that important, either. Nothing I couldn't re-create at a later date, if necessary. All the film was within the expiration date, although most of it was exposed two and a half years ago, and kept in the fridge since. And all the chemistry was fresh. <br>

<br>

The biggest variables were: temperature, timing, and my ability to fill & drain the big tank. I only have one "Quick Fill" Nikor tank, and it isn't the big one, and the QF lid will not fit properly on the other tank! (I guess I need to look for some more tanks...)</p>

<p>A few lessons learned:</p>

<ul>

<li>I need better temperature control. I plan to look for a small, submersible aquarium heater.</li>

<li>I need a better set of graduates to measure things. Definitely at least one graduated to or can accurately be interpolated to single CCs, especially for 1+14 development.</li>

<li>I need to set up a drying location. I forgot how long 135-36 rolls are! </li>

</ul>

<p>Other than that, I'm just looking forward to doing this a couple times a month. I've got a Mamiya M645 coming, so I know I'll have a bunch more to do!</p>

<blockquote>

<p>GOOD. I am waiting until I have something to shoot.<br />and we are a feww weeks away from getting the hc-110.</p>

</blockquote>

<p> <br>

Unless you must have the HC-110, I'd suggest the Ilfosol-3. It pours really easily, and seems to work well. Although, I don't think it has a shelf life on a geological time scale like HC-110 is supposed to have!</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I need a better set of graduates to measure things. Definitely at least one graduated to or can accurately be interpolated to single CCs, especially for 1+14 development.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>A lot of people use a plastic medical syringe for measuring out small quantities of developer.</p>

<p>When I started, I just used plastic kitchen measuring cups from the department store. They were a LOT cheaper than photo graduates.</p>

<p>B&W is not as sensitive to temp changes as you might think it is. You don't need a water bath. I just used the temp of the water out of the tap, or the developer out of the jug. If you do use a water bath, a tub of water mixed H+C at the right temp should be fine. It probably won't cool off fast enough to make a difference.<br>

<br />About using the BIG tanks. Use a SLOW developer, one that requires about 10+ minutes of developing time. That way the fill in and pour out times are a smaller portion of the full developing time.</p>

<p>This is the best time to look for stainless steel tanks, there are a LOT of them floating around, and at very good (cheap) prices. Well except for the rare ones like the Nikor 4x5 tank.</p>

<p>For the small syringes, check some of the online pet shops. I use them for mixing meds for my birds. 1, 5, & 10cc and a few larger ones, that I have not used yet. Try this link:<br>

https://www.birdsupplynh.com/catalog/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=syring&osCsid=86af686633292f4369bf0a38a8e1818c&x=0&y=0</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>When I started, I just used plastic kitchen measuring cups from the department store. They were a LOT cheaper than photo graduates.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Agreed, but I'm needing to fairly precisely dole out mls of stock solutions. I'm doing one-shot development, so, if I were to "round up" to a convenient kitchen measure (like a portion of a cup or tablespoon), it's a little wasteful. I've already got some graduates, two cheap plastic ones (these are taperd, so interpolating between the lines isn't easy), and a tall glass Kodak 24oz graduate (maybe an antique?).</p>

<blockquote>

<p>B&W is not as sensitive to temp changes as you might think it is. You don't need a water bath. I just used the temp of the water out of the tap, or the developer out of the jug. If you do use a water bath, a tub of water mixed H+C at the right temp should be fine. It probably won't cool off fast enough to make a difference.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Just getting to the right temp is a challenge! Hence my thoughts on a small aquarium heater. Drop it in, let it sit for an hour, done. I was easily seeing 2-3 deg C fluctuations, and with Ilfosol 3 at 1+14, that's a difference of 3 minutes between 20 degrees and 24...</p>

<blockquote>

<p><br /> <br />About using the BIG tanks. Use a SLOW developer, one that requires about 10+ minutes of developing time. That way the fill in and pour out times are a smaller portion of the full developing time.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Good tip. I was already leery of the under 5 minute time for Ilfosol 3 at 1+9, so I opted for 1+14.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>This is the best time to look for stainless steel tanks, there are a LOT of them floating around, and at very good (cheap) prices. Well except for the rare ones like the Nikor 4x5 tank.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I do see them a lot. The trouble now is locating the Quick Fill tanks. I've only got one Nikor in QF. I have a Simmons-Omega, but that lid won't fit on any of my Nikor tanks!</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>For the small syringes, check some of the online pet shops. I use them for mixing meds for my birds. 1, 5, & 10cc and a few larger ones, that I have not used yet.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I used to have some for my aquariums. They may still be around someplace...</p>

 

<p>If you can live with the reels then the Paterson tanks have very fast pour in/pour out. </p>