Home developing 120 film ?

<p>As I'm actually working in 120 film, maximum 30 film a year at the moment, I was asking myself about making my own home developing to reduce my cost, also to have a better quality and to learn to do it myself.<br>

I know it's quite hard to do it because of the manipulation in total obscurity, that's what told me my girlfriend, I've never tried on 120 (maybe in 135 but I don't really remember).<br>

I've been looking for a JOBO ATL 1000 or 1500, to do it but as I don't have so much production maybe I can try to do it with a more easier equipement for beginning.<br>

Is there some specific equipement for a low production to do it more easily or reducing spend on chemistry cost? What will you recommend in wich order?</p>

<p>Your really should not jump into a jobo without learning to process from scratch.</p>

<p>Look at <a href="

for a rough idea how. Loading the film into the dev tanks can be done with a dark bag, so a dark room is not required.</p>

<p>A Patterson tank, a package of D76 or ID11, stop bath, fixer and PhotoFlo is all you need. Ilford Photo have some good instructions on their web site. http://www.ilfordphoto.com/applications/page.asp?n=31<br>

You can load the film in a dark closet at night, no need even for a dark bag to get started.</p>

 

<p>If you are talking B&W, it is really a simple process. I would add a thermometer to Bob's list. The key is consistency. Consistent temperature, and a consistent agitation process. It can be a lot of fun.....good luck.....</p>

 

<p>Nicolas,<br>

You don´t specify which type of film you intend to develop. If it is B&W, then I would start with a manual tank like the Patterson (as Bob suggested) and learn the process.</p>

<p>If you intend to do color, it is possible, but forget about reducing your costs. Your production of 30 rolls a year is nothing. You´ll probably will have to discard a lot of unused developer because of expiration (other chemicals may last longer, C-41 bleach last forever)</p>

<p>About quality in color processing: You need very precise control in temperature and development time. So unless you invest in some equipment, you will not compete with a commercial or mini lab.</p>

<p>Home dev is really only worth it for B&W work where control of development and therefore results can be tailored to your preferences. It is very enjoyable as well. You will never be as consistant with C-41 as a well run lab will be. ts not that hard and i have seen nice results but as stated the cost of chemicals for such small numbers makes it hard to justify. as for E6 - def send it to a lab.</p>

<p>Nicolas<br>

Allow me to jump in and encourage you to give home processing a try. I would suggest as other have, that you use a black changing bag, Patterson tank, and depending upon the film, an appropriate developer that will give you a 5-8 minute processing time. The stop bath (optional) and fixer are inexpensive, last quite a while and can be kept in small 1 liter containers. The Patterson tank requires about 500 ml per film. I consider the developer to be single use although it can be reused if the times are adjusted by about 10% with each use.<br>

I keep all my chemicals and equipment in a bathroom. Once the film is loaded into the tank, all the rest of the processing can be done with the lights on. It takes me about 40 minutes including the wash time to do up a roll of film and I find 120 film is easier to do than is 35 mm as the spool loading is easier (at least it is for me).<br>

I did colour many years ago but it is too much trouble for me now.<br>

Good luck!</p>

<p>I do 120 TMAX B/W self. from B&H, you can purchase 5 rolls of 120 TMAX, 20USD, Tmax-RS film developer stock solution 13 USD, premade Fixer solution 8USD, stop solution 5USD, 200Fluo 5USD.<br>

remember to wet film 1 min before change to film developer solution.<br>

you need a tank and spool for 120 film. and tap water.</p>

<p>I do 120 TMAX B/W self. from B&H, you can purchase 5 rolls of 120 TMAX, 20USD, Tmax-RS film developer stock solution 13 USD, premade Fixer solution 8USD, stop solution 5USD, 200Fluo 5USD.<br>

remember to wet film 1 min before change to film developer solution.<br>

you need a tank and spool for 120 film. and tap water.</p>

<p>I beg to disagree with some of the answers given here: Colour negative film (C-41) is not more difficult to process than B&W. In fact, it is mostly quicker if not simpler than B&W, since you can use as few as 3 part (liquids) kits with good results. And you don't need a Jobo or other machine either. In addition to what you would normally use for B&W, you only need some container to use as a hot-water bath. A styrofoam insulated chillie-bin is perfect.</p>

<p>OK, so you can't compete consistency-wise with commercial labs and depending on where you are located, there may or may not be any savings by doing DIY C-41, but at least for me the biggest reason why I do it is it's fun. And in my case also way cheaper than commercial or pro labs.</p>

<p>However, like a previous poster said; E-6 (slides) DIY is probably not a good thing. But that's a different story.</p>

<p>The OP mentioned cost savings, quality and learning, not fun. Good results aren't best results. Kits that use bleach-fix instead of separate bleach and fix are not optimal for film processing.</p>

<p>As a matter of fact, the developer temperature tolerance of C-41 is lower than E-6, so if you advise against doing E-6 at home, then even more should be against C-41 at home.</p>

<p>Some people think that consistency is not that important in color negatives, but there are a lot of issues, especially color crossovers, which are very difficult to correct later. Color negatives developed in optimal conditions require very little adjustment from roll to roll for printing, if any at all.</p>

<p>Color and B&W are easy and cheap to do at home. It's hard to find commercial services for 120 anymore and then it's expensive.</p>

<p>The worst part with commercial 120 processing is they still scan the negatives and print them digitally. And since they are only printing on 5x5 paper (typically) their scans are the bare minimum quality to get to that size.</p>

<p>All this means that you pay about 3 or 4 times the cost of a 35mm/36 roll of film and prints for only 12-16. And then what do you have? You still have to scan them yourself.</p>

<p>Did I mention the wait or the postage?</p>

<p>D-I-Y is easy and fun. You can develop the film in 30 minutes, hang them up to dry 2 hours and scan -- in one evening. Then send your scans out for printing or take them to Costco.</p>

<p>For my 6x6 I expand the "canvass" to 6x9 in Photoshop and print them at Costco on 8x12. For $1.99 I get beautiful 8x8 prints and just cut off the blank ends. For 6x4.5, slightly crop the sides and they print beautifully on 8x10.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>As a matter of fact, the developer temperature tolerance of C-41 is lower than E-6, so if you advise against doing E-6 at home, then even more should be against C-41 at home.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Again, a matter of opinions. Some kits, like Unicolor 3 part, can be used even at room temp. I have tried 30C, 35C and 39.5C (but not room temp) and find that I get the best and most consistent results at 35C. Add the fact that with those kits you only really have to keep 2 liquids and first wash at a similar temp and the whole workflow is very simple indeed. If I understand it correctly, these kits are sometimes referred to as "press kits" since they were designed especially with simplicity and speed in mind, for in-the-field processing by press photographers.</p>

<p>The other issues which may arise are important if you do your own RA4 darkroom printing, but I would suspect that most "users", myself included, use a hybrid workflow and scan the negatives (using colour correcting software functions) at which point onwards its a digital workflow all the way to the print - when done (most probably just end up on the Interwebs, speaking out of own experience here). In this case, colour deviations are less of a problem since they are easily manipulated in software.</p>

<p>Longevity of the negatives using a 3 part kit is in my opinion the biggest concern, not necessarily consistency or colour matching for the reasons given above. This is because stabiliser baths don't contain formaldehyde anymore - which is great for safety and environmental resons, but may reduce the time the negatives can be stored.</p>

<p>Forget colour for now. Learn on B&W. It doesn't matter which film, and adhere to the manufacturers processing instructions to start with. Later on, when you want something more, and have some experience, then deviate from instructions to experiment with different developers and processing methods. But not now. Just go straight down the line and follow instructions.<br>

Keep everything clean. Wipe down before to remove dust from surfaces, and especially wipe down afterwards with damp cloth to eliminate any splash droplets of chemistry. Fixer will make a mess of stainless steel kitchen sinks. And fixer finger prints if not removed, can wait as powder to to pick up on the fingers later and contaminate film surfaces = permanent damage to image.<br>

Go for it and enjoy it.</p>

<p>Look for a basic darkroom book in a used bookstore or library.</p>

<p>Let me get in here and ask some more specific questions because I too am just about ready to dev B&W only at home too.</p>

<p>Patterson tank, does it contain the stainless steel reel too? I have heard the stainless steel reels are the way to go.....can I get some confirmation and/or opinions on this?</p>

<p>I am on the road and can't look in my refrigerator, but I know I have settled on using HP5 and I believe a 100ASA film that Illford makes too......this is terrible, is Delta100 an Illford product? I think it was both of those films in my refridgerator. I need SIMPLE chemistry.....should I stick with Illford?</p>

<p>I saw the uTube video of the kid in his lab coat turning and had his 3 beakers (large ones) full of developer, stop, and fixer ready before he started......for a beginner, that is the best way? Room temp OK? Or at least room temp by thermometer and adjust time as necessary, or to warm things up what do you do, put the beaker in a pot of warm water?</p>

<p>I was reading on APUG that one individual recommended taking the time and 4 bucks and in the light to practice taking film out of the spool, removing the paper back and see how easy or not easy it is to load the film in the spool. Do I really have to trim the end of the film to get it to get into the reel?</p>

<p>Thank you everyone that has participated, this is really good info for zeroing in on my exact needs to start this thing.</p>

<p>Bob E. </p>

<p>Patterson tanks have the adjustable plastic reels. I can't work the stainless ones myself and I like the plastic ones. I usually trim the leading corners off about 1/8" at 45* just to keep the film from catching an edge during loading. It might not be necessary but it works for me.</p>

<p>I'm one of those "go for it" people. C-41, B&W even E-6. It's easy. (and FUN)</p>

 

<p>Bob:</p>

<p>Find the Book "Into your Darkroom Step by Step." It will guide you through the process, just as the title suggests, step by step. You do not need to use Ilford chemicals with Ilford films. You just need a developer, stop and fix. For example, I use Kodak D-76, Kodak indicator Stop bath and Ilford Fix. Ilford ID-11 and D-76 are the same thing chemically, they are just packaged a little differently. </p>

<p>Bob: Don't buy into the myth that stainless is the only way to go. Patterson reels are easy to use, especially for a beginner. As mentioned above, they are adjustable so you can use them for 35mm as well. You can only use the reels when completely dry - a disadvantage if you want to develop many film after each other.<br>

I am happy with the tank that takes 2x 120 reels. I have 4 reels for when I need to develop more than one batch. Same tank allows for 3x reels adjusted to 35mm. (it is also possible to develop just one roll in the tank if needed).</p>

<p>For what it's worth, I find it easier to load 120 film in a Paterson reel than 35mm film. Practice with a junk roll of film. The way to learn is the Nike way: just do it.</p>

<p>A good trick that someone here has mentioned is to keep a big empty coffee can handy when you're loading. If you find the film or reel is being stubborn, you can dump everything in the coffee can, put on the (opaque) lid, take a break with the beverage of your choice, and come back to it later. </p>

It's easy, whatever you do (B&W, colour) and whatever equipment you use.<br>But whatever way you go, it is a process needing fine tuning, and thus demands a bit of patience.<br>It's that for novice and expert alike: even the most experienced processor will need to fine tune the process when switching to another film or developer.<br>So get a tank (any tank), some containers, measuring cups, funnels, the chemicals you need, etc., and just begin.<br><br>You will find after not long that you will produce better results than most commercial labs deliver. Especially in B&W.

<p>I developed my first ever roll of film at home today. I plan to do 120 film soon but decided to start with 135. It was Neopan 400 Presto and I was pleasantly surprised by the results even though I really didn't know what I was doing.<br>

The results are here: <a href="http://www.pbase.com/revdocjim/400presto">http://www.pbase.com/revdocjim/400presto</a></p>

<p>I used steel reels in steel tanks in a school darkroom in the 1970s. Since then it's been the Patterson system all the way. I have short tanks for 35mm, several standard 500mm tanks for either 1x120 or 2x35mm and few longer tanks for several rolls.<br /> Steel or plastic, one rule remains the same, they must be completely <strong>DRY</strong> when loading a film at the start of the process.<br /> I recall a loading competition in a commercial lab where friends were working. Fans of steel reels vs fans of Patterson plastic. Contestants were blindfolded so we call see. After several heats, it was pretty much a draw. It came down to personal preference.</p>

Steel reels, the ones that load from the center out, do not have to be completely dry when loading film. The plastic, shuffle-in Patterson reels do.<br>I have been using Patterson tanks for eons, and though especially the early ones leaked terribly through the lid (made a bit of a mess, but never a problem), and despite the thingy about the reels having to be bone dry to be able to take film (solved by having more reels than i will ever need), i'm quite happy.

<p>Home processing is easy and its fun. Stay with B/W. Later maybe color neg/C-41. There are places that process the 120 color negative film only, for about $3.00. Keep it simple. I find 120 film actually very hard to work with. Way thinner than 35mm and bends like crazy causing half-moons. My first attempt using a Patterson/plastic tank and reel took me 40 sweaty minutes. I am so used to 35mm and steel reels and tanks. The good news it is easier than i made it! In spite of my long loading time,no marks,no half-moons.I used Rodinal but will probably switch to a new developer like Ilford or Kodak. I want a High Acutance developer. Scanning seems easy but I am one of those wondering it its worth the trouble..The scans seem to each need quite a few minutes. I shoot color negative and hand it in for developing and scanning. That works great for 35mm! 120 is a different story. Going the home route really makes sense.I keep my chemicals and water all ready in bottles in my kitchen cupboard. The temp is a constant 72~74 on my cheap steel cased thermometer. It may be wrong but its consistent. I use film ends to judge how long to fix(double the clearing time). I filter the chemicals and have a filter of sorts on my tap/fawcett for washing. Photo-flo or similar even a pure clear dishwasher works fine! I keep records of developing and temp and result. I've done it so long I basically know my printing times when i set up the enlarger.<br>

Starting with B/W film definitely the way to go.</p>