I know printing at home in my darkroom for years... but don't know really what to do for film processing at home...

[thierrylaflamme]

Hello everybody!

 

Since 1994, I work in my darkroom, at home. I print from films b &

w "already processed" in a store. However, I would like to do it by

myself. Some people say: forget it; too much trouble (dust, exact

temperature etc.) Other people say: you have to learn! So, where

should I begin?

 

First: I want to know all that I need (equipment and solutions)

before doing the process. Is someone able to tell me more about it?

 

Then, what to do exactly, in details? (Sorry if my question is really

basic... but I never did that and I'm scared to ruine my film.)

 

Should I do it or not? The reason why I want to learn is because in

few years, it will be probably very hard to find a good place who

still do the process. (I apologize for my English writing. I'm

French.)

 

Thanks in advance.

[bob oldendorf]

Your English is fine.

 

And everybody has to start somewhere.

 

Oh, let's see.

 

You need a light-proof space - darker than you need for printing.

 

you'll need

 

- a developing tank and reels. ( A 2-reel tank takes about 500ml; a 4-reel tank

takes about a liter. )

 

- A bottle opener to pry open the film cartridge; a pair of scissors to cut the

film off the spool.

 

- A few clean bottles (sizes to match your tank) to have the chemistry ready;

 

- chemistry: developer (stop bath) fixer (hypo clearing agent) lots of wash

water (photoflo). At minimum, just: developer, fixer, and water -- the others

can be done without.

 

- mixing containers ( a measuring cup, maybe a cheap (clean) plastic bucket)

THAT YOU KEEP SEPARATE FROM YOUR KITCHEN MEASURES;

 

- a sink to dump your used chemicals; at minimum, a BIG bucket for later

disposal.

 

- a thermometer.

 

- someplace to hang up the wet film when you're done. Clothespins are nice.

 

You load the reels in the dark - the rest can be done in room light. You should

sacrifice an outdated film to practice with (with your eyes closed) before you

try the real thing in the dark.

 

Good luck, and let us know how you make out.

[sndr]

You can spool the film onto the reel in a changing bag; there's no need for a darkroom just for developing film.

[sndr]

And another thing: developing B&W film is easy; easier than cooking well. The only critical thing is the time and temperature of the first step: the developer. You'll need a good thermometer (precise to at least 1 degree Celsius) and a decent clock. After the development is done it's hard to really screw up.

[chris_waller]

If you don't have a completely light-tight space then you can use a changing-bag to load film into the developing-tank. You need a daylight developing tank (e.g. Paterson), reels, measuring cylinder, thermometer and chemicals.

 

As for drying the film, you can just hang it up in a dust-free space and leave it overnight. I used to use a long plastic bag supported by a wire frame inside which I hung the film to keep the dust off it as it dried.

 

If you go the to Ilford website (www.ilford.com) you can download a document which takes you through the process.

[ronald_moravec1]

You would not start out cooking for a dinner party, so do no do the the same with film.

 

Take some quick pics of your house, car, local trees, or you dog. Put no effort into them. Then pull out 6 exposures, about 12 in, in the dark and develope the film.

 

If something is wrong, correct the error and try again. We all been there at one time.

[neal_wydra1]

Dear Thierry,

 

You don't say if you are printing color or b&w. Purchase a "Kodak Black & White Darkroom Dataguide". The color dataguides are, I believe, out of print, but you can get one through amazon.com if you need one. In any case, I think you will find that developing is easier than printing.

[michael_beckmann]

B & W film processing is pretty easy and requires a small investment. You could buy a small Jobo tank and a thermometer. A few bottles to store your chemicals. That's about it.

 

Buy some film developer and fixer. Let us know which film you prefer and we could give some recommendations. Liquid solutions are easier to use. Read the instructions for your chemicals regarding preparation. You need to dilute the concentrated liquids with water. Read the instructions for your film (manufacturer's data sheet) rearding development. Follow these instructions, and you will be fine. Look for information about temperature and agitation.

 

Your developer needs to have the right temperature (20 degree C +/- 1 degree C.) If it's too cold, you can warm it up by storing the bottle in a warm water bath in a sink. Check the temperature with the thermometer in the botttle. The temperature of the subsequent baths is not so critical. Make sure your washing water is within +/- 5 degrees of the previous liquids. You could prepare a pot of that water and fill the tank with it a few times.

 

You could wipe the film with your fingers or use a tool for that (Jobo makes one) then hang it out to dry!

 

Once you have developed your first film, it will seem very easy to you.

[thierrylaflamme]

Merci beaucoup! Thank you so much for all these good recommendations! I'll do it, for sure, very soon... Hopefuly everything will be ok. Since I do the printing, I don't know why I couldn't do the film process by myself, especially for black & white film. I'm so excited to try!

[kaiyen]

I put up quasi-FAQs, with some photos, that might be helpful.

 

http://www.kaiyen.com/photos/pages/reels_tanks.html

 

http://www.kaiyen.com/photos/pages/chemicals.html

 

allan

[thierrylaflamme]

Oh... by the way, I forgot: considering that my favorite film is ILFORD DELTA 100 PROFESSIONAL, what would the best recommendations be? Thanks again for your generous help.

[scott_walton2]

Thierry, I read the whole thread and in my opinion, to get almost fool proof development with t-grained film (like you use), and have very easy to print negative (probably easier than the negs you get developed), I recommend Divided D23. It is very easy to mix up, has a REALLY long shelf life, is a compensating developer so you won't have any over developed highlights (if you do alot of burning and dodging now, you won't with this developer!) and very fine grain. With one shot developers, there are "recommended" times that could over or under process your film (usually over develop). The highlights will keep developing if you leave the film in the developer to where they become "bullet proof" and seemingly unprintable with one shot developers and is why I like 2 bath or Split developers as they are sometimes called. This is not to say that you cannot get great results with one shot developers but to get there you need to put in the time to test and tweak your processing time. I'm going to try to attach the recipe of DD23. It is really basic and I want to say that Metol is the same as Elon and for bath 2, if you can find Kodalk in a dusty part of a photo store... buy it because it is a nicer working chemical but Borax works very well also.

[michael_beckmann]

Read the data sheet:

 

http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/pdf/100_Delta.pdf

 

Follow the instructions there. Choose any developer that is available to you and proceed as described in the data sheet. You can start with experiments later.

[michael_beckmann]

There is even a French version of the data sheet:

 

http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/pdf/fr_Delta100.pdf