how to develop cbema 64 film?

[bw man]

I have 4 rolls of this film I'm to process have anybody used this? I

have a recipe: 8gr. metol 125gr.sodium sulfite 5.75gr. sodium

carbonate 2.5gr. potassium bromide 1000ml water,but no time of

development any help would be great.

[bw man]

this film is SVEMA 64, cbema is the manufacture name.TB

[winfried_buechsenschuetz1]

Of course both the film and the manufacturer have the name SVEMA (or perhaps SMETA, a 't' in cyrillic handwriting looks pretty much like a latin 'm').

 

cyrillian C = S

cyrillian B = V

[petteri_pavas]

Tom,

 

Checking my freezer I found the same film SVEMA FN-64, GOST 24876-81. I have bought it at a time in Soviet Union when there still was a Soviet Union...

 

My package says stamped the developing time to be 7 minutes (MIN in cyrillic which is almost the same only I is like an inverted N). Giving only developing time presupposes a standard developer known to all. I had forgotten the details but checking with my father he thinks this could be the same general developer used by my grandfather - who was taught the trade by a St Petersburg photographer about a hundred years ago - for both films and papers. The formula for stock solution is:

 

water 5000 ml

metol 12 g

sodiumsulphite(anhyd) 300 g

hydrochinon 48 g

sodiumcarbonate(anhyd) 250 g

potassiumbromide 8 g

 

This stock is diluted 1:7 for film (and 1:4 for paper). A typical developing time at 20 Centigrade is 7 minutes.

 

But this is just one possibility. It could be easier just to try D 76 at 1:1 dilution. Checking my negatives I found a TASMA 65 I have exposed and developed some time in 1986-87. I don't have data on the sheet, but the film is slightly overdeveloped. At that time I often used D 76 dilution 1:1 at 20 centigrade for 9 minutes.

 

Happy experimenting!

 

Petteri

[georges_moreira1]

Hi, I know this thread is a bit old, but here it goes:

My last svema 64 (CBEMA in Cyrillic letters) was developed like an Ilford PAN F in rodinal 1:

25 and the results were ok, but not perfect.

 

I crossed this information with a Tasma 64 label which gives the same formula,

a russian page about East-german ORWO stuff ( http://www.photoline.ru/texp12.htm

check for OPBO 12 in cyrillic), and data from digitaltruth.

 

The russian developer described in the recipe you gave is pretty close to ORWO 12/AGFA

12.

Orwo is located in the former AGFA plant, in the eastern part of Germany that later came

under control of the USSR forces, after WWII.

 

No doubt the USSR also used AGFA technology, as many german patents fell in public

domain for war reparations.

 

AGFA used to be sold in the U.S. under the ANSCO label, and it's not really surprising if the

ANSCO developer has *almost* the same formula :

 

http://www.digitaltruth.com/techdata/agfa_12.php

 

http://www.digitaltruth.com/techdata/ansco_12.php

 

Orwo's chemical facility is now known under Calbe Chemie : http://www.calbe-chemie.de/

Too bad they don't have any information about this developer.

 

I hope those information will help.

 

Cheers,

Georges

[mark u]

cbema in Cyrillic script is "sveta" which is a word common to many Slavic languages meaning flower.

[mikhail_r]

<b>SVEMA</b> (when written in Cyrillic looks like this: <b>CBEMA</b>) is just an abbreviation from

<i><b>sve</b>tochuvstvitelniye <b>ma</b>terialy</i> which means <b>light-sensitive materials</b> in Russian.<p>

 

<i>Sveta</i> is a short for <i>Svetlana</i>, a Slavonic female name. The word is from <i>svet</i> which means

<b>light</b> in many (maybe all?) Slavonic languages.<p>

 

<b>Flower</b> in Slavonic languages is <i>tsvet</i> or <i>tsvetok</i>. The word <i>tsvet</i> also means

<b>color</b>.<p>

 

Back to Svema & Tasma <b>films</b>: yes the standard developer is a variation of Agfa 12, but any other

developer (D-76, Microphren, etc.) will do. Sad news is: the films were never standardized to have a fixed

developing time, and you had to read a new number in minutes on the box for any new factory emulsion run. So you

just can't go to any web page to get the correct developing time for <i>your</i> film.<p>

 

However, the <b>64</b> film (not the other ones!) is a <b>stop-gamma</b> emulsion. That means it never gets too

contrasty in overdevelopment. Instead, it just gets denser, gains much in speed and - gets much much grainier.

Better do not develop it for too long!<p>

 

Michael from Moscow

[georges_moreira1]

<p>"yes the standard developer is a variation of Agfa 12, but any other developer (D-76, Microphren, etc.) will do."<br>

Well, just like most black black & white films.<br>

Searching the original formula of the "ГОСТ 2 Проявитель" (developer GOST nº2) is only a way to find the closest equivalent to what was used in the former USSR to determine the correct developing time embossed or printed on film boxes for every single emulsion. D76/ID11 seems to be universal enough to be used as a starting point, any developers will do too. <br>

For both CBEMA or TACMA, I usually shoot a test chart on a full 36 exp film with a Зенит MT-1 to determine the correct exposure index/developing time for each new emulsion I'm about to use, whatever the box or the can says.<br>

Anyone can run a test film to find out his/hers wished contrast and density values.<br>

If all the films at hand are exposed, it can be less risky to cut a few inches film in total darkness, and keep the rest in a light tight box. Develop this film sample to an empiric dev time and see if it is correct or not. You'll then sacrifice a few frames for the sake of the remaining film material.</p>