jim_malone

I agree with Chris - I tend to shoot IR in an old folder camera (Voigtlander) mostly because it's fun and when I get a neg is a medium format. I keep the folded camera in an old light tight 8X10 black plastic bag between shots and after loading. That's probably overkill but it's easy to do. My best successes have been when I shoot and process in the same day.

Having said that, I've also processed HIE and Konica film for folks who have loaded and unloaded in daylight and not taken good care of the film and gotten good negs (although I don't think as many from one roll).

I think the best thing to do is establish a consistent routine, then when something goes wrong (and it will) you have a chance to figure it out.

Good luck

Sam:

You've gotten some great answers and I agree with all of them. One suggestion is to begin photographing children at birthday parties, bar mitzvas, etc. Most parents will pay anywhere from $100 to maybe $400 for a 2-4 hour stint, usually on a Saturday or Sunday. That's fairly easy money - although you do have to think about getting paid on time and what happens with the prints, etc.

Informal portraits are harder than they seem; especially when children are involved - but that's exactly why someone would pay for you to do this.

Good luck

Susan:

Bill's advice is good. You really need to work up a business plan to look at these issues in more detail.

The suggestion of developing your own film (if that's the media you choose) is useful for very low volumes, but if you are going to make any serious money, you probably should sub this out so you can spend most of your time taking images.

Digital is here to stay and you should look hard at it. Keep in mind, however, that the same comment about time needed ot create final product applies. If you spend your time learning Photoshop (or equivalent), you won't be shooting, so you'll have to balance that as well.

Above all, get a copy of a business plan and read it through. See what the issues are and how they are addressed. Then create something similar for your business and you'll have a good chance of success.

Kenneth:

Depending on what's on the negatives, washing with clean water may work. Risne with PhotoFlo or equivalent and allow to air dry in a clean air stream. PEC-12 also works pretty well. You need to use it in a well ventilated area.

Good Luck,

Jim

JM -

Art is exactly right. I operate a small B&W custom lamp and b&W business is slowly shrinking - despite being in a university town where someone "discovers" film each year.

We have been moving to digital and that part of our work is increasing, so on balance, things are going pretty well.

Personally, I enjoy the challenge of developing film and printing in a wet darkroom, however from a business standpoint, it's becoming much more a hobby than a business.

Now, having thrown cold water all over your idea, I think there is still an opportunity for a photo business. You just need to offer something the customer wants and can't (or doesn't believe he/she can) get. You have to do this in a way that the percieved value is greater than the price; then people will cheerfully buy. Easy to say - hard to do.

Good luck,

Jim

Mike:

Assuming you can process b&W film at home (it's cheap and easy), you could run a roll of any b&w film thru the camera, photographing things like the sky, etc. Once the film is processed, you could see if there are scratches in it and maybe get some idea of where they originate.

Alternatively, you can run a roll of film through another camera and send it to the same lab. If it comes back scratched, it's probably the lab.

Good luck

Jim

Jason:

I absolutely agree with the earlier poster. Test several different films with and without flash before the big event. You may find that you like a grainy look - or that you hate it. Unless you test with your equipment in the cathedral, you won't be able to select a combination you (and the wedding party!) like.

Dear Marie-Claude:

I've been processing T-Max since it came out and I can confirm that in 2004, the purple dye increased in concentration dramatically.

Having said that, I've found that increased fixing and increased washing removes it almost entirely. I've increased fixing times (in Kodak hardening fixer) to 10 minures from 4 minutes and wash times to 10 minutes from 5 minutes. Your times may vary as water conditions will probably vary.

Good Luck,

Jim

As an addendum to Chris' comments, I have accidentally caused reticulation in 4X5 film by processing it normally, then rinsing with hot tap water for a few minutes. While I was not very happy with the results (it ruined some nice shots), the reticulation effect was quite pronounced.

Fortunately, I haven't tried this with 35mm film.

Good luck

Jim

Matt:

I've seen similar problems a while back - they were caused by fingerprints on the film prior to exposure, air bubbles trapped on the surface when immersing the negatives in developer, or two negatives touching.

If the spots are always in the same place, look at fingerprints. You may be touching the film when loading.

Good luck,

Jim

Tim:

I use a Jobo CPE2 and am pretty happy with it. The biggest advantage it gives me is close control of temperature. Having the lift also makes filling/emptying much more reproducable - and that helps too.

The 2500 series tanks are good for two rolls of 35 mm film (24 or 36 exposure) or 1 roll of 120 or 220 film. There are a series of tanks that will process 5 rolls of 35 mm, and I have them, but I don't use them very much. The 2500 series takes just under 300 ml of chemistry which I find convenient to use.

I recommend that you contact Jobo - the folks there are pretty helpful when it comes to configuring a system. (Although with the recent layoffs, there are a lot fewer of them around now.)

Things which go bad in a used Jobo are the temperature controller/sensor, the nylon gears used to rotate tanks, and the water pump. All of these can be replaced with spare parts. Having said that, I have one Jobo that has had more than 5000 rolls of film processed in it without any failues of the Jobo (I, on the other hand, am not so good!)

I have used my Jobo to process prints (you need a different set of tanks for that) but I find that tray processing works much better for me.

Good luck,

Jim

Guy:

I've contributed (in a small way) to the times in the MDC for Efke films. My methods involve shooting a scene with a MacBeth Color chart and Gray Scale in it, along with a backyard scene that covers all Zones.

Then, I develop the film using a clip test for different periods of time, say 5, 6, 7, 8, & 9 minutes. This is all on the same roll. After development, I evaluate the negatives using the gray scales and the MacBeth values. The ones that come closest to the gray values - and render the backyard scene most accurately - are what I choose.

As to your development times, you need to consider variations in your camera, your lens, the film lot number, the chemistry lot number of the developer, your water quailty, how you mix your chemicals, how well you control your temperature, and what you consider to be an "ideal" negative. (I would note that once I have settled on a time that I like, it generally does not change even if I use a different lens, film lot #, or chemistry lot #.)

Given all of these independent variables, you can only consider the MDC times as one person's opinion. Generally, if you follow them, you will get a very useable negative, although it may not be one you consider ideal.

Since the negatives are evaluated by eye, it is not surprising that a larger negative might give a somewhat different development time with the same developer and temperature than a smaller one. I often find this to be the case, rather than the exception. As others have noted, some medium format photographers like more dense negs for printing - this may not be true for scanning, however.

So, if you use the MDC values as starting points - as many have recommended - you'll be close to what you want. But the joy of doing your own development is that you can change the conditions as you like.

Finally, if you want to scan negatives, look at what many have recommended with respect to development. My impression is that some have suggested that thinner negatives scan better than thicker ones - but I have no direct experience with this. A search on this topic could be helpful.

Good luck,

Jim

Roman:

I agree that this looks like insufficient fixing. The good news is, you can eliminate it by fixing again with fresh fixer. With regards to timing, I've always used a 5 minute fix - it always clears the negs and doesn't seem to cause harm. You need to wash carefully afterwards and use a hypo clear solution, but this will probably eliminate your problem.

Good luck

Jim

Bill:

I agree with Terry and Guy - Tri-X is the best bet. It is important to stick with one film as this makes learning the photographic process easier. Once he has the basics down and knows how Tri-X performs under a given set of circumstances; he can experiment with other films.

Hope he has fun!

Jim

Ain't technology grand? Soon we'll be able to buy a dichroic filter to put on the lens to eliminate the anti-photography beam and take photographs in one or two wavelengths. Then just 5 or 6 hours with PhotoShop Version 3345.2 will give you a grainy negative that will be embraced as "awsome".

Ya gotta love it!

Ray:

I have a CPE-2 and have been using it for a number of years.

The amount of chemistry depends on the tank you are using, for the 2523 series, 300 ml is the minimum to ensure good coverage of two 36-exposure rolls of 35 mm. Larger tanks will require more chemistry, consult Jobo's website www.jobo-usa.com (you may be better off with the european website, but I don't have that address handy.)

You also need to consider exhaustion of the chemistry; 300ml takes care of that for all of the developer formulations I've used.

For information on exactly how the machine works, visit Jobo's website. I find that if you have the "jobo lift" attached, it makes filling and changing chemistries much easier.

Can't really comment on cost comparisons; I think the chief advantage is your ability to control the process and "fine tune" it for your film, your camera, your meter, and your preferences. Quality of the finished negatives (assuming no processing errors) is as good as or better than most commercial labs.

I think the chief advantage of the Jobo to me is consistant agitation. I use the "F" setting for film and that takes one more variable out of the processing equation.

Good Luck

Jim

Dennis -

A nice creative approach - congratulations! What you've done is what the Jobo reels do, allow chemistry to flow around the negs. The only difference is that the reels allow you to process 6 sheets at a time. It is, howver, a little tricky learning how to load the reels.

You might try locating the reels on eBay, don't forget to get the loader as well - it makes things a lot easier.

Regards,

Jim

Geoff:

Somebody pointed out that there are no sure things so all you can do is take whatever precautions you can. I'd suggest making duplicates of your negs and storing the originals in a safety deposit box at a bank. You can use the duplicates for sorting, etc. and remove the originals only when printing them.

I jsut saw a documentary on the History channel - it seems that in Hiroshima, a bank vault 900 feet from the A-bomb impact site survived intact. The bank was later rebuilt around the vault.

Dear Jeremy:

First of all, welcome back! B&W is getting more interesting all the time.

I'd suggest a changing bag since it's portable, relatively cheap (see eBay) and amenable to a number of actions including loading developing tanks, loading film holders, etc. Get one a bit bigger than you think you need as the extra space comes in handy. Also, I'd be a little careful with used changing bags as small light leaks can cause a disaster.

Once you have the film out of the canister and into a light tight tank, no further need for a darkroom. Printing is another story as you will need a light proof place for some kind of enlarger. There are a number of posts on here describing how people turned really small spaces into darkrooms. One word of warning - make the darkroom space bigger than you need as everybody seems to want more space in time.

Good luck.

Natasha - you could try using a filter that does not transmit about about 800 nm in front of your meter to see if that helps.

Otherwise, bracket, bracket, bracket!

Dear Ashley:

As an observation, at least one commercial wedding photographer in my area is offering "pure silver prints" at a premium - and getting business because of it. The claim is that pure silver prints don't have the "muddy" look of C-41 prints and that pure silver prints will last for generations. This photographer's traditional b&w prints are very well done.

I have seen prints from C-41 that were very well done - but this usually requires skill on the part of the computer user and high quality printers and inks. I've also seen traditional prints that were poorly done (I've done more than a few myself), so the medium is no guarantee of quality.

I'd suggest you locate a local pro lab that can handle traditional B&W film (or process it yourself) and have it printed by a good printer on silver based paper. Also locate a lab that can do qood quality C-41 b&w and have them print the same scene on whatever quality paper they use.

Take a bunch of practice shots of the same scene including plenty of contrasts, highlights, and shadows with each type of film/processing & see who does the best job.

Since weddings are really hard to "do over"; I strongly suggest some investigations beforehand.

Good Luck - and let us know how you make out!

Russ:

Actually, I contributed the times for the Jobo on Digitaltruth. As a starting point, I'd take those times and decrease them by about 10% for hand processing.

When I was working up the starting times, I found that as little as 10 seconds made a discernable difference in film development for Efke. so, you'll probably just have to play around.

Also, I like the F76+ at a 1+19 dilution a little better - but that's just me.

Dear Brandon:

I use mostly Sprint for Fuji and Ilford film and have been pretty happy with it. I've also evaluated Clayton F76+ and was quite impressed with it on Efke 25 and 100 films. I've never been very happy with Sprint for T-Max films, (I use T-Max developer) but maybe that's just me.

My local shop carries Sprint and gives me a good price on it, otherwise I'd probably use more of the Clayton chemistry.

The suggestion about Photographer's Formulary is a good one.

Good luck

Donald:

I have made some prints that prople liked from old color photos such as the one you displayed. I don't attempt to create a color photo as it's nearly impossible to get the colors right. What I find often works is to create a low contrast B&W print. Then, the important features can be hand colored.

Shooting hints include using medium format, shooting through a polarizer while being careful of the lighting and shooting through a yellow and then a green filter. This gives you a series of negatives to woek with emphasizing different aspects of the print.

I usually shoot a whole roll of B&W film (either T-Max100 or HP-5) and bracket. Usually, you get at least one useful negative.

The other option is the digital one, but most of the people I deal with want the security of a silver print that they expect to last for another 50 years. Inks may meet that criteria, but we won't know for another 45 years or so.

Good luck - and be prepared to spend some time on this one!

Pat:

I find that D-76 1:1 works pretty well for Tri-X at 5 min 15 sec, with constant agitation on a Jobo CPE-2. This applies when Tri-X is shot at its rated speed.

Good Luck.