chris_douglas1

<p>Jon,</p>

<p>I experimented reversing plus x a while back and got best results exposing at asa 500. I think I used the formulas in the darkroom cook book. I still have some in the freezer, but when its gone I will try something else, maybe one of the Ilford slow films. Apparently just about anything can be reversed, and it was fun to experiment. Good luck.</p>

<p>Best regards,<br>

Chris</p>

<p>Carlo,<br>

I also do c-41 at home, but I have a very different set-up. I have a thermostatically controlled water bath, with a pump to swirl the water around the bottles and stainless developing tank. The thermostat holds the temperature between 38 and 39 C. I use inversion agitation every 30 seconds and return the tank to the water. I am using Unicolor powder chemicals, and have used Arista and Rollei with no apparent difference. I start development at 3 1/2 minutes for the first roll, and add 5 seconds for each successive roll. I have no trouble getting 12 rolls per liter with consistent results. The benefit of inversion agitation and heat conductivity of the stainless tank may be the most important factors. Good luck.</p>

<p>Best regards,<br>

Chris</p>

<p>You can get anything to work, but bear in mind if you put less developer in the tank, you will get more violent agitation than when the tank is almost full. I would use the same amount you usually use, and use your normal agitation. Good luck. </p>

<p>I have seen many posts on film curl, but none with definitive answers, so I am offering the following information. Humidity is the culprit. Here in Arizona, the humidity is so low that it can be in the single digits. My film always drys with a pronounced cup with the emulsion on the concave side. this hasn't been much of a problem using glassless carriers, but when scanning, the backing touches the glass and causes Newtonian circles right in the middle of the frame. I noticed the film (tri-x) flattened out by just breathing on it, but then it curls right back. I bought a humidifier and it works like magic! You can adjust the amount of curl by adjusting the humidistat. At 45% humidity the film is almost flat. I think other films might like another humidity... no problem, just set it for the film in use. Enjoy.</p>

<p>Best regards,<br>

Chris</p>

<p>Glen,<br>

I think you are going to have lots of fun shooting and developing again. You didn't mention bottles...Sunburstbottle.com has boston rounds in all the sizes you need, at good prices. They have plastic too, but I use washed-out motor oil containers for everything else but film developer. I like to prepare my chemicals before a session by mixing and diluting the chemicals into ordinary 32 oz plastic measuring cups. They pour quickly, and are easy to pour back into. Make sure you mark them D, S, or F. Good luck<br>

Best regards,<br>

Chris</p>

<p>I'm with Lex, it depends on your water. The water here is so hard, a new shower head lasts a couple of months. I use all distilled water, and 1ml photoflo to 500 ml water, and hang at a 45 degree angle like the others. Any tiny bubbles or debris runs to the edge and drains off the bottom corner.</p>

<p>Paul,<br>

I enjoy mixing my own developer, you might also. In any case, to make your gallon of D-76 last a year or more, after mixing it up in a gallon container, fill 3 quart bottles to the top with little or no air. Put the remaining quart in 4 eight ounce bottles. Use the small bottles as one shot developers, and when empty fill from one of the quarts. Its all about keeping oxygen and light away. Convert to metric as desired. Enjoy with your favorite film.<br>

Best regards,<br>

Chris</p>

<p>Johanna,<br>

I have one in my hand, and here are the dimensions if you want to make one. It is square, 2.630 inches on each side, and 0.098 inches thick. The hole is 1.530 inches in diameter. There is a counterbore 0.046 inches deep, 1.934 inches in diameter, but I don't think you need it. I also made a lens board, it wasn't difficult, but the dimensions are from a real Beseler one. Good luck</p>

<p>Peter,<br>

A common rule-of-thumb for one shot development with D-76 is that it takes 250ml of undiluted developer to develop one 80 square inch roll, or four 4 x 5's. If your tank holds one liter, then with 1:1 dilution, you should be able to develop eight 4 x 5's, one shot then throw away the developer. If you are going to develop one at a time, there has to be some difference in the activity of the developer from the first to the eighth negative, but you will have to experiment to find out how to adjust. It seems feasible to me. Good luck.</p>

<p>Bill,<br>

Thanks for the info, my first carrier arrived and though it has no "fence", it is easy to center, as you said. This forum is great.<br>

Best regards,<br>

Chris</p>

<p>Bill, you say some of your holders have the "fence" for locating in the round hole. Do some of your holders not have the fence? How do you center the negative, just estimate the best you can?</p>

<p>Thanks for the quick responses, I do appreciate the help.<br>

Best regards,<br>

Chris</p>

<p>Having just acquired a D6 and the ritual search for manuals, cleaning and adjusting is over, now I want to use it. However, it came with no negative carriers. <br>

First question: The negative stage is flat with no alignment pins, just a large round hole like the Beseler 23. But the negative holders on Ebay seem to have two notches in the side for alignment. Are negative holders for "the D series" suitable for the D6?<br>

Second question: Has anyone ever made an adaptor for Beseler holders? Seems like it wouldn't be too hard, then I could use all my Beseler holders too. Thanks for the help, and I'll let you know how the adapter comes out.</p>

<p>Jeff,<br>

I have used the Morse G3 to develop 16mm reversal and negative film. It would be possible to develop short lengths of film, but how would you splice the films together? If a splice broke during development, it would be a disaster.<br>

Best regards,<br>

Chris</p>

<p>Kris,<br>

I think you "get" how film works, just take it step by step. Film has a coating of silver halide. If two things happen to it, it gets exposed to light, and developed, the silver halide turns to metalic silver, the image. Fixer dissolves only silver halide, not metalic silver.<br>

When you cut a piece of film and put it in fixer it will clear whether it is exposed to light or not, because it wasn't developed.<br>

When you develop and fix a piece of film that wasn't exposed to light it comes out clear, because...you gotta do both, expose and develop to make metalic silver.</p>

<p>Tomasz,<br>

Beautiful pictures! You didn't say what dilutions you settled on, or why you changed the formulation. Were you just experimenting? Also, was there a reason for using 24 degrees? I always use 20 even if I have to chill the developer. I have been mixing my own chems. too, and have experimented with FX-1. I have wanted to try FX-37 and you have provided the inspiration to proceed. Thanks!<br>

Best regards,<br>

Chris</p>

 

 

<blockquote >I hope someone has seen this before. I just got a cds finder with a problem. The meter is way off, and the needle is centered when off and/or the battery is removed. The instrictions say the needle should be at the bottom when off, which explains why it is reading wrong. After dissassembly and inspection, the meter shows no tampering. The centering adjustment is already at the limit of travel and before removing the penta prizm so I can get to the top adjuster, if there is one, I thought I better ask. Anyone seen this before? Thanks.</blockquote>

 

 

<p>Stephanie,<br />I also tried jet dry with success, but I now use Photoflo because I have more faith in it.<br />I use the Unicolor C-41 powder kit, but I suspect it is similar. I also had spots, even though I used distilled water. So I now add 2 ml per liter photoflow to the stabilizer, and it works perfectly, no spots at all.<br />One other thing I do for all my film is hang it at a 45 degree angle with the edge down so water quickly runs to the edge of the film, and down. I used to hang the film straight up and down, and I got residue on the frames at the bottom. Hope this helps, C-41 developing is fun.</p>

<p>Sanjay,<br>

I have had yellow flakes in my blix ingredients right out of a new box freshly delivered by the UPS guy. I wish the kit makers would provide separate bleach and fix steps. Maybe that would increase shelf life.</p>

<p>C41 B&W film works very well for learning how to load stainless steel reels. When I needed to sacrifice a roll to teach someone how to load a reel with film, I chose C41 B&W. I haven't tried to do anything else with it yet.</p>

<p>sunburstbottle.com has 1 liter amber boston rounds for $ 1.50 each. </p>

<p>Paul,<br>

Keith gave you the original formula. I used to use this formula but I found that it becomes more active after a few weeks of storage. So my negs started getting too contrasty. I now use a buffered version. Instead of 2 grams of borax, use 8 grams of borax and 8 grams of boric acid. I have used this after a year of storage, with no problems. Some say this is more like the D-76 you buy today. Make sure you use the little bottles idea, it's a good one.</p>

<p>Roger,<br>

Just a tip if your AE1 has been idle for a while. A bearing in the AE1 goes dry and causes the "AE1 Squeek" when releasing the shutter. This bearing should be lubricated or it will be damaged. It is possible to do yourself but not recommended.</p>

<p>I got my Freestyle catalog yesterday and premium 100 is gone. I liked it for reversal slides and plus-x is expensive. Oh well, I will have to experiment with something else. And also, it belongs in the color section, but Fuji is only offering one color paper now. Previews of things to come.</p>

<p>Shannon,<br>

Something like this happened to me when I accidently mixed my photoflo 1:20 instead of 1:200. It left an oily residue that was almost invisible until inserted in the sleeves. Now I mix 1:500 with distilled water and hang my film at a 45 degree angle so the water runs to the edge and quickly down the edge to the bottom most corner. I never have spots now and never use a squeegee. No scratches.</p>