Home developing

[costa43]

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Hi all,

I've decided to develop my black and white film at home but I have a problem, my wife.

She does not like the idea of me developing indoors, especially when it comes to the use of our kitchen and bathroom sinks. My only option seems to be the garage but I do not have a water supply in there. My question is, rather than change my wife, I'm curious as whether anyone has a workflow that allows them to develop without access to a sink. I'm a newbie at home developing so any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Costa

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[Smudgerer]

do you have access to a garden hose? A drain?

[Smudgerer]

Sorry. pressed "publish" too swiftly!

So it all depends on how many films you think you'd be processing and how often, but to assume that it would only be one or two at a time for now yes processing in your garage is quite possible...........You will need access to a drain at some point though, and running water via a garden hose should take care of the final film washing. Assuming you'd use a spiral loading processing tank you would need a changing bag to load the spirals with film and put them in a tank, get one size bigger of a changing bag than what you think you'd need. If you use a Developer that can make several development cycles then that simply poured into the tank for the development and then poured back into it's storage bottle afterwards, ( increasing the development time for the next process ), same for Stop Bath and Fixer. If you use a "one shot" developer then once used pour it out into a bucket and that goes down a drain. Buy chemistry that's got a good safe "footprint" regarding disposal...........Final wash can be from a garden hose supply, ( not full on! ), and mostly that water would be ok to dispose of down a drain too.

If you are in the EU/Europe I'd recommend running all this by FOTOIMPEX in Berlin, extremely helpful and knowledgeable people there, ( https://www.fotoimpex.com/ ).  I am sure they will be able to steer you right........

[Tom R]

It’s possible to process film in your garage with some considerations: 

What is the ambient temperature in your planned location?

How many rolls of film do you anticipate processing per session?

Do you have adequate workspace in the location?

I regularly process one to two rolls of 35mm film without access to running water during the development, stop, fixing, and rinse phases. I do have a location where I can keep all solutions at working temperature (approx. 24 degrees C or 75 degrees F). I have a 4 liter (1 gallon) container of clean water that I use for the final wash phase and an empty 4 liter (1 gal) container that I will use to hold the water from the final rinses as well as 300 to 600 mL of developer (enough for 1 or 2 rolls of 35mm film), and three complete changes of rinse water for the final phase. Note that throughout this process, all fluids are maintained at the operating temperature.

Here’s a workflow example: I’m processing one roll of 35mm panchromatic film the will require the following steps: Development, Stop, Fix, Hypo clearing, and final wash.

[For simplicity’s sake: call the empty container that will be used to hold used solutions the “holding container.”]

Proceed per your normal times, etc. At the end of the development phase, empty the developer into the empty 4 liter (1 gal) holding container. If using a water stop bath, at the end of the stop phase empty that spent water into the holding container; otherwise, pour the stop bath back into its original container. I reuse fixer, so at the end of the fixing phase, I empty the fixer into the fixer container. I treat the film in a HCA bath for two minutes, empyting that solution into the holding container. 

For the final wash: fill the tank with your “reserved water" (which should be a the same temperature as the other solutions) , agitate a full five cycles, wait five minutes, then empty into the holding container. Fill the tank with fresh water, perform ten inversions, wait five minutes, then empty into the holding container. For the final rinse, fill the container, perform 20 inversions, wait five minutes and then empty this into the holding tank.

Optional step: fill the tank with water, treat with a rinse aide (Photoflo, etc.), and empty that into the holding tank.

Edited July 23, 2024 by Tom R
Clarified the stop phase step.

[TomB_tx]

It's quite feasible to process B&W without a sink/drain. Although I remodeled our guest bath to also be a darkroom, I use well less than 1-gal of water for processing a roll of B&W film. I use a single-reel Nikor stainless tank and reel that need just 250 ml of solution, so I set up 6 plastic beakers in a 16x20 tray (in case of spills) and dilute one-shot developer (either Rodinal or Ilford DD-X), in one, water with a shot of stop in one, fixer in one, and 3 beakers of rinse water. Because in Texas our supply water temperature varies so much, I keep a gallon of RO-filtered water at room temperature, and use about half for a roll of 35mm. The fixer gets poured back into its 1-liter stock bottle, the rest you could dump in a bucket for disposal. I use the Ilford wash method of 3-tank fills of water well agitated instead of a running water wash, and it works well and saves a lot of water.

I see Tom R just posted a similar procedure...

I'd be concerned with dust in the garage if you dry the film there, but you could bring the reels in and hang in a shower, which is where I dry mine.

[Tom R]

6 minutes ago, TomB_tx said:

It's quite feasible to process B&W without a sink/drain. Although I remodeled our guest bath to also be a darkroom, I use well less than 1-gal of water for processing a roll of B&W film. I use a single-reel Nikor stainless tank and reel that need just 250 ml of solution, so I set up 6 plastic beakers in a 16x20 tray (in case of spills) and dilute one-shot developer (either Rodinal or Ilford DD-X), in one, water with a shot of stop in one, fixer in one, and 3 beakers of rinse water. Because in Texas our supply water temperature varies so much, I keep a gallon of RO-filtered water at room temperature, and use about half for a roll of 35mm. The fixer gets poured back into its 1-liter stock bottle, the rest you could dump in a bucket for disposal. I use the Ilford wash method of 3-tank fills of water well agitated instead of a running water wash, and it works well and saves a lot of water.

I see Tom R just posted a similar procedure...

I'd be concerned with dust in the garage if you dry the film there, but you could bring the reels in and hang in a shower, which is where I dry mine.

Excellent point re: drying film. Likewise, I hang films in the “guest bathroom”—a cool, dry place that (so far) has been dust free. 

[Doug A]

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I did this successfully for a number of years out of concern for an immune compromised household member. My workspace had no running water or drain and minimal climate control, i.e., it was cold in the winter and hot in the summer.

My equipment was a large Kodak developing tray, a 250mm Kindermann SS tank with a Hewes 35mm reel, four 300ml Paterson graduates, a Weston dial thermometer, a cheap plastic kitchen funnel for pouring the fixer back into its bottle, a drug store syringe with a length of plastic tubing for measuring the developer and an empty spackle bucket. 

My materials were a 500ml plastic bottle of working strength fixer and a one gallon jug of distilled water both stored in the warmest place in the heated part of the house in winter or in the coolest part of the house in the summer. I also had a 125ml bottle of Rodinal safely stored in the workspace. 

In the workspace I filled the first graduate with 5ml of Rodinal plus distilled water to make 250ml and put the thermometer in it. I filled the second graduate with 250ml of plain distilled water as a stop bath. I filled the third graduate with working strength fixer and the fourth graduate with distilled water for the first wash. I used the Ilford 5 + 10 + 20 wash method, refilling the fourth graduate twice. 

When I was ready to start I read the temperature of the developer and looked in my notes for the time for the film I was developing in Rodinal at that temperature. If the workspace was noticeably cold I increased that time by 10%. If it was noticeable hot I reduced the time by 10%. 

As I worked I discarded the used developer, stop and wash water in the bucket and poured the fixer back into its bottle. Back in the house I washed the graduates and developing tank in the bathroom sink and poured the contents of the spackle bucket down the drain. NOTE: despite the concerns of those who read the Rodinal MSDS out of context, 5ml of Tylenol+drain cleaner+washing soda diluted  with 1.25 liters of water is not an environmental hazard*. I hung the drying negatives in the bathroom shower. 

*Per the state hazmat instructor I spoke with at a training session at our firehouse. 

Edited July 23, 2024 by Doug A

[250swb]

In organising photography workshops I've developed film in a field but I wouldn't recommend it. I think come winter the enthusiasm for going out to the garage will have been drained from you. But it can be done, a kettle, a bench, changing bag, and you can use the Ilford film washing method to wash the film to an archival level, fresh water and ten inversions, drain and more fresh water for twenty inversions, then same again for forty inversions. Cleanliness will be a priority and harder to do in difficult circumstances. 

But maybe your wife misunderstands what is involved, the only chemical that smells is the fix and that's only like strong vinegar, common in many kitchens around the world. Perhaps tell her how much the film costs and it will be wasted if developing goes wrong, on the other hand perhaps don't tell her how much the film costs. 

[Danner]

Have the wife explain her specific concerns, and then counter each of them, because there is no valid reason not to use your residential sinks for film developing.  The chemicals are not problematic, her ignorance is.

[earleygallery]

Offer to show (teach) your wife how to process film, get her involved and then when she's proficient you can just hand her your exposed films and go to the pub!

[hansvons]

On 7/23/2024 at 11:09 AM, costa43 said:

She does not like the idea of me developing indoors, especially when it comes to the use of our kitchen and bathroom sinks.

I understand your wife's concerns. It's a common misconception that all chemicals are inherently dangerous. In reality, many household cleaning detergents are more toxic than photo chemicals. For instance, a strong mould remover should be at least as worrisome as a B&W fixer. 

What if you suggest using a vitamin C-based developer (Xtol) that is environmentally friendly? It's safe for use in a bathroom and can be washed down. However, the fixer should be disposed of properly. 

I'd start an emphatic discussion by asking for a test drive. Tell her about proper laboratory hygiene and how you will achieve it. By the way, a professional lab is a much safer place than an average kitchen. 

Regardless of the chemicals you use, it's crucial to avoid using the kitchen sink. No chemicals, including cleaners, should be stored near food or used in a food preparation context.

[Stuart Richardson]

I agree with Hans that Xtol is a good choice. It is a low toxicity (not no toxicity) developer, whereas something like Rodinal is pretty toxic. I would skip the stop bath, as it is not really necessary and just another chemical to worry about. Just rinse well between development and fixing. Then you can get some Photo Flo which is really just very pure detergent. It is essentially fancy dawn dishsoap with no adulterants. So you are really only with two "chemicals" to worry about. Xtol and fixer. The fixer can and should be reused based on the advice of the packaging. I typically recommend two bath fixing (so two identical 1+4 bottles of fixer and do the first 2 minutes in A then 2 minutes in B...when A expires, mix a new B and take the old B and turn it into A...that way your film is always properly fixed). I would also avoid using the kitchen. If I had to use a room in the house, I would use the laundry room or the shower/bath ahead of the kitchen or bathroom sinks. You can look into low odor neutral fixers like TF4 and TF5.

As for a place without running water, I highly recommend finding a 5L graduated pitcher. You can make 5L of 20C water and that will be enough for most normal processes. Read up on the Ilford Archival Wash method. Then have at least 2, preferably 3 or 4 1L pitchers. Dedicate one to developer, one to fixer and one to wash/photo flo. Pour your used developer into a large sealed container for disposal at a recycling center. I use 20L chemical drums provided by the local recycling center (usually used from print houses etc). You can pour the used up fixer in there too unless you have a place that will reclaim the silver for you. It is extremely helpful to have at least a drain, but running water is helpful too. If you don't have hot water, but have electricity, it is very easy to boil some water and add it to the cold water until it gets to 20C/68F.

Edited July 28, 2024 by Stuart Richardson

[Bobonli]

You have plenty of good tips on water limitations so let me try this> have  discussion with your wife about the chemical, toxicity (none really) and how you will do it. 

Everything common used to develop B&W can safely go down the sink except for the fixer, which gets decanted to a separate bottle. My wife had concerns until I explained it to her and demonstrated my method:

1. I remove all kitchen items from around the sink or anywhere I will place the chemicals. 
2. Chemical mixing happens on a lunchroom tray (Amazon) so nothing actually touches the countertop
3. Everything is handled gently to precent splashing
4. Anything discarded goes into sink drain directly. I try my best not to make contact with the floor or sides of the sink
5. When I'm done, the sink gets washed with detergent and rinsed down. Counter top gets sanitized with bleach wipes.

I started in the basement using a slop sink. When my wife saw how fastidious I was she told me to come into the kitchen, where the lighting is better and much less dust.

If that fails. Find a water source, run a hose from it to an inexpensive slop sink.

[Einst_Stein]

I guess the smell of the chemical might be your wife's main concern, the fix bath might be the worst, even if you can convince her there is little or no toxicated risk. I would assume it would be a hard to sell.

So, let's think how to do your work outdoors or in garage. 

    0: First, let's settle on the no stop-bath chemical. No, you still need the stop bath, but it's just to rinse with water.  So you only need to deal with:

    1: developer bath, (Xtol, D76, Rodinal, HC110, you name it)

    2: stop bath with water.

    3: fixer 

    4: final rinse

    5: drying

The develop bath may or may not need to drain the chemical. If you reuse the developer,such as Xtol or D76, then most time you just poor it back to the bottle without drain it. If you use one shot developer, such as Rodinal or HC110, then you'll need to drain the chemical. You can prepare a large dedicated tank to collect it. Also drain the water in the stop bath to the same collector. The fixer is likely to be reused most of time, so you only drain it once for a while.

When you finish, dump the collected chemicals into the toilet. Make sure the chemical is neutralize before dumping. 

 

  

 

[costa43]

On 7/23/2024 at 12:08 PM, Smudgerer said:

Sorry. pressed "publish" too swiftly!

So it all depends on how many films you think you'd be processing and how often, but to assume that it would only be one or two at a time for now yes processing in your garage is quite possible...........You will need access to a drain at some point though, and running water via a garden hose should take care of the final film washing. Assuming you'd use a spiral loading processing tank you would need a changing bag to load the spirals with film and put them in a tank, get one size bigger of a changing bag than what you think you'd need. If you use a Developer that can make several development cycles then that simply poured into the tank for the development and then poured back into it's storage bottle afterwards, ( increasing the development time for the next process ), same for Stop Bath and Fixer. If you use a "one shot" developer then once used pour it out into a bucket and that goes down a drain. Buy chemistry that's got a good safe "footprint" regarding disposal...........Final wash can be from a garden hose supply, ( not full on! ), and mostly that water would be ok to dispose of down a drain too.

If you are in the EU/Europe I'd recommend running all this by FOTOIMPEX in Berlin, extremely helpful and knowledgeable people there, ( https://www.fotoimpex.com/ ).  I am sure they will be able to steer you right........

Thank you. I do have a water supply outside for a hose. Fine up until December but then switched off for the winter.  I’ll check out fotoimpex. Thank you for the tip.

[costa43]

On 7/23/2024 at 1:36 PM, Tom R said:

It’s possible to process film in your garage with some considerations: 

What is the ambient temperature in your planned location?

How many rolls of film do you anticipate processing per session?

Do you have adequate workspace in the location?

I regularly process one to two rolls of 35mm film without access to running water during the development, stop, fixing, and rinse phases. I do have a location where I can keep all solutions at working temperature (approx. 24 degrees C or 75 degrees F). I have a 4 liter (1 gallon) container of clean water that I use for the final wash phase and an empty 4 liter (1 gal) container that I will use to hold the water from the final rinses as well as 300 to 600 mL of developer (enough for 1 or 2 rolls of 35mm film), and three complete changes of rinse water for the final phase. Note that throughout this process, all fluids are maintained at the operating temperature.

Here’s a workflow example: I’m processing one roll of 35mm panchromatic film the will require the following steps: Development, Stop, Fix, Hypo clearing, and final wash.

[For simplicity’s sake: call the empty container that will be used to hold used solutions the “holding container.”]

Proceed per your normal times, etc. At the end of the development phase, empty the developer into the empty 4 liter (1 gal) holding container. If using a water stop bath, at the end of the stop phase empty that spent water into the holding container; otherwise, pour the stop bath back into its original container. I reuse fixer, so at the end of the fixing phase, I empty the fixer into the fixer container. I treat the film in a HCA bath for two minutes, empyting that solution into the holding container. 

For the final wash: fill the tank with your “reserved water" (which should be a the same temperature as the other solutions) , agitate a full five cycles, wait five minutes, then empty into the holding container. Fill the tank with fresh water, perform ten inversions, wait five minutes, then empty into the holding container. For the final rinse, fill the container, perform 20 inversions, wait five minutes and then empty this into the holding tank.

Optional step: fill the tank with water, treat with a rinse aide (Photoflo, etc.), and empty that into the holding tank.

Thank you Tom, that’s really helpful advice, I’ll digest everyone’s feedback over the next few days and start piecing together a workflow. My garage is not heated so the temperature is always a few degrees cooler than in the house. At this time of year it’s probably around 20 degrees. I will likely develop 2-3 rolls a session, once a week. Possibly more at the beginning as I’m going through the experimental phase. I have a good amount of room in there to work with.

[costa43]

On 7/23/2024 at 1:42 PM, TomB_tx said:

It's quite feasible to process B&W without a sink/drain. Although I remodeled our guest bath to also be a darkroom, I use well less than 1-gal of water for processing a roll of B&W film. I use a single-reel Nikor stainless tank and reel that need just 250 ml of solution, so I set up 6 plastic beakers in a 16x20 tray (in case of spills) and dilute one-shot developer (either Rodinal or Ilford DD-X), in one, water with a shot of stop in one, fixer in one, and 3 beakers of rinse water. Because in Texas our supply water temperature varies so much, I keep a gallon of RO-filtered water at room temperature, and use about half for a roll of 35mm. The fixer gets poured back into its 1-liter stock bottle, the rest you could dump in a bucket for disposal. I use the Ilford wash method of 3-tank fills of water well agitated instead of a running water wash, and it works well and saves a lot of water.

I see Tom R just posted a similar procedure...

I'd be concerned with dust in the garage if you dry the film there, but you could bring the reels in and hang in a shower, which is where I dry mine.

Thanks different Tom!

I have an office room in the house that I will dry my film in. There is an empty wardrobe in there with a hanging space that I was thinking of using. If that proves to be too dusty then I can use one of the bathrooms. My wife is fine with that part, it’s more the chemical side she has issues with. 

[costa43]

5 hours ago, hansvons said:

I understand your wife's concerns. It's a common misconception that all chemicals are inherently dangerous. In reality, many household cleaning detergents are more toxic than photo chemicals. For instance, a strong mould remover should be at least as worrisome as a B&W fixer. 

What if you suggest using a vitamin C-based developer (Xtol) that is environmentally friendly? It's safe for use in a bathroom and can be washed down. However, the fixer should be disposed of properly. 

I'd start an emphatic discussion by asking for a test drive. Tell her about proper laboratory hygiene and how you will achieve it. By the way, a professional lab is a much safer place than an average kitchen. 

Regardless of the chemicals you use, it's crucial to avoid using the kitchen sink. No chemicals, including cleaners, should be stored near food or used in a food preparation context.

Thank you. XTOL is exactly what I was considering to use after reading about its lack of hydroquinone and I’ve already started planting the seed with my wife. She is super environmentally friendly and we tend to try and live as ‘non toxic’ as possible so this endeavour is outside of her comfort zone. 
 

"Tell her about proper laboratory hygiene and how you will achieve it. By the way, a professional lab is a much safer place than an average kitchen"

This is a good way to approach it I think.

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[costa43]

2 hours ago, Stuart Richardson said:

I agree with Hans that Xtol is a good choice. It is a low toxicity (not no toxicity) developer, whereas something like Rodinal is pretty toxic. I would skip the stop bath, as it is not really necessary and just another chemical to worry about. Just rinse well between development and fixing. Then you can get some Photo Flo which is really just very pure detergent. It is essentially fancy dawn dishsoap with no adulterants. So you are really only with two "chemicals" to worry about. Xtol and fixer. The fixer can and should be reused based on the advice of the packaging. I typically recommend two bath fixing (so two identical 1+4 bottles of fixer and do the first 2 minutes in A then 2 minutes in B...when A expires, mix a new B and take the old B and turn it into A...that way your film is always properly fixed). I would also avoid using the kitchen. If I had to use a room in the house, I would use the laundry room or the shower/bath ahead of the kitchen or bathroom sinks. You can look into low odor neutral fixers like TF4 and TF5.

As for a place without running water, I highly recommend finding a 5L graduated pitcher. You can make 5L of 20C water and that will be enough for most normal processes. Read up on the Ilford Archival Wash method. Then have at least 2, preferably 3 or 4 1L pitchers. Dedicate one to developer, one to fixer and one to wash/photo flo. Pour your used developer into a large sealed container for disposal at a recycling center. I use 20L chemical drums provided by the local recycling center (usually used from print houses etc). You can pour the used up fixer in there too unless you have a place that will reclaim the silver for you. It is extremely helpful to have at least a drain, but running water is helpful too. If you don't have hot water, but have electricity, it is very easy to boil some water and add it to the cold water until it gets to 20C/68F.

Thanks Stuart. I really appreciate the step by step breakdown. Sound advice that I’ll digest over the next few days. Everyone has been so helpful. I really appreciate it.  

[costa43]

31 minutes ago, Einst_Stein said:

I guess the smell of the chemical might be your wife's main concern, the fix bath might be the worst, even if you can convince her there is little or no toxicated risk. I would assume it would be a hard to sell.

So, let's think how to do your work outdoors or in garage. 

    0: First, let's settle on the no stop-bath chemical. No, you still need the stop bath, but it's just to rinse with water.  So you only need to deal with:

    1: developer bath, (Xtol, D76, Rodinal, HC110, you name it)

    2: stop bath with water.

    3: fixer 

    4: final rinse

    5: drying

The develop bath may or may not need to drain the chemical. If you reuse the developer,such as Xtol or D76, then most time you just poor it back to the bottle without drain it. If you use one shot developer, such as Rodinal or HC110, then you'll need to drain the chemical. You can prepare a large dedicated tank to collect it. Also drain the water in the stop bath to the same collector. The fixer is likely to be reused most of time, so you only drain it once for a while.

When you finish, dump the collected chemicals into the toilet. Make sure the chemical is neutralize before dumping. 

 

  

 

Thanks, you make it sound so easy, I appreciate that! I was thinking of using xtol at 1:1 and dumping it. Forgive my lack of knowledge but what do you mean by neutralise it?