please help me getting started with film developing

[Shootist]

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Not sure of your whole process but for me it is 1/2/3/4/5

Load the film in my Paterson? (Peterson) light tight tank ( I do this under the covers of my bed).

Poor in the developer, D76 right now, and wait and agitate as needed.

Poor out the developer and in with the stop bath. Out with the stop bath and in with the fixer. Out with the fixer and rinse for 30 Sec then HypoClean. Then I flush the tank with water for maybe 5 minute then use photoFlo. Squeegee the film to get the excess water off, hang to dry.

I may or may not flush the tank with water between the chemicals depending on how I feel that day.

Never had what you are seeing.

Not a mess ever (Other then the dam dust).

 

Sounds like maybe you didn't FIX the film properly????

 

No I'd never go back to wet printing. One reason Is I don't have the room to setup a proper darkroom.

 

I also have the HP B9180 and the B&W prints I get from it are very good but it does take a little tweaking.

 

So here is my status report.

 

I learned how to load the jobo rolls in the dark. Everything went smooth. After phil unsworth told me that I can eliminate photoflo, I tried it with wetting agent as the last step after washing. Now my problem was that the films looked very dirty. I guess some of the chemicals did not go off. Looks like a mess. I tried to wash of the mess, dry then wet. It got worse and worse. Anyway. You live and learn.

 

It was so frustrating. I had some good shots on the film. Aaaahh.

 

I wonder if this hassle is worth it. Maybe its only worth it if you make wet prints. I am scanning the film with a coolscan 5000. Takes forever. And then this mess. So frustrating.

 

Maybe I should emply a good photolab to develop and make a contact sheet. Then only scan the frame that I want to print. I'd still like to catalog the frames on the computer somehow.

 

Should I get into wet printing? Is it worth it? I already have a hp 9180 printer. But my blacks never come out dark enough.

 

Your thoughts are highly appreciated.

 

Al.

Edited May 5, 2009 by Shootist

[junglehs]

Dear Shootist,

I think you are right. I must have not washed the film properly.

 

Thanks for your help so far.

 

Do you mind sharing your tweaking tips for the hp 9180 for b/w printing??

I'd appreciate it.

 

Al.

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[Shootist]

I very rarely print in with just Greyscale inks, it seems to give me a bronze print.

Every print is slightly different. I'll do a test print and tweak from there so there is no set in stone adjustments. Sorry.

 

Dear Shootist,

I think you are right. I must have not washed the film properly.

 

Thanks for your help so far.

 

Do you mind sharing your tweaking tips for the hp 9180 for b/w printing??

I'd appreciate it.

 

Al.

[NZDavid]

Wow, what a lot of useful pointers here. Viva film!

 

I started developing and printing my own when I was 12, and though I haven't done it for a while (and then only negs), I thought I would second what others have said and add a few more thoughts:

 

Agfa Rodinal is a great developer. I believe the formulation dates to the C19!

 

For ultra-fine negs, I always loved Ilford Pan F rated at ISO 32 and developed in Ilford Perceptol. Beautiful tones.

 

Temperature, while not as crucial as it is for color, still matters. 20C or 68F. And don't, whatever you do, rinse the film in freezing tap water, or you get reticulated film, horrible grain clumps.

 

Use a few drops of glacial acetic acid diluted in water as an alternative for stop bath.

 

Force-film washer (a hose that connects from the tap to your tank) is useful.

 

It's OK to let a drop of developer spill into the fixer but fixer in developer will instantly contaminate it. You need to keep everything tidy!

 

Squeegee moisture from film very carefully before hanging to dry in a dust-free environment. As someone suggested, wetting agent is a good idea though not essential.

 

My first tank was a Paterson. Very reliable, and has hardly changed.

 

Store in paper negative sleeves, label and index asap.

 

That, of course, is just the developing -- printing is a whole other adventure.

 

Have fun!

[henning]

Coming in a bit late on this, but...

I've been developing my own film since the mid 50's, when my dad gave me an Ansco developing kit for my 10th or 11th birthday. Film developing I wasn't crazy about at first, but I loved print making! Since good prints need good negs, that became reason enough to develop my own film.

In the 60's I tried various things, and came away realizing that the best results came from learning one set of steps really well, with one set of chemicals. That changed of course in later years when I did it professionally, with various emulsions and formats.

For 35mm and 120/220 film I got some Nikor tanks and reels in the early 60's, which I still use and have added onto. For a number of months I had a job shooting and developing about 5 to 15 rolls of 35mm film a day, so an efficient workflow was essential, and steel reels as well. I generally used 8 reel tanks with 64 fl.oz. (1.9l) which you could fill very quickly, so I loaded the reels onto the center hanger and dunked the whole thing into the tank, put the lid on and started the agitation. I had another tank with water and a bit of photoflo as a prewet. I got a taste for a bit longer developing times and fairly dilute developer so that pouring out the chemicals over a bit longer period didn't matter much. At the end came a very thorough wash and some more photoflo before a gentle squeegee and drying.

When away from home I usually carried some chemicals and a two reel Nikor tank so I could develop film in hotel rooms. Btw, steel reels are fairly easy to load; all it takes is practice. Sacrifice some films and practice in the light. Gradually stop looking at what you're doing unless you run into trouble. Then look to see where you went wrong. When you can easily load some film that you've already kinked at some point, you're good to go.

Since Xtol came out I've used it mostly. I use it diluted at 1:3 with a full 8 reel tank (1.9l) but only 7 rolls of film. My film choice is usually HP5+ and Delta 100. The HP5+ has a speed of EI640 and the Delta 100 EI160. This is mostly due to my developing to exhaustion, and stand developing for the last 8 minutes. After the above mentioned pre-wet I agitate every minute for 4 inversions until the 6th minute, then every 2 minutes 2 inversions until the 12th minute and then let stand for 8 minutes. I do use a mild stop bath, but at that point the developer is pretty well done. Then fixing, washing, photoflo rinse and drying. No streaks, uneven developing of any kind and quite fine, tight grain with high acutance.

The same basic setup works for 120 and 220 film. For 4x5 and 8x10 I use HC110 and develop in colour drums. To ensure proper fluid flow, I dab lots of blobs of fairly viscous and inert-when-cured glue around the inside of the drum about 2cm apart in all directions. The dividers in the drums allow me to develop 4 sheets of 4x5 in a drum intended for 8x10 paper, and 4-8x10 sheets or 16-4x5 sheets in a 16x20 drum if I really want to develop that many sheets exactly the same way. I'm basically a sometimes wandering disciple of AA, so the zone system doesn't always get adhered to.

I just do what works for me, and that's what everyone should aim for. What I wrote above works, and has worked for decades FOR ME. It can be used as a basis, but everyone will have to make adjustments. Most of my working life I had a thermostatically controlled triple filtered water supply in a darkroom only I used and therefore could rely on. That can be very important, but as I mentioned, I also developed film in hotel rooms, including in places like Algeria in the summer of 1967. As you can imagine, water quality and temperature control were iffy, but with some practice and experience useable results still come out.

Henning

[Pyrogallol]

6 hours ago, henning said:

Coming in a bit late on this, but...

I've been developing my own film since the mid 50's, when my dad gave me an Ansco developing kit for my 10th or 11th birthday. Film developing I wasn't crazy about at first, but I loved print making! Since good prints need good negs, that became reason enough to develop my own film.

In the 60's I tried various things, and came away realizing that the best results came from learning one set of steps really well, with one set of chemicals. That changed of course in later years when I did it professionally, with various emulsions and formats.

For 35mm and 120/220 film I got some Nikor tanks and reels in the early 60's, which I still use and have added onto. For a number of months I had a job shooting and developing about 5 to 15 rolls of 35mm film a day, so an efficient workflow was essential, and steel reels as well. I generally used 8 reel tanks with 64 fl.oz. (1.9l) which you could fill very quickly, so I loaded the reels onto the center hanger and dunked the whole thing into the tank, put the lid on and started the agitation. I had another tank with water and a bit of photoflo as a prewet. I got a taste for a bit longer developing times and fairly dilute developer so that pouring out the chemicals over a bit longer period didn't matter much. At the end came a very thorough wash and some more photoflo before a gentle squeegee and drying.

When away from home I usually carried some chemicals and a two reel Nikor tank so I could develop film in hotel rooms. Btw, steel reels are fairly easy to load; all it takes is practice. Sacrifice some films and practice in the light. Gradually stop looking at what you're doing unless you run into trouble. Then look to see where you went wrong. When you can easily load some film that you've already kinked at some point, you're good to go.

Since Xtol came out I've used it mostly. I use it diluted at 1:3 with a full 8 reel tank (1.9l) but only 7 rolls of film. My film choice is usually HP5+ and Delta 100. The HP5+ has a speed of EI640 and the Delta 100 EI160. This is mostly due to my developing to exhaustion, and stand developing for the last 8 minutes. After the above mentioned pre-wet I agitate every minute for 4 inversions until the 6th minute, then every 2 minutes 2 inversions until the 12th minute and then let stand for 8 minutes. I do use a mild stop bath, but at that point the developer is pretty well done. Then fixing, washing, photoflo rinse and drying. No streaks, uneven developing of any kind and quite fine, tight grain with high acutance.

The same basic setup works for 120 and 220 film. For 4x5 and 8x10 I use HC110 and develop in colour drums. To ensure proper fluid flow, I dab lots of blobs of fairly viscous and inert-when-cured glue around the inside of the drum about 2cm apart in all directions. The dividers in the drums allow me to develop 4 sheets of 4x5 in a drum intended for 8x10 paper, and 4-8x10 sheets or 16-4x5 sheets in a 16x20 drum if I really want to develop that many sheets exactly the same way. I'm basically a sometimes wandering disciple of AA, so the zone system doesn't always get adhered to.

I just do what works for me, and that's what everyone should aim for. What I wrote above works, and has worked for decades FOR ME. It can be used as a basis, but everyone will have to make adjustments. Most of my working life I had a thermostatically controlled triple filtered water supply in a darkroom only I used and therefore could rely on. That can be very important, but as I mentioned, I also developed film in hotel rooms, including in places like Algeria in the summer of 1967. As you can imagine, water quality and temperature control were iffy, but with some practice and experience useable results still come out.

Henning

Finally come across someone else who uses a colour print drum to process sheet film. I developed two sheets of 8x10 the other day. The drum is on a Durst roller base so gets constant agitation. Very economical on chemicals, only 100ml. Used Rodinal on one sheet and Moersch Tanol on the other. Tanol negative was the best for printing.

Good idea about the blobs of glue inside the drum to aid the liquid flow. I turn the drum on the roller every minute to avoid streaks.

Edited December 24, 2022 by Pyrogallol

[williamj]

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I completely agree that whatever it is one does, consistency is key to getting excellent results. Keeping notes and comparing exposure to negatives to final prints and feeding back the information and then making adjustments is important to achieve the look you want. Kodak/Ilford/Fuji don't know what it is that you're trying to achieve, their instructions will lead to a consistent negative density.