developing B&W film...

[brian]

When rolling the negatives into the plastic reel inside darkbag, trim/chamfer the corners of the negative. As you roll the reel, the trim corners will guide the whole negative in without getting stuck due to the flat 90 deg corners. Also make sure your reel is DRY. wet will get your negative stuck.

Developer temperature is the most critical. Advice to pour in Dev Tank at 19 deg. Once inside the temperature will compensation to be around 20 Deg.

One more tip: Maybe not so much an issue in Singapore, but for countries with cold tap water in winter, make sure from developer to fixing, the change in temperature of the liquid you use is not too drastic. I have this habit of rinsing after stop bath and once I went from 20C developer/stopbath to 10C rinsing before fixing. Film comes out with cracked emulsion. I have samples on my blog if interested.

Darkroom is fun. Especially the smell of spent fixers.

 

[bernards]

Any tips on a more water efficient method for the final wash? My wife nearly had a fit watching the water run.

 

[leej0038]

StreetShooter had this method of pumping the reel up and down in the tank which is filled with water, i've been using it and so far so good i guess. you can check out the thread here(got pic) - http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45612

 

[sweat100]

Any tips on a more water efficient method for the final wash? My wife nearly had a fit watching the water run.

Using Hypo clearing agent helps to remove the fixer, so you do not need a large amount of water for final rinse.

Sometimes I will just soak the reel in a basin of water and leave it there. So far so good.

 

[bernards]

Thanks guys. Will give it a try tomorrow. I am guessing Ruby sells this 'Hypo agent'.

 

[leej0038]

ya they do, i bought them in powder form.

 

[tnemgarf]

hi

dont really get how to dilute; uncle at ruby side hc-110's 1:4 so i just mix it like that or have to adjust to the film bein developed?

from the massive dev chart i saw this for kodak px125

film - Plus-X
developer - HC-110
dilution - B
iso - 125
35mm - 5
120mm - 5
sheet - 5
temp - 20C

does it mean soak the 35mm for 5mins at 20c?
also what does dilution b means?

 

[chiif]

HC110 is very concentrated. It cannot be 1:4!

Dilution B is 1:32 concentration. That means for a 640ml tank, you need only about 19ml!

1:4 dilution is for T-Max or D76.

Do check out this article for more info..
http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/

hi

dont really get how to dilute; uncle at ruby side hc-110's 1:4 so i just mix it like that or have to adjust to the film bein developed?

from the massive dev chart i saw this for kodak px125

film - Plus-X
developer - HC-110
dilution - B
iso - 125
35mm - 5
120mm - 5
sheet - 5
temp - 20C

does it mean soak the 35mm for 5mins at 20c?
also what does dilution b means?

 

[tnemgarf]

erm then for steel tank that can develop 4 reels at once i only have to fill enough just to cover 1 reel when im developing one, then put the empty reels on top right? so i'll need 240ml of developer as i read..

see dilution h's 1:63 with 3.8ml of hc110 & below there's a note:
*Be sure to use at least 6 mL of syrup per 135-36 or 120 roll of film, even if this requires you to put more than the usual amount of liquid in the tank.

so put 6ml hc110 & 63x of h2o? or 3.8ml?

developin time's 5min for 20c & 3.5min for 24c so i double it if im usin dilution h?

or stick to dilution b for 're-use-ability' or h for 1-off?

also the development time chart; saw 20c development time range quite wide; not sure how to read it exactly..

then fixer's also the same volume as developer; eg: 240ml for 1 steel reel?
on the ilford rapid fixer bottle there's 5L - 1+4, 10L - 1+9
does it mean that if i do 1+9 i just double the fixing time?

sorry abt so many qns.. quite blur abit chemistry stuff..

HC110 is very concentrated. It cannot be 1:4!

Dilution B is 1:32 concentration. That means for a 640ml tank, you need only about 19ml!

1:4 dilution is for T-Max or D76.

Do check out this article for more info..
http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/

 

[chiif]

Just a little bit of logic, don't have to follow strictly... it's like cooking, you adjust the ingredients to get the taste you want.

For 5min, it's dilution B. If dilution H, then it's double the timing (10min or 11min). If you add a min or a few seconds, there won't be too much difference done to your negatives.

If it's is a large tank, even if you develop 1 roll, I suggest you fill up the tank as well. If you leave too much space inside, you might risk developing the roll partially. You can reuse the solution 3 to 4 times safely.

For temperature, not much effect too. I suggest you just drop one ice cube into it to make it at about 24-26 degrees. You can skip this, it won't be too much difference also.

What most important is to knock the bottom of the tank to dislodge bubbles after you have agitated the tank. Bubbles stuck in the reel will cause white spots on your negatives.

Hope that helps.

erm then for steel tank that can develop 4 reels at once i only have to fill enough just to cover 1 reel when im developing one, then put the empty reels on top right? so i'll need 240ml of developer as i read..

see dilution h's 1:63 with 3.8ml of hc110 & below there's a note:
*Be sure to use at least 6 mL of syrup per 135-36 or 120 roll of film, even if this requires you to put more than the usual amount of liquid in the tank.

so put 6ml hc110 & 63x of h2o? or 3.8ml?

developin time's 5min for 20c & 3.5min for 24c so i double it if im usin dilution h?

or stick to dilution b for 're-use-ability' or h for 1-off?

also the development time chart; saw 20c development time range quite wide; not sure how to read it exactly..

then fixer's also the same volume as developer; eg: 240ml for 1 steel reel?
on the ilford rapid fixer bottle there's 5L - 1+4, 10L - 1+9
does it mean that if i do 1+9 i just double the fixing time?

sorry abt so many qns.. quite blur abit chemistry stuff..

 

[tnemgarf]

kinda get it liao; guess i'll understand more when i start doing it. =]

Just a little bit of logic, don't have to follow strictly... it's like cooking, you adjust the ingredients to get the taste you want.

For 5min, it's dilution B. If dilution H, then it's double the timing (10min or 11min). If you add a min or a few seconds, there won't be too much difference done to your negatives.

If it's is a large tank, even if you develop 1 roll, I suggest you fill up the tank as well. If you leave too much space inside, you might risk developing the roll partially. You can reuse the solution 3 to 4 times safely.

For temperature, not much effect too. I suggest you just drop one ice cube into it to make it at about 24-26 degrees. You can skip this, it won't be too much difference also.

What most important is to knock the bottom of the tank to dislodge bubbles after you have agitated the tank. Bubbles stuck in the reel will cause white spots on your negatives.

Hope that helps.

 

[tnemgarf]

yesh~ i did it.. except got a couple of frames got white patch cause of uneven reelin.. not sure if its cause not 'centered' or reel not 'very dry' but overall i see somethin.. now to get scanner

=]

hi chiif

after scannin i think i got some big problems with the developin [probably is the reelin not properly done]
exposure was edited in photoshop cause very very dark not sure if its shootin underexposure or under developin
so what did i do wrong or is there anythin to do durin developin to minimize such results?

results:

white specks

undeveloped blob

'developed blob'