How to develop your own B&W photos

[SniperD]

wonderful!!!!

 

[gohfigure]

could i kindly enquire as to when would be the best time to cut the negatives to a more manageable length? just before drying? and how many frames would you consider a good length to cut at. thanks in advance.

 

[StreetShooter]

could i kindly enquire as to when would be the best time to cut the negatives to a more manageable length? just before drying? and how many frames would you consider a good length to cut at. thanks in advance.

My first roll I cut into strips of six frames.

Problem was that when you clipped it up to dry, sometimes you could not avoid clipping part of the exposed frame.

After that, I just hung the whole roll up to dry. About 5 feet long for 36 exposures. The leaders at both ends allow you to clip without spoiling your pictures. Once they're completely dry, cut into strips of 6 exposures each, and insert them into negative sleeves (20 cents per sheet of 7 strips at Ruby) after scanning.

Not sure if there is any downside to doing this which I am not aware of, except that you have to be quite tall lah.

 

[hangdog]

I read on Ilford website (some PDF document for their rapid fixer) regarding washing.

What they recommend is for non-hardening fixer, you can use the method you are using. But their version goes like this:

pour in water into the developing tank, invert 5 times,
drain and refill, invert 10 times,
drain and refill, invert 20 times,
and then you can do the wetting agent bit.

just tot you would like to know.

heh, definitely save a lot of water than "30 minutes of running water", phew.

 

[greg]

Then I came across the thread in Offstone about developing at room temperature, and what is now known as "stand developing"

...... developing at room temperature thread in offstone is NOT Stand Developing as your tutorial describes in this thread. That thread serves to inform as an alternative way to develop your negative using the conventional way and also, your described method, Stand developing.

 

[chgoh]

...

First you use a syringe and draw out the appropriate amount of HC-110 developer (you can use other developers of course, but the concentrations will be different). I use only 5 ml of it. If you are using the powder or liquid preparations, you may need a measuring jug or cylinder to measure out the amounts. Then squirt it into your mixing container, and add water. I use a 500ml bottle of mineral water (so that I know it's 500 ml).

Knock the tank against the sink a couple of times to dislodge air bubbles trapped on the negatives. Then agitate for 10 seconds, using the stirrer stick that comes with the development tank and fits into the funnel. Then set your timer (note the brand loyalty) and wait. For Tri-X 400 exposed at ISO 1600, that would be about 20 minutes. Try 12 minutes for ISO 400, and 16 minutes for ISO 800.

...

Hi StreetShooter,

Thanks for the very informative "web demo".

Looks like you are using HC-110 at 1:100 dilution and for TriX the development times are 12min for ISO400, 16 min for ISO800 and 20min for ISO1600 at ~ 27°C-28°C. Are these the results of your experiments or were they recommended somewhere else?

TIA
chgoh @ 12:20 pm, 24 September 2003

 

[jon33]

hi all...

you can pull the film out of the canister without using a film picker. just a small trick i learnt, especially useful when you forget to bring your film picker.

1. use a piece of semi-hard cardboard, or any reasonably rigid material(not too thick, must be able to fit into the slot of the canister) and a piece of double sided tape (about 5cm long) pasted legthwise on one end.

2. stick the end cardboard with the double sided tape (facing down) into the canister slot, until about 3-4cm is in the canister.

3. turn the canister winder away from the cardboard slowly. if all goes well, the cardboard should move in when you turn the winder. if not, pull the cardboard out and repeat step 2.

4. slowly pull the cardboard out. the fi;m leader should come out together with the cardboard.

hope this helps.

thanks SS for the tut on developing. anyone know when CP has any stock of tri-x bulk roll now?

 

[StreetShooter]

Hi StreetShooter,

Thanks for the very informative "web demo".

Looks like you are using HC-110 at 1:100 dilution and for TriX the development times are 12min for ISO400, 16 min for ISO800 and 20min for ISO1600 at ~ 27°C-28°C. Are these the results of your experiments or were they recommended somewhere else?

TIA
chgoh @ 12:20 pm, 24 September 2003

Recommended on Offstone.

As Greg kindly pointed out, this is NOT the standard way to develop B&W negatives. It's a quick and dirty way to get introduced to B&W development, after which you can experiment or eventually do it the traditional way and see the difference. What it did for me is to remove the mental block I had.

 

[pluto]

Hi!

Thanks for the infos Streetshooter. I found a good thread in OS on Black&White stuff. Very informative.

http://www.offstone.com/photo/forum...r=&sortfield=lastpost&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[LCT]

Streetshooter,

Good piece of work to share, must have entailed lots of time and effort to produce a comprehensive process for any newcomer to film development.


Bravo zulu

 

[KeyserSoze]

you are a brave man. I salute u.

 

[djchris]

Streetshooter, thanks for sharing the information.

After screwing up 2 rolls of film due to under-development, I finally got my first roll (which I'm pleased with).

I present thee, tri-x 400 shot at ISO 1600 developed with diafine...

 

[eddyvlad]

Any tutorial on Colour negatives and Postives?

 

[pascalc]

hi all...

you can pull the film out of the canister without using a film picker. just a small trick i learnt, especially useful when you forget to bring your film picker.

1. use a piece of semi-hard cardboard, or any reasonably rigid material(not too thick, must be able to fit into the slot of the canister) and a piece of double sided tape (about 5cm long) pasted legthwise on one end.

2. stick the end cardboard with the double sided tape (facing down) into the canister slot, until about 3-4cm is in the canister.

3. turn the canister winder away from the cardboard slowly. if all goes well, the cardboard should move in when you turn the winder. if not, pull the cardboard out and repeat step 2.

4. slowly pull the cardboard out. the fi;m leader should come out together with the cardboard.

hope this helps.

thanks SS for the tut on developing. anyone know when CP has any stock of tri-x bulk roll now?

Alternatively, use film lead from previously developed negs that would have been thrashed...

Cheers.

 

[Ah Pao]

Any tutorial on Colour negatives and Postives?

Apparently the C-41 (for color negs) and E-6 (for color positives) processes use quite toxic chemicals. Temperature and timing is apprarently very crucial as well as color films are much more sensitive to these.

Just save the effort and spend $3 developing them at your friendly minilab!

 

[sumball]

Thanks SS for sharing this info. Will try it out for sure. Any reccommedations where to get those accessories? Can I get them all at Ryby? Just tell the uncle I am new and he will get for me all of them?

Thanks a lot!

Apparently the C-41 (for color negs) and E-6 (for color positives) processes use quite toxic chemicals. Temperature and timing is apprarently very crucial as well as color films are much more sensitive to these.

Just save the effort and spend $3 developing them at your friendly minilab!

Any ideas which lad charges cheaper slides processing fees. I heard there is one at Bras Basah charges $3 per roll while others are charging $6. :bigeyes:

 

[sequitur]

dudes dudes dudes.

anybody tried PULLING using this method ?

trying to consider pulling my trix400 to 100.... hmmmmmmmmm.

 

[akane]

you push you extend the developing time..
so you pull you cut the developing time? keke
me still learning..so.........

 

[sequitur]

you push you extend the developing time..
so you pull you cut the developing time? keke
me still learning..so.........

theoratically yes, but practically... uh.. dunno who got try before. and the results... hehhehheh... :devil: if screw up impt roll means really screw up
hahaha

 

[Ansel]

theoratically yes, but practically... uh.. dunno who got try before. and the results... hehhehheh... :devil: if screw up impt roll means really screw up
hahaha

You can try anything, but my recommendation is always test before using the method for important events or subjects.

Just roll about 10 frames of any film into another spare film cassette (in a black bag of course!) and do a clip test, ie, take about 6 to 8 frames with different exposure settings, develop this clip and see which frame turn out the best for your dilution/timing/temp setting. The rest of the roll can then be used for regular shooting. You do lose a few frames with this process, but better than losing the whole roll.

But I don't see why you would want to pull your processing though, under normal circumstances. The best thing is to start with a film with your preferred ISO. Use Tmax 100 if you want to use ISO 100. It will give you the best result.