Developing 35mm Black and white, novice help needed

[Martyn-123]

Hi,

Have just bought a mint nikon FM2n as a xmas pressie to me from my wife and a black and white film.

Last time i used a 35mm was when i had a Ricoh KR10 when they first came out so guessing 30 years or so.

My question is regarding developing the film myself, can somebody recommend a basic complete kit that will suit me rather than taking it into my local Boots store,

Really looking forward to taking some moody car photographs,


Regards,


Martyn....

[Magic919]

I'd suggest getting someone to dev the film and just concentrate on printing.

You could get some Patterson gear on eBay and Ilford chemicals if you must dev the film.

[DIW35]

Another alternative would be to develop the film yourself, and scan in to a computer for printing. You don't need a darkroom to develop film, just a processing tank and a changing bag in which you transfer the film from the canister to the tank. Everything else can be done in normal light.

[velocemitch]

This is all you need to get started.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PATERSON-SUPER-SYSTEM-4-...

Plus the chemicals of course, Developer and Fix, don't worry about stopper, just use water. Keep the temperatures at exactly 20 degrees, including your wash water. A couple of bulldog clips are useful too, to hang the films up to dry.

Then you can scan them in to your PC, or go the whole hog and buy an enlarger.
Blimey it brings back memories this...

[allen l]

If you have a look on the ilford site, they have a nice tutorial somewhere if I'm correct.
I usually make sure I have my water ready an hour before I start to develop. This way it's always at room temperature. In my case 20 degrees Celcius.

[allen l]

If you have a look on the ilford site, they have a nice tutorial somewhere if I'm correct.
I usually make sure I have my water ready an hour before I start to develop. This way it's always at room temperature. In my case 20 degrees Celcius.

[Vipers]

DIW35 said:

Another alternative would be to develop the film yourself, and scan in to a computer for printing. You don't need a darkroom to develop film, just a processing tank and a changing bag in which you transfer the film from the canister to the tank. Everything else can be done in normal light.

When you finish the film and wind it back into the cassette, don't wind it all, as you hear it leave the other side of the camera, take it out.

With the light on, feed the tail it into the dev tank spiral, (do this at night curtains pulled), off lights, wind all film into spiral, cut end off, put spiral in tank, put cap on, turn on lights.

This will save you having to purchase a changing bag.

But TBH for just one film, have it processed commercially, it will be a lot of cheaper than buying the tank and chemicals.

Don't worry about 20 degrees, as long as you know the temp, the dev instructions should tell you how much time you should develope it for at varying temperatures, yes agree with posts 20 is the nominal temp.

Edited by Vipers on Friday 6th December 16:13

[BlimeyCharlie]

Good post above.
I agree about the film onto spool, but I found I had to have total darkness when doing this, curtains let in light, or if someone switches on a light elsewhere…
Best go in a downstairs loo, or airing cupboard.

You will need some scissors too, to cut the film off the spool it is on once wound onto spiral.
Bit of a faff even after doing it hundreds of times.

20 degrees is what I always aimed for. Get the water the right temp first then add developer solution to the measuring jug. Then into your tank.

Ah, those memories are still there. Or is it classed as a skill?

[Simpo Two]

BlimeyCharlie said:

Best go in a downstairs loo, or airing cupboard.

Or in a dark bedroom under the covers.

I was lucky, my dad had an X-Ray cupboard

[Vipers]

I tried colour reversal once, E6 process I think, (this was around 71 so my grey cells could be wrong), what a pain in the butt, something like a dozen different processes, never again.

I stuck to B & W after that, still have the Durst enlarger in the loft somewhere, and a daylight developing tank, you place the film cassette in the top pf the gizmo, let the sprockets pick it up, close the top and wind the film from cassette into the tank in daylight.

Then add the chemicals.

[Sway]

If you do go down the route of developing yourself, two things are key.

Water wetter and banging the st out of the tank once filled.

Bubbles are the world's biggest pain in the arse, and cannot be fixed, unlike the degree of tolerance in enlarging under/overdeveloped film (within reason).

Sods law means that a nice big circle of undeveloped yet fixed film will be bang in the middle of your best shot!

I'd also say that IMO a daylight changing bag is well worthwhile - film is by its very nature a lot more sensitive to the slightest stray light than paper...

[Vipers]

Sway said:

If you do go down the route of developing yourself, two things are key.

Water wetter and banging the st out of the tank once filled.

Bubbles are the world's biggest pain in the arse, and cannot be fixed, unlike the degree of tolerance in enlarging under/overdeveloped film (within reason).

Sods law means that a nice big circle of undeveloped yet fixed film will be bang in the middle of your best shot!

I'd also say that IMO a daylight changing bag is well worthwhile - film is by its very nature a lot more sensitive to the slightest stray light than paper...

A tip someone gave me was to fill the tank with water first to wet the film, agitate/shake it, tip out then in with the developer.

[Vipers]

This is similar to the one I have, let's you load the film in daylight.

[Martyn-123]

Hi,

Restarting a old post.

I have done a couple of films and pleased with the results and wondering if i develop the film myself i could look at just scanning the negatives of the pictures i want rarther than the paying the cost of printing a full film each time.

There are some scanners for negatives on ebay and i like to look at my photographs on my ipad. Does anybody any experience of a scanner that will connect with a ipad or onto a memory card which i can then plug into my ipad via a connector


Regards,


Martyn.

[Simpo Two]

Martyn-123 said:

I have done a couple of films and pleased with the results and wondering if i develop the film myself i could look at just scanning the negatives of the pictures i want rarther than the paying the cost of printing a full film each time.

Surely for the full analogue chemical experience one should enlist an enlarger, printing frame and another set of chemicals and dishes? You don't print the whole film (though you could make a contact sheet), just the ones you like. It's much more fun than developing film.

[GetCarter]

Simpo Two said:

Surely for the full analogue chemical experience one should enlist an enlarger, printing frame and another set of chemicals and dishes? You don't print the whole film (though you could make a contact sheet), just the ones you like. It's much more fun than developing film.

Quite. Contact sheet and magnifying glass was always the first step for me.

[Vipers]

Simpo Two said:

Martyn-123 said:

I have done a couple of films and pleased with the results and wondering if i develop the film myself i could look at just scanning the negatives of the pictures i want rarther than the paying the cost of printing a full film each time.

Surely for the full analogue chemical experience one should enlist an enlarger, printing frame and another set of chemicals and dishes? You don't print the whole film (though you could make a contact sheet), just the ones you like. It's much more fun than developing film.

And lots of fun dodging and burning, all good stuff.

When roll cameras took a 116 neg, didn't need an enlarger, just laid it over the printing paper and turned on the light box for a bit, as I recall that film size was the same as postcard size paper.

Enjoy your new hobby.

[Sway]

Whilst I loved to spend time in the dark room, it is a lot of faff, time and expense...

OP, a decent neg/slide scanner shouldn't be that expensive, then you can play with Lightroom/Elements and save the files as jpgs, which can be transferred onto your ipad. Nice blend of analogue and digital without undergoing the enormous learning curve that good printing entails.

[Mr Will]

Sway said:

Whilst I loved to spend time in the dark room, it is a lot of faff, time and expense...

OP, a decent neg/slide scanner shouldn't be that expensive, then you can play with Lightroom/Elements and save the files as jpgs, which can be transferred onto your ipad. Nice blend of analogue and digital without undergoing the enormous learning curve that good printing entails.

That's precisely what I do - I have a Plustek 7600i film scanner which churns through them pretty quickly on moderate settings and gives decent results for general web/viewing purposes. If I want to print or do anything fancy then I can go back to the negative and either rescan at full resolution or send it off for "proper" printing but for 99% of what I do it's not required.