Home developing question
Home developing question
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DIW35

Original Poster:

4,189 posts

220 months

Thursday
quotequote all
For many years I have been a 35mm shooter, but have recently taken up shooting medium format.

When it comes to home developing, many manufacturers list the film capacity of their fixr as so many rolls of 36 exposure 35 mm films. Is there a recognised or easy way to convert that to work out what the equivalent capacity is for 120 roll film?

I'm developing black and white film, though I don't think that should make any difference.

Speed addicted

6,167 posts

247 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Work out the surface area I suppose?

Speed addicted

6,167 posts

247 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Ok Google reckons that medium format has approx 4 times the surface area of 35mm, so a quarter of the shots before the fixer is depleted.
Probably.

Simpo Two

90,432 posts

285 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Speed addicted said:
Ok Google reckons that medium format has approx 4 times the surface area of 35mm, so a quarter of the shots before the fixer is depleted.
Of course, back in the days of film they'd have worked that out without forums or Google wink

Speed addicted

6,167 posts

247 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Simpo Two said:
Speed addicted said:
Ok Google reckons that medium format has approx 4 times the surface area of 35mm, so a quarter of the shots before the fixer is depleted.
Of course, back in the days of film they'd have worked that out without forums or Google wink
Back in the day they d have seen medium format film in real life!
I had no idea how big it was…

DIW35

Original Poster:

4,189 posts

220 months

Yesterday (16:06)
quotequote all
Speed addicted said:
Ok Google reckons that medium format has approx 4 times the surface area of 35mm, so a quarter of the shots before the fixer is depleted.
Probably.
A 6x4.5 negative is about 2.8 times the area of a 35mm neg, but you only get 15 shots on a roll compared to 36. On that basis, there's not that much difference in the actual exposed area.

I think it's going to be a case of trial and error.

fourfoldroot

648 posts

175 months

Yesterday (17:39)
quotequote all
The life of the fixer is dependent on a few factors including storage and area of cleared negative . When I was an impecunious photography student, we would use it till it took double the time for the negatives to clear, compared to fresh fixer. This is from the instructions.