PROCESSING FILM YOURSELF - PART 3

Picture the scene, A big box of photographic goodies has just arrived and you are unpacking everything. Lots of stuff to go over and look at.

By all means take the leaflets out of the boxes to read, but don’t lose anything. For the chemical kit I scanned it (it’s only a regular size sheet of paper printed on both sides) and have it ready to view whenever I need it on my computer. The last thing you want is for the vital sentence to be obscured by some splash of chemical!

So you now have a collection of gear and are ready to get going.

We will but first we need to think about chemicals and how to handle, mix and use them without either killing yourself, children, a pet, staining everything in the house with weird splash patterns of bright red that won’t come out, or burning holes in the carpet. I'm joking with most of this list, as the chances of any of these things happening are very remote indeed - well, perhaps a stain or two is possible. None of the chemicals that we use in photography are usually a problem for most people at their normal levels of concentration and if handled properly. I’m going to emphasize this phrase: if handled properly.

What does all that mean? Basically this:

• Don’t drink any of it!
• Don’t let any get in your eyes.
• Don’t get any into cuts or open wounds.
• Don’t breath in any of the fumes.

And above all else:

• READ THE INSTRUCTION SHEETS!

If you feel at all unwell while using chemicals stop what you are doing immediately and get some fresh air. Take a drink of cool water and clear out your air ways and lungs. Don’t take risks.

If any chemicals do happen to get onto an open cut or splashes into your eyes wash it off with running water for at least 15 minutes. Yes – that long. Seek medical attention as soon as you can. The chances are that it won’t do more than sting badly, but do not take any chances. If you happen to swallow any of these chemicals, you MUST induce vomiting (as nasty as it might sound, bring it all up as quickly as you can) and go to an emergency room as soon as possible – take the instruction sheet with you to show the doctors.

WOW! Such drama!!

Remember, this is the worst possible situation you might encounter. It’s most unlikely you’ll ever have to do any of this. EVER! Just so long as you handle the chemicals properly. 

So let’s move on. At last...

The chemical kits that I use are sold as powders that you mix up into the stock solution. You can get some color chemical as stock solution in gallon quantities but you’d need to have about 30 to 50 rolls of film ready to develop to make it worth your while buying in that kind of quantity. Why?

Once you start to use the stock solutions, the clock is ticking. They have a shelf life of about 3 months before they really will lose the ability to work predictably. I’m not saying that they WON’T work well for you or even at all, but you want this part of the film process experience to be as predictable as you can get it so you can reproduce good results time and time again.

Color chemicals are also reused, not thrown away like “one-shot” B&W chemicals. They will also get diluted and to some extent polluted by the previous chemical in the process, which also lowers the strength each time you use them. Expect about 10 or maybe even 12 rolls of 35mm film per liter of chemicals. That’s about $2 per film! Not at all bad compared to the $10 or $12 plus postage and the time involved for sending the film away.

There are two main brand names of powder C-41 chemicals, As far as I can tell, they are both actually identical. B&H and Freestyle in the USA sell them – see the previous part of this series for more information. Also Freestyle sell C-41 kits in larger quantities from Rollei, if you really do need five times the powder kit quantities and are going to get through that many films inside the expected shelf life, then go for it, to start out however, there is no need.

One tip I will pass onto you all is that at the time of writing this, B&H were selling the Tetenal C-41 Press Kit for about half the price that Freestyle were asking. Go figure!

So once you have everything you need and have the chemicals, we should get to work by mixing up the stock solutions.

I use filtered water for mixing up the stock solutions. I get water from the filtered water faucet on my fridge. Oh the luxury of American life!! I am sure a Brita filter jug will work as well, but the idea of this is to remove all the bits of minerals and other stuff that is usually floating ‘in suspension’ in tap water. This will help to reduce the quantity of spots and other things that you’ll have to deal with in post processing.

Wash out the storage bottles. You are just trying to remove any little bits bits of junk and any left-over plastic shards from manufacturing. Label one of these now cleaned out bottles with the words “Dev”, another “Blix”, and the third “Stab” so you know what they are (Developer, Blix [Bleach-fixer], and Stabilizer). USE BIG LETTERS, as I certainly have got the developer and blix the wrong way round at least once... 

Make sure that if you mix the stock solutions in the same container as the previous chemical, that you wash it completely between mixing the next chemical.  You don't want to contaminate these stock solutions before you have a chance to use them even once, now do you?

So, just follow the instructions in the kit to do the mixing and pour the new stock solution into the brown chemical storage bottles. Easy.

Another tip - I heat the filtered water in my microwave to the 110 degrees F for mixing. You are diluting these powders, so will have to stir everything. Use something plastic and clean for this. Wash it between chemicals too.

Make sure that the lids are screwed on tightly as exposure to the air is going to lower the strength of these solutions – and also note that the blix can smell a bit.

The Stabilizer does not have to be heated for mixing or when used.  Room temperature is fine.

Clean-up is as important as anything else in this process. Blix especially has a reputation for being a liquid that stains anything it comes into contact with permanently, but I don’t find it to be quite that bad.

Another tip - I do the mixing and filling of bottles outside in my back deck/porch area. Any spills don’t matter on the grass. At least I assume you don’t live with a manicured grass lawn and the odd bald spot son't matter! Wipe everything completely and make sure any drops split or splashed are wiped away.

I store the bottles in the 5 gallon bucket along with any other items that will fit. This is an easy way to carry the kit from where I store it to where I’m going to use it and back again. Two layers of plastic to ensure that in the event the bottles do fail somehow, then the bucket is there to catch the spillage.

Let everything cool and you are ready to get the film loaded into the tank – but that will have to wait for the next part of this series.

Back to Part 2     On to Part 4

Processing film yourself - part 2

This posting is all about answering this question: "What kind of gear do you need to process your own negatives?"

The short answer is that for both B&W and C-41, you need pretty much the same kind of gear. Some people stress over having two different sets of gear, one for B&W and one for color to avoid "cross contamination" and while I can see that as a valid worry, if you are on a tight budget, you don’t need to go to that expense. Good, comprehensive washing techniques that you can develop (sorry about the pun) into a habit will cover you in this regard. 

Throughout this short series, you’ll see that I am using the same gear for both types of processing and while I do have more than one set of most things, I’m going to show solidarity with the budget guys out there. 

I see no point in discussing how to use a $1000 machine if only two other people have them. I'll be using the same, relatively cheap and accessible items and recommending you buy the minimum you need. You should budget to spend about $150 on everything and the only consumables are the chemicals, which come as a kit and are no more than about $25 once every 10 or 12 rolls developed.

Ready? 

Good. 

The first thing to consider is the location. Without a really nice darkroom, out of the way of pets, children, the wife and with lots of running water and ventilation your results will always be terrible and you will leave nasty smelling stains on EVERYTHING! 

Is this a cue for the Mythbusters TV show? You bet your life it is. 

This is Myth Busting time and it is 100% absolutely: BUSTED!

You will need a sink and have access to hot and cold running water and often will run a fan but it’s not essential. In fact, when I was a teenager and before I had access to some really nice darkrooms at school and college (now we are talking the late 1960’s and early 1970's here), my mother told me not to even think of using her nice shiny clean sink for this "chemical stuff". I learned to process film (B&W in fact) using buckets of water in the back yard. It’s not the most convenient way of getting the job done, especially if it’s too hot or too cold for the process – or it’s raining (don’t ask), but it is possible.

While the best practice is indeed to have a "proper" darkroom, but like me, you can use the kitchen sink. Mine is a steel sink, the porcelain ones are much more likely to stain! Be careful.

My set up is simple. I clear a space next to the sink of everything food related and spread out some old towels. Have a nice, flat surface so you reduce the risk of tipping something over. Place a towel on the floor to take up any splashes is another good precaution to preserve domestic bliss and I also throw these towels into the washing machine as soon as I am done, so they are always ready for the next "session". 

Again; You should move or cover up everything food related. Use lots of towels to ensure you don't ruin something when (not if) you splash some chemical and preserve the domestic harmony we all so desire.

However, I am getting a little bit ahead of myself. Your location is one very important thing, but you won’t need it until you actually process the film. 

Getting the chemicals and gear first of all is essential as unless you live in New York City or close to a well stocked film camera store (in this day and age a rare thing indeed), this means mail order. Read what follows and then draw up a list of supplies to get.

Starting with the chemicals, I will be using the Tetenal Press Kit (about $24 from B&H or Adorama in New York) or the Unicolor kit ($19 from Freestyle) and interestingly, apart from the printing on the box, both kits are identical... Hmm.. Obviously, you will find shipping costs and possibly tax has to be added, so I'll let you work out where best to buy these from. 

They are shipped inside a cardboard box and inside the box the chemicals are a dry powder contained in sealed foil bags. Do I have to tell you not to open the bags until you are ready to mix up the stock solutions?

Now a serious word of warning: Do NOT whatever else you do, be tempted to use food containers to store chemicals. In some countries doing so is actually illegal. WOW!

By not using proper containers, you’ll also risk small children thinking that this is a bottle of soda or the liquids leaking out and staining everything and also shortening the life of the stock solution greatly. Just don’t do it. Spend the few dollars involved on decent containers specially made for photographic chemicals.

For C-41, I use three of the dark brown plastic 1 liter chemical storage bottles that the better film photo suppliers (mentioned above) carry for storing stock solutions.

Here is a link to them: 

http://bhphotovideo.com/c/product/70860-REG/Delta_11120_Datatainer_Storage_Bottle_with.html

The cost is under $4 each and there are other designs (like the ones that collapse to keep the air out and they cost a little bit more), but go with whatever works for you and your budget. You’ll need three of them. 

Now before anyone asks, I know that these hold just UNDER one liter (32, not 33 ounces). While I am sure there is a good story about why these are a little bit less than an absolute correct amount, I don't know what it is. Sorry. You might be able to get true 1 liter versions in the EU or elsewhere, but as far as I can tell, it’s next to impossible here in the USA.

For use when it comes to B&W, I use different stock solution storage bottles. I use the one gallon (128 ounce) version of these bottles. Here is the link to them: 

http://bhphotovideo.com/c/product/70862-REG/Delta_11140_Datatainer_Chemical_Storage_Bottle.html

The cost for these is just over $5 each, but I only actually need two. I'll cover this in more depth latter. Still not too much of a bank account strain, is it?

What about a good thermometer? You need to spend between $10 and $20 on one. I used to use the classic glass tube/mercury design but a year ago and for another project unrelated to photography, I picked up a $15 electronic or infra-red beam one that looks like a pistol grip from eBay. It is as accurate as I could ever want (to within half a degree as far as I am able to test), and with a little care, so I am aiming the beam at the liquid and not the container, it seems to work just fine. 

Whatever you choose to use (I still have both types of thermometer but use the electronic one mostly now), will be fine, just make sure it is as accurate as possible in the 60 to 110 degrees F range.

There is a growing trend for pound or dollar stores (often called by different names depending on your local currency), but you can get almost all the rest of the jugs and measuring tools you’ll need from them. I got a collection of cheap $1 plastic measuring jugs (they have all sorts of measures printed on the side up to 500ml) as well as a glass one for $3. Get three or four in total.

What else do you need? You might find it useful to get a Measuring Graduate... I use one for making sure I am diluting my B&W developer properly (one part dev to one nine parts water for example), but there is no need for it with C-41. I'll let you look about online for one when the time comes for that. 

My wife has a collection of plastic storage tubs and while I could use one as a water bath to heat the chemical bottles, I don’t want her to think that I am using "her stuff", so I got my own! A few dollars from the dollar store again and make sure its deep enough so you can submerge your bottles in it. They can go in on their side, so it doesn't have to be all that deep. On the subject of water baths, how to control the temperature of the water? 

A tropical fish tank water heater that goes up to at least 105 degrees is ideal, but for the ultra budget start-up process, no, you don't need one. If you do want one, go ahead but you'll bust my $150 target for the initial budget. 

Now to store everything when not in use. I got a 5 gallon "orange" painters bucket from Home Depot (and it gets used for used chemicals in B&W but more about that latter in the series), as well as the space underneath my sink in the bathroom. Easy! I store the 1 liter bottles in the bucket between developing "sessions" along with a lot of the other plastic/glass wares.

Now we get to the expensive stuff, thankfully all of it is one time or relatively rare purchases; You’ll need a changing bag and a developing tank.

A good changing bag, made out of two thick layers of solid material, with tight elastic at the arm holes is a great thing to have. You'll be able to sit there in front of the TV and able to share "quality" time with the family while you curse and wrestle, trying to load the films onto the spiral of the tank. If you have never done this before, its very much a right of passage that you get it wrong a few times and doing that while distracted by your favorite TV show is essential. 

I purchased the Patterson one from B&H:

http://bhphotovideo.com/c/product/253370-REG/Paterson_PTP125.html

They are available from other vendors and should cost anything from $20 to $25.  

I got my first developing tank used, from a local school that was selling them as they were no longer teaching about film on arts courses. It cost me $5. Funny thing is that within a year, they ended up buying a whole new darkroom set up as the demand for "art" related photography (meaning film) came right back! Who would have guessed it?

Since then, I also purchased new a Patterson "Super System 4" two reel tank which can handle 120 or 35mm film.

http://bhphotovideo.com/c/product/886586-REG/Paterson_Universal_Tank_with_Two.html

At nearly $27. That is probably the single most expensive item of all you will need to purchase!

Does it have to be THIS tank? No. The aluminum ones work the "other way round" to the plastic ones and some people swear by and at them. I'm not going to takes sides over this as they all "work". Whatever design is good for you is good for me. 

So what else to buy? Look around for the best "archival" storage bags or binder sheets that the negatives will go into when they are dry. About $10 for a packet of 25 pages of storage is it.

 Do you need the special weighted clips to ensure the film dries as flat as possible? No. Clothes pins (clothes pegs to my UK friends), work just as well, as do Bulldog clips. There. I just saved you from spending $6 per clip on eBay.

Do you need rubber gloves and chemical proof smocks or even hazmat masks and suits as some commentators would have you think? 

Is this a cue for the Mythbusters TV show again? You bet your life it is. This is Myth Busting time and the result is: PLAUSIBLE.

I cannot tell you that not using any kind of protective gear is the way to go, as some people are indeed very sensitive to the chemicals and just cannot handle the liquids involved. Only YOU know if this means you.

If so, then the answer is yes - get the protective gear, otherwise, it's up to you.

If you have never done any photographic development yourself before, you might like to get some lightweight rubber gloves if nothing else and putting some really old clothes to one side for this. Until you know how or even if you will react to the chemicals, you won't know if you do need anything else. I personally don’t find any problems with these chemicals whatsoever! If you are nervous or worry about skin irritation, then go ahead, take all the precautions you are comfortable with – whatever balance works for you is the right one. The "Whatever works for you" mantra is kind of how it is. I cannot tell you what works for you, just know that it will take all sorts.

I also have a small double sided rubber squeegee to wipe away excessive liquid from the negatives once the process is complete, but it cost me nothing at a yard sale.

There is also an argument for putting on thin cotton gloves (no talcum powder please), whenever you handle the negatives for loading onto the spools or into storage bags or when scanning. Again, I'll leave that decision to you, but you would not be considered a "Whacko" if you did that.

In the next part of this short series, I’ll cover basic chemical handling and mixing up the chemicals into stock solutions, and I’ll also cover getting the film out of the canister or off the spool and into the light tight developing tank.

Back to Part 1     On to Part 3

Processing film yourself - Part 1.

This is the first post in a short series of “how-to” articles relating to home developing of film. I know that there are lots of videos online showing how to do things like this and if you have watched several hours of you-tube videos already, there really isn't anything new for me to add, except to say that I will be doing my best to break down some of the myths surrounding the subject. I’ll be showing C-41 (color) and black and white developing processes, but not slides, as I just don’t shoot using slide film! Now don’t get me wrong here – I have nothing against slides, I just don’t shoot them. Maybe I should try but not while I am writing this series of posts. So to get us going, I’m going to start with color negative (C-41) processing.

More accurately, I’m going to start discussing the set up you need to go through before you do any processing. This means the gear you need and the stuff you’ll buy. I’ll describe how I mix the stock solutions and store them long-term. I just know I’ll get howls of laughter and “You do WHAT?” comments, but you know something? I don’t mind one bit. It’s all part of the learning process, so comment and ask all you like.

Watch out for the list of things I use and where I buy them from, which will be appearing in a few days. 

On to Part 2