Processing 35mm Film
Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 5:06 pmAnyone else here into photography?
The last time I processed film was almost 5 years ago. I moved on to the world of Digital SLRs and left film behind. But, I eventually found that digital made me a rather lazy photographer. When you can shoot several thousand times on one memory card and delete what you don't want, you tend to pay less attention to what you're taking. When you've spent money on a roll of film you want to make sure that every shot counts! Besides that, the grain and contrast of film add a kind of texture that digital just can't replicate; in many ways, digital is too good.
So this week I bought myself the kit I need to process my own film.
For the sake of preserving this fine hobby, here is a little breakdown!
1. The Kit
Developing tank, film can opener, changing bag, measuring jug, thermometer, spare fluid bottle (to store left over fixer solution), developer fluid, fixer fluid.
I bought most of it online from , except for the changing bag which I bought this morning from Jessops (amazed they still sell them. Jessops now hide or their non-digital stuff at the back of the shop because no one buys it, so you have to ask).
2. Film
Shoot a roll! To be honest none of my shots were very interesting - I just wanted to get a roll done so I could develop it. I got through all 36 exposures in about 2 hours. Mostly pictures of my cat (when it would stay still) and various parts of my garden. I did a few of a bridge that's 4 minutes from my house as well.
I'm working with black and white film, and there's quite a range to choose from. It will take a while to find your favourite type of film, favourite developing time, etc., so it's good to try out different ones. Today I bought some Kodak Professional T-MAX 400. This is the first time I've ever shot B&W Kodak; I usually use Ilford films. I've read lots of good things about their T-MAX films though.
Considering this is the very time I've processed film in half a decade, I've decided to do something a little nuts and push process. This is done by shooting at a higher ISO than the film technically is, essentially under-exposing the film, and then compensating by over-developing the film in the tank. This results in a more contrasty image with higher grain. In otherwords, it's supposed to look interesting, but if I mess it up it could just look terrible. I've decided to start out easy and just push by one stop; it's 400 ISO film and I've pushed it to 800. As professional film, they've actually left a little "note" section on the roll so I can write what ISO I've actually shot it at with a CD-R pen. This is pretty useful if you're ever going to shoot several dozen rolls all at different speeds.
3. All into the bag!
The bit that can be kind of difficult; opening the film can, cutting the corners at an angle, feeding them onto the spiral and getting it into the developing tank in complete darkness. You have to do it in a proper changing bag, or I guess you could modify an old jacket to do the same thing. There can be absolutely no light or you'll expose the film and ruin it all. Essentially you zip all the equipement into this bag and then put your arms through these very tight elasticated arm holes.
The tank allows fluids to enter but not light to get in, so once everything is in the tank it's safe to come out of the bag.
Example of what you have to do using an ancient film I never used that expired in 1999:
4. Preparing Solutions
My tank needs 290ml of solution per film.
- My developer (Ilford Ilfotec DD-X) requires 1 part developer to 4 parts water. 290 / 5 = 58, so I need to mix 58ml developer and 232ml water.
- For the fixer I'm using Ilford Rapid Fixer, which is also 1 part fixer to 4 parts water. However, fixer can be reused a couple of times, so I'm going to make up 1000ml worth and store it in the extra brown bottle I bought. 1000 / 5 = 200, so 200ml fixer and 800ml water. I'll then pour out 290ml to use.
5. Developing
It's probably best to wear goggles. I don't think you'd want to get this "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" in your eyes.
Developer basically bring the images out on the negative. First off, I'm putting the tank and my solutions in a box of water and measuring the temperature with the thermometer I bought. Ideally everything needs to stay at 20C throughout the whole process. Again, this isn't actually necessary, but I think it's best to stay consistent, especially since it only requires a very cheap thermometer. If you're trying to discover a film and development setup that works best for you, it's better to have less factors involved. If temp stays the same throughout the process every time, you are really only having to adjust the amount of time in future.
Once everything is up to temperature, look for the development time for your film. You can find charts online, but it should be written on the bottle anyway.
I used Kodak T-MAX 400 but I exposed it at 800 instead of 400. The chart shows me that at 20C I will need to develop for 10 minutes. So pour the developer solution into the tank. I agitate (shake and turn the tank around) for the first 30 seconds, then for 10 seconds every minute. Different people have different opinions about how much agitation works best. Again, if you do it exactly the same way every time, you'll keep it consistent.
After the 10 minutes are up, pour the developer down the sink, but remember to keep the spiral secured inside, as the film can still be exposed to light.
Quickly fill and empty the tank with water several times. Time is a factor here! If you don't, the remaining developer on the film will continue to develop when it's supposed to have stopped. You can use a thing called stop bath (which I bought, but turned out to be too lazy to use) which you add and will neutralize it almost immediately, but it's also added expense.
Now pour in the fixer solution. The fixer is what stops the negative from being affected by light, meaning you can finally take them out of the darkness and into the real world. Fixer needs to stay in for 2 to 5 minutes. Might as well do 5 minutes to be certain. Nothing would be more annoying if you ruined your film at this stage. Agitate the tank in 30 second intervals over the 5 minutes.
Finally, pour the fixer back into the storage bottle for re-use. It's probably good for about 4 uses. Re-using it doesn't really fit in with my whole idea of being consistent, but I also don't see the point in pouring money down the sink. I ended up forgetting to do that and poured it down the sink anyway
Now you can take out the spiral and the negatives and see if you managed to do it successfully...
Did I mention I RULE?
Finally wash your negatives like mad. Just use water. Get all these nasty chemicals off! I rise for about 10 minutes.
At long last, wipe off the negative between your fingers to remove a lot of the excess water (make sure your hands are CLEAN) and then hang them up to dry. Clothes pegs will do fine. Be sure to weigh the bottom down so the water drips off evenly and doesn't leave drip marks. You can get wetting agent that will help stop this, but I've never really needed it.
6. Results
I was a bit careless and got the negatives a bit scratched and really dusty. Otherwise, I'm happy with what I got. Not bad for an afternoon's work.
7. Conclusion
Digital is great. I have a digital SLR (Canon 400D) and a lot of kit for it. I use it a lot because it's cheap, convenient and easy. But film is a totally different world and requires different skills of you. It's a very rewarding feeling when the negatives come out of the pot in perfect form!
The last time I processed film was almost 5 years ago. I moved on to the world of Digital SLRs and left film behind. But, I eventually found that digital made me a rather lazy photographer. When you can shoot several thousand times on one memory card and delete what you don't want, you tend to pay less attention to what you're taking. When you've spent money on a roll of film you want to make sure that every shot counts! Besides that, the grain and contrast of film add a kind of texture that digital just can't replicate; in many ways, digital is too good.
So this week I bought myself the kit I need to process my own film.
For the sake of preserving this fine hobby, here is a little breakdown!
1. The Kit
Developing tank, film can opener, changing bag, measuring jug, thermometer, spare fluid bottle (to store left over fixer solution), developer fluid, fixer fluid.
I bought most of it online from , except for the changing bag which I bought this morning from Jessops (amazed they still sell them. Jessops now hide or their non-digital stuff at the back of the shop because no one buys it, so you have to ask).
2. Film
Shoot a roll! To be honest none of my shots were very interesting - I just wanted to get a roll done so I could develop it. I got through all 36 exposures in about 2 hours. Mostly pictures of my cat (when it would stay still) and various parts of my garden. I did a few of a bridge that's 4 minutes from my house as well.
I'm working with black and white film, and there's quite a range to choose from. It will take a while to find your favourite type of film, favourite developing time, etc., so it's good to try out different ones. Today I bought some Kodak Professional T-MAX 400. This is the first time I've ever shot B&W Kodak; I usually use Ilford films. I've read lots of good things about their T-MAX films though.
Considering this is the very time I've processed film in half a decade, I've decided to do something a little nuts and push process. This is done by shooting at a higher ISO than the film technically is, essentially under-exposing the film, and then compensating by over-developing the film in the tank. This results in a more contrasty image with higher grain. In otherwords, it's supposed to look interesting, but if I mess it up it could just look terrible. I've decided to start out easy and just push by one stop; it's 400 ISO film and I've pushed it to 800. As professional film, they've actually left a little "note" section on the roll so I can write what ISO I've actually shot it at with a CD-R pen. This is pretty useful if you're ever going to shoot several dozen rolls all at different speeds.
3. All into the bag!
The bit that can be kind of difficult; opening the film can, cutting the corners at an angle, feeding them onto the spiral and getting it into the developing tank in complete darkness. You have to do it in a proper changing bag, or I guess you could modify an old jacket to do the same thing. There can be absolutely no light or you'll expose the film and ruin it all. Essentially you zip all the equipement into this bag and then put your arms through these very tight elasticated arm holes.
The tank allows fluids to enter but not light to get in, so once everything is in the tank it's safe to come out of the bag.
Example of what you have to do using an ancient film I never used that expired in 1999:
4. Preparing Solutions
My tank needs 290ml of solution per film.
- My developer (Ilford Ilfotec DD-X) requires 1 part developer to 4 parts water. 290 / 5 = 58, so I need to mix 58ml developer and 232ml water.
- For the fixer I'm using Ilford Rapid Fixer, which is also 1 part fixer to 4 parts water. However, fixer can be reused a couple of times, so I'm going to make up 1000ml worth and store it in the extra brown bottle I bought. 1000 / 5 = 200, so 200ml fixer and 800ml water. I'll then pour out 290ml to use.
5. Developing
It's probably best to wear goggles. I don't think you'd want to get this "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" in your eyes.
Developer basically bring the images out on the negative. First off, I'm putting the tank and my solutions in a box of water and measuring the temperature with the thermometer I bought. Ideally everything needs to stay at 20C throughout the whole process. Again, this isn't actually necessary, but I think it's best to stay consistent, especially since it only requires a very cheap thermometer. If you're trying to discover a film and development setup that works best for you, it's better to have less factors involved. If temp stays the same throughout the process every time, you are really only having to adjust the amount of time in future.
Once everything is up to temperature, look for the development time for your film. You can find charts online, but it should be written on the bottle anyway.
I used Kodak T-MAX 400 but I exposed it at 800 instead of 400. The chart shows me that at 20C I will need to develop for 10 minutes. So pour the developer solution into the tank. I agitate (shake and turn the tank around) for the first 30 seconds, then for 10 seconds every minute. Different people have different opinions about how much agitation works best. Again, if you do it exactly the same way every time, you'll keep it consistent.
After the 10 minutes are up, pour the developer down the sink, but remember to keep the spiral secured inside, as the film can still be exposed to light.
Quickly fill and empty the tank with water several times. Time is a factor here! If you don't, the remaining developer on the film will continue to develop when it's supposed to have stopped. You can use a thing called stop bath (which I bought, but turned out to be too lazy to use) which you add and will neutralize it almost immediately, but it's also added expense.
Now pour in the fixer solution. The fixer is what stops the negative from being affected by light, meaning you can finally take them out of the darkness and into the real world. Fixer needs to stay in for 2 to 5 minutes. Might as well do 5 minutes to be certain. Nothing would be more annoying if you ruined your film at this stage. Agitate the tank in 30 second intervals over the 5 minutes.
Finally, pour the fixer back into the storage bottle for re-use. It's probably good for about 4 uses. Re-using it doesn't really fit in with my whole idea of being consistent, but I also don't see the point in pouring money down the sink. I ended up forgetting to do that and poured it down the sink anyway
Now you can take out the spiral and the negatives and see if you managed to do it successfully...
Did I mention I RULE?
Finally wash your negatives like mad. Just use water. Get all these nasty chemicals off! I rise for about 10 minutes.
At long last, wipe off the negative between your fingers to remove a lot of the excess water (make sure your hands are CLEAN) and then hang them up to dry. Clothes pegs will do fine. Be sure to weigh the bottom down so the water drips off evenly and doesn't leave drip marks. You can get wetting agent that will help stop this, but I've never really needed it.
6. Results
I was a bit careless and got the negatives a bit scratched and really dusty. Otherwise, I'm happy with what I got. Not bad for an afternoon's work.
7. Conclusion
Digital is great. I have a digital SLR (Canon 400D) and a lot of kit for it. I use it a lot because it's cheap, convenient and easy. But film is a totally different world and requires different skills of you. It's a very rewarding feeling when the negatives come out of the pot in perfect form!