B&W home processing

[Nigel]

Practice on anything. I don't care what it is. Shoot it and process it. Put your balls on the chopping block.

Good Luck

[wahiba]

Instead of the bucket make a frame that fits into a normal developing dish. A simple ladder arrangement. At one time ( over 50 years ago now) they were actualy made commercially. So long as the film is not too tight and the emulsion side is out it seems a better bet than a bucket, but you will need a good dark room.

[mcarter4121]

A 110 reel or two in a small developing can served me well. d-76 for a developer, fixer, and a fast wash made negatives of Plus-x or Tri-x with Regular 8mm movie film. The reel holds 3 feet of film, a Jobo reel holds 6 feet. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. The old B&H R8 cameras are easy to load and unload short strips of film and turn them over to shoot the other side. A paper punch helps you find the end of the shot on the film.

[mattias]

hey, what's hypo clear? i've developed stills quite regularly for 25 years (and i'm only 29. beat that ;-) and never really used anything but d76 and fixer, and sometimes alcohol in the final wash for better drying...

/matt

[Nigel]

Hypo-Clear is a basically a mild salt solution that keeps the film from getting a purple hue.


Good Luck

[calgodot]

I'm determined to do some hand-processing of Super 8 film. (Even color if I can get good enough at the timing, etc.)

There is a member of our local Super 8 collective in Los Angeles who does her own hand-processing. She does not try to be super neat about it: sometimes, she told me, she just sort of crams the film into a 35mm tank! The effect of course renders a great deal of chaos in the images: places where the film was touching, where only half the frame develops. Beautiful stuff, what most here would call "artsy" or "experimental."

Toward the end of my own processing, I recently purchased a Super 8 developing tank. The reel is impossibly large and does not turn properly when the handle is cranked. I'm currently trying to manually load the film into the roller but it is as you can imagine tedious to push 50 feet of film into a reel one inch or so at a time.

But as soon as I manage to get it working, I'm going to do my own Tri-X, neg and pos. I'll also be doing 35mm still pos & neg.

[mattias]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hypo-Clear is a basically a mild salt solution that keeps the film from getting a purple hue.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

ah, so i guess it's not needed for negative then, which is why i never had to use it. thanks.

/matt

[mcarter4121]

If that reel is a spiral type try some wax on it. That helped mine to turn smoothly and to accept film readily. Lemon Pledge wiped off well.

Michael

[Nigel]

Hypo-Clear is used in Neg developing too. I used it in my 35mm stills since a little tyke.

Good Luck

[mattias]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hypo-Clear is used in Neg developing too.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

i see. is this just to make the negative look better or does it give you any advantages for printing or scanning?

/matt