developer
Developing Your Own Film – Revisited!
Just thought I’d make a quick post as a follow-up to Beth’s excellent d.i.y. film processing guide from last month. I went out last week with a shopping list of accessories and chemicals (taken from the article) and ordered everything I needed from Firstcall Photographic Supplies (I highly recommend their services, by the way – and the prices are great too!).
Once everything arrived, I printed out Beth’s article and set out down the path of self-processing with more than a little trepidation – surely it couldn’t be as easy as she made out?
About an hour later I had successfully processed my first colour (C41) film (from my SuperSampler camera), and the next day I processed my first black and white film!
Although… I messed up on the black and white film, by not following Beth’s advice!! I was using a Rapid Fixer (Fotospeed FX20) which stated on the bottle that it only required 2 minutes to do its business… I’ve since discovered after digging around online that it’s best to ignore this and leave it for around 6 minutes, for optimal results in a single film tank. Grr… what I was left with after 2 minutes was under-fixed brown-tinted cloudy negatives. So, another mistake for you to learn from there!! (Unless you’re going for that look of course!)
Despite the cock-up I have to say the whole process is great fun – and incredibly addictive! I’m really looking forward to my future adventures in self-processing!
Developing Your Own Film (by Beth Wilson)
Today we have our first guest post from the amazingly talented photographer Beth Wilson (aka starpixie). She has taken the time to produce what I have to say is a kick ass tutorial to developing your own film!! We hope you enjoy it. Please leave your thanks and questions for her in the comments section and don’t forget to check out her amazing photostream. If you think you have a post or two to contribute to this site please get in touch and give Paul and I a welcome day off!!! – stu
Developing your own film is a lot easier than you may think, and doesn’t require a huge amount of equipment. Here’s a complete list of what you will need:
- Film Opener (aka: bottle opener)
- Developing Tank
- Film Reels
- Dark/Changing Bag (unless you’re lucky and have a room that can be made completely dark)
- Thermometer
- 4 x 1-litre bottles to store chemicals in
- Clips to hang wet negatives from
- Scissors
- Stop watch
- Funnel
- Kitchen Sink
The Core Equipment
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