B/W
Dec 25, 2011 15:27:51 #
Rich Maher wrote:
It's also postage free.
It's not actually free, just prepaid. $10 each roll for developing and scanning plus $4 for mailing. The $4 covers up to 2 rolls of film and is round trip.
Dec 25, 2011 16:54:23 #
You're right, thanks for correcting me. It's still a good deal. Their turnaround time is excellent.
Dec 25, 2011 18:11:56 #
Black and white film is not that big a deal to develop YOURSELF. The trick is learning to load the film onto the reels, which you can do in daylight (shutting your eyes) until you get the feel for it.
Developing black and white yourself also promotes better quality through fresher chemistry, shorter wet times, superior long form drying, and better resultant granularity.
Remember, if using a (recommended) Nikor stainless steel style tank, to agitate while HOLDING the lid AND the tank. Having all your film, up to four rolls, tumble into the daylight whilst processing is a disaster easily prevented.
Air Bells: After agitation, where a figure 8 motion with an INVERSION of the tank at the end of the figure 8 on one minute intervals can cause bubbles to stick to the film. Invest in a piece of 3/16 (approx.) inch thick rubber, about 6x6 inches, at the local hardware store. Stiff rubber is good. At the end of the agitation cycle, which is about 4 inversions on the figure 8 in 5 seconds' time, with the tank upright, you just bang it at each 90 degree "corner" of the round tank, on the rubber mat. Four bangs, and then back into the water bath. The bangs dislodge all the air bubbles sticking to the film. If you do not do this, you might find perfectly round "air bells" on your developed film, because the sticking bubbles kept the film from developing evenly.
At the end of the cycle, you want to use a Hypo Clearing agent like Permawash to shorten the wet cycle after fixing.
Temperature control: get a big plastic bin, filled up a bit with water. Use a good thermometer and add ice to get to temperature. All the graduates containing the current batch of chemicals (Your developing Tank, Developer, Stop, Fix, Permawash) sit in the water bath, which goes about half way up the sides of the tanks. A decent volume of water changes temperature slowly, and thus stabilizes your development.
If your was water is NOT COLD ENOUGH, you can begin warming up the process cycle after the developer.
Drying the film yourself can be world class quality as well. You simply hook up a line in your shower and place the film clips and weight clips in position on that line. You then premake your wetting agent in a large graduated cylinder, at least 32 oz. of the stuff, which is just a surfactant and alcohol. Then, after the last wash, you take your film, still in the tank, into the bath where you've placed your vessel of wetting agent. You run the shower, full hot, and steam up the room, door shut. When the room is steamed, you shut off the water and hang your film on the clips, weighted at the bottom with a second clip (I use a second clip with a big stainless bolt for weight.) Once all the film is hung and weighted in the shower, you take the tank of wetting agent and pour it down each side of each film. You can see if there's full coverage - make sure there IS. Once the wetting agent has been applied, quickly leave the room for about 8-10 hours, allowing nobody to go in. This process treats the dusty air to have no dust. The films dry in a perfect environment, and the clean nature of your negatives will be amazing.
Commercial negative development is variable in quality and in the cleanliness of the final product.
Considering you are likely to scan images rather than use a darkroom to make prints with an enlarger, you want the best possible negatives. Developing your own film is the answer.
The two caveats: use old clothes for developing, like painting clothes. If developer gets on your clothes, it will make a permanent stain. No. 2 Caveat: Fixer is corrosive. Its vapor and the liquid itself will eat certain metals if you let it, over time. Nothing beats good ol' plastic wrap to cover up your stop and fix graduates, and also keeps the smell down. The developer is single shot and down the drain.
Overall, the chemicals used in the black and white darkroom are no worse than the average household chemicals going down the drain all the time.
As to the tools of development, learn the stainless steel stuff. Reels and tanks. This is because stainless steel rinses cleaner than your soul.
Developing black and white yourself also promotes better quality through fresher chemistry, shorter wet times, superior long form drying, and better resultant granularity.
Remember, if using a (recommended) Nikor stainless steel style tank, to agitate while HOLDING the lid AND the tank. Having all your film, up to four rolls, tumble into the daylight whilst processing is a disaster easily prevented.
Air Bells: After agitation, where a figure 8 motion with an INVERSION of the tank at the end of the figure 8 on one minute intervals can cause bubbles to stick to the film. Invest in a piece of 3/16 (approx.) inch thick rubber, about 6x6 inches, at the local hardware store. Stiff rubber is good. At the end of the agitation cycle, which is about 4 inversions on the figure 8 in 5 seconds' time, with the tank upright, you just bang it at each 90 degree "corner" of the round tank, on the rubber mat. Four bangs, and then back into the water bath. The bangs dislodge all the air bubbles sticking to the film. If you do not do this, you might find perfectly round "air bells" on your developed film, because the sticking bubbles kept the film from developing evenly.
At the end of the cycle, you want to use a Hypo Clearing agent like Permawash to shorten the wet cycle after fixing.
Temperature control: get a big plastic bin, filled up a bit with water. Use a good thermometer and add ice to get to temperature. All the graduates containing the current batch of chemicals (Your developing Tank, Developer, Stop, Fix, Permawash) sit in the water bath, which goes about half way up the sides of the tanks. A decent volume of water changes temperature slowly, and thus stabilizes your development.
If your was water is NOT COLD ENOUGH, you can begin warming up the process cycle after the developer.
Drying the film yourself can be world class quality as well. You simply hook up a line in your shower and place the film clips and weight clips in position on that line. You then premake your wetting agent in a large graduated cylinder, at least 32 oz. of the stuff, which is just a surfactant and alcohol. Then, after the last wash, you take your film, still in the tank, into the bath where you've placed your vessel of wetting agent. You run the shower, full hot, and steam up the room, door shut. When the room is steamed, you shut off the water and hang your film on the clips, weighted at the bottom with a second clip (I use a second clip with a big stainless bolt for weight.) Once all the film is hung and weighted in the shower, you take the tank of wetting agent and pour it down each side of each film. You can see if there's full coverage - make sure there IS. Once the wetting agent has been applied, quickly leave the room for about 8-10 hours, allowing nobody to go in. This process treats the dusty air to have no dust. The films dry in a perfect environment, and the clean nature of your negatives will be amazing.
Commercial negative development is variable in quality and in the cleanliness of the final product.
Considering you are likely to scan images rather than use a darkroom to make prints with an enlarger, you want the best possible negatives. Developing your own film is the answer.
The two caveats: use old clothes for developing, like painting clothes. If developer gets on your clothes, it will make a permanent stain. No. 2 Caveat: Fixer is corrosive. Its vapor and the liquid itself will eat certain metals if you let it, over time. Nothing beats good ol' plastic wrap to cover up your stop and fix graduates, and also keeps the smell down. The developer is single shot and down the drain.
Overall, the chemicals used in the black and white darkroom are no worse than the average household chemicals going down the drain all the time.
As to the tools of development, learn the stainless steel stuff. Reels and tanks. This is because stainless steel rinses cleaner than your soul.
Dec 25, 2011 19:35:09 #
Well, I'm impressed. The B&H prepaid mailers are 16.75 plus postage with no on-line service or cd. The processor is A&I. Anyone have experience with them?
Dec 25, 2011 19:42:44 #
Oh, thanks so much for the home development tips...that really make sense. Thank you!!
Dec 26, 2011 01:18:49 #
Kid Karats wrote:
Well, I'm impressed. The B&H prepaid mailers are 16.75 plus postage with no on-line service or cd. The processor is A&I. Anyone have experience with them?
I have used A&I for E6 processing, and for a short time, Kodachrome, which is now, unfortunately, gone. Properly shot Kodachrome in 35mm withstands enlargements 70 FEET in width. Try that with digital 35mm. A&I is in my backyard, as it is a Los Angeles company, actually, downtown Hollywood. They used to be open 24/7 back in the days film was king.
As to $16.75 for processing, B&W film processed by YOU runs under a buck a roll. Just get a good scanner, and you're done.
In that I have all my processing gear, still, I am considering a retro day in my photo business when we shoot 35mm black and white. Or 120 black and white. Or 4x5 inch black and white, but for the 4x5, I will drop down to A&I. I actually gave up my state of the art, 0.1 degree temperature controlled, nitrogen burst agitation, sheet film processor. Threw it out when I moved to L.A. It was from Arkay Corporation, which, as it happens, was one of our family businesses back in the day.
Dec 26, 2011 11:36:57 #
What is the effect of pouring processing chemicals down the drain and into a septic tank?
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