Developing film, share your tricks with us!

[Drewus]

I pour in the developer, swish it around every minute during the process, pour it out, rinse, pour in fixer, swish it around every minute during the process, pour it out, rinse, hang.

Works every time.

[Sparrow]

Many years ago I asked how one of my lecturers how he achieved such magnificent prints, and he said “I read the instructions on the box … and then follow them”

[douwe]

Very true, but I'm sure the lecturer was very skilled too. Experience brings knowledge that goes beyond the manual. Don't just shout RTFM at us, contribute!

[eli griggs]

This is not so much a trick but an aid to mixing chemistry.

I took a used 12v cpu fan and wired it together with an old cell phone charger to make a magnetic mixer for chemistry.

I used two nickel-sized rare-earth magnets hot glued to fan blades opposite each other and mounted it under lexan mounted on top an old silverware box that I had removed all the material and blocks from and cut an opening into.

Duct-tape holds, seals and waterproofs the acrylic/box seams and a rheostat controls the speed of the fan/mixer.

Harbor Freight has a rheostat/router controller for about $12 and a proper lab mixer stirrer can be had from eBay for a few bucks. Figure a dollar -/+ each for magnets.

The box holds the charger plug for storage and various sized pickle jars work well for compounding solutions.

Eli

[JPSuisse]

@ Disaster-Area: great idea about hanging the film diagonally. I will implement this!

1.) I always wash the bathroom and clean the shower before developing.

2.) Use the last rinse with demineralized water and a wetting agent.

3.) Scan the whole role within 24 hours into the scanner.

4.) Then cut and file.

Maybe I have 3 - 4 dust spots that I see per roll of film?

JP

[Roger Hicks]

Originally Posted by eli griggs

This is not so much a trick but an aid to mixing chemistry.

I took a used 12v cpu fan and wired it together with an old cell phone charger to make a magnetic mixer for chemistry.

I used two nickel-sized rare-earth magnets hot glued to fan blades opposite each other and mounted it under lexan mounted on top an old silverware box that I had removed all the material and blocks from and cut an opening into.

Duct-tape holds, seals and waterproofs the acrylic/box seams and a rheostat controls the speed of the fan/mixer.

Harbor Freight has a rheostat/router controller for about $12 and a proper lab mixer stirrer can be had from eBay for a few bucks. Figure a dollar -/+ each for magnets.

The box holds the charger plug for storage and various sized pickle jars work well for compounding solutions.

Eli

Dear Eli,

I admire your ingenuity, but to modify a phrase from Douglas Adams, "This is some strange new use of the word 'easier' with which I was not previously familiar."

Don't take that as a personal attack. It's just that I quail before your resourcefulness. My own preferred tool is a completely manual Paterson mixer/crusher, which I commend to anyone who is less adventurous than you.

Cheers,

R.

[Freakscene]

I use a lab mixer to mix chemistry. The nice thing is being able to fill a receptacle with distilled water, dump in the package of powder, turn on the mixer and walk away. I think 'easier' means 'less labour intensive / time consuming'.

Marty

[Roger Hicks]

Originally Posted by Freakscene

I use a lab mixer to mix chemistry. The nice thing is being able to fill a receptacle with distilled water, dump in the package of powder, turn on the mixer and walk away. I think 'easier' means 'less labour intensive / time consuming'.

Marty

Dear Marty,

Indeed. It was building the home-made mixer that intimidated me.

Cheers,

R.

[Tim Gray]

I use side load film sleeves. Makes it a lot easier to avoid crud and scratches when you don't have to slide the whole length of film down a sleeve.

I found that getting the right dilution of photoflo in my final rinse got rid of all my drying marks and photoflo scum. I use one drop from an eye dropper per ounce of distilled water. Which ends up being about 1:300 for my eye dropper, instead of 1:200. After the final dunk, I hang my rolls up (in the shower) and then pour the photoflo mixture down the rolls - it really sheets off this way.

I like Roger's idea of diagonal hanging, but it's not super practical for me in my current bathroom and I have few enough water spots that I don't use it right now.

[jcm0]

Great thread :-). Here are my tricks (not described above):
- I agitate continuously the first minute (to get higher ISO) and "shock" the tank several times at the end of the minute to avoid bubbles on film (-> avoid small circular black spots on negs)
- I use a sort of thermostated fridge/heater to keep the tank in reasonable temperature range during development (see http://cgi.ebay.ch/COOLER-MINI-KUHLS...-/330404350413). Particularly usefull during summer or winter, or for long developments.
- Fixing in 2 baths (2x2min). Second bath used 5 times, then used as first bath 5 times, then discarded.
- I use distilled water only for diluting the developer. I use normal water for rinse, and purified water with photoflo or similar as final rinse.
- The rinse phase contains at least 10 min of stand in normal water (to get ride of the anti halo dye).
- I wipe my negs with one very porous high density sponge (used to wash cars) that I've cutted as sandwitch bread (I draw the negative inside the sponge), then I hang the neg.
- I sometimes clean the reel from the dark deposit (~ every 10 devs). This is rather long (you've to clean the small circular path of the neg on the reel) but allow the neg to be inserted without problem on reel.

Regards.

[Ronald M]

Three big secrets. Water and air filters and Leicas brass film cassettes. Nothing touches the film loading the cassette or going thru the camera.

Load developing with lint free gloves if you are fumble fingered.

Use the Paterson tanks ( following the directions) or drop the film into the prefilled tank in dark if you use stainless.

Use sufficient and random agitation so the film is properly replenished all over. Gentle agitation tryng to stop stop marking is the wrong direction to go as it makes the problem worse. Initial agitation the most important.

Be generous enough with wetting agent so the water sheets off the film. 1:200 per instructions works for me.

[eli griggs]

Roger, making a labor saving tool like this little mixer, is well worth the small effort when mixing chemistries, especially if you mix most of them from scratch like I do, where being sure each chemical is well incorporated before adding the next makes for good darkroom chemistries.

It's also a fun little project that takes not much more than an hour to make, depending on what you use for a case.

I should add that the design is not mine but from home beer brewers sites where these are made and used for culturing yeasts.

Eli

[eli griggs]

Here is a link to a youtube video on making a stirrer/mixer. Mine is a bit more robust and can mix gallon sized jars with little trouble.

There are plenty of other videos on this subject as well.

Eli

[douwe]

Great! Now I'm not just making my own developer, but also my own beer... Just make sure to start with the beer, then shoot some rolls, then develop the rolls, and then drink the beer whilst the film is drying! I'm sure this is the best system. Depending on the quality of the beer, those drying marks will be less bothersome.