Originally posted by Alex645 Changing bags are okay, but if you can find a used changing tent, it's a lot nicer.
Harrison Pup Film Changing Tent 1000 B&H Photo Video
If at all possible, find a cool air conditioned place to work in as inexperience and frustration can lead to sweat and then it just gets harder to load the dampened film.
Everyone has their preferences, but the Paterson tanks and reels are my favorite.
I had no Idea such a thing existed, it should give you plenty of working room.
Since I started this I stumbled across the Agfa Rondinax 35 and 60 daylight loading developing tanks, 35 for 35mm and 60 for Medium Format 120 film. I think they stopped making them sometime back in the 1970's and a vague memory says they were very expensive at the time. Apparently you basically attached the 35mm film leader to a strap, close the door, wind a knob which pulls it into a developing spiral, cut the film at the cassette mouth with a special gadget, pour in the developer and away you go. The ones on offer are not cheap and don't look in great condition.
Further poking around on the net I came across this company lab-box.it in Italy who have designed a modern version which will be on sale this August, looks quite an interesting gadget.
---------- Post added 05-07-2018 at 09:11 PM ----------
Originally posted by Not a Number
Get a large bag, put all the materials and tools you need inside - tank, cover, reels, scissors, bottle opener for the film cassettes, rolls of film. Zip it up, insert your hands and go to work. Nothing to it really. You're doing it all by touch in the darkroom anyway. And you don't have to worry hunting around in the dark for stuff that fell off the table - there's no place for it to go. Just keep the rolls of film on one side and all the trash (empty cassettes, spools, cut leaders) to the other.
That sounds a reasonable way of working, I had forgotten about the dropping stuff on the floor routine
---------- Post added 05-07-2018 at 09:19 PM ----------
Originally posted by WPRESTO 5) Patterson adjustable plastic reels and tanks, film loaded by twisting the two sides of a reel back-and-forth once you got the end of the film started at the opening where tiny balls caught the holes along the edges of 35mm film and ratcheted it into place.
I still have much of that developing equipment, as well as trays and a print washing tank, enlarger focusers and a couple enlarging lenses. Anyone willing to pay the shipping can have whatever they'd like for free.
OH. And the four foot by eight foot darkroom I constructed in the basement, with a large sink and running water, and a vent fan, it still there, but it would be awkward and excessively expensive to ship.
I'd forgotten about the ratcheting work with the Patterson, I have just put my tank to soak in the sink as there seemed to be some sort of residue around the bottom reel.
Don't ever get rid of it, the minute you do an absolute need for it will arise.
I'll have to pass on the free darkroom offer as this house sits on more or less solid rock (limestone isn't all that reliable) and the noise of digging a hole in it would upset the neighbours.
---------- Post added 05-07-2018 at 09:23 PM ----------
Originally posted by TomB_tx I now just use a changing bag with a small stainless tank and reels. I find it just as easy as in darkness. It saves checking for light leaks when putting up the window baffles.
My problem was the kids, the downstairs toilet opened off the utility and no matter how many times you told them it was out of bounds they still...........
---------- Post added 05-07-2018 at 09:27 PM ----------
Originally posted by cpk I tend to get stressed out if I try to do too much at once in a changing bag. The space is confining compared to a proper darkroom, and things can get sweaty on a hot day. I'm using stainless steel reels and tanks with capacities of one, two, and four reels. What works for me is to load no more than two reels at a time. Loading the one and two reel tanks is a one-step operation. When I load the four reel tank I do two reels at a time: I put the four reel tank, two films, and two reels into the bag, spool the film onto the reels, and load them into the tank. I then close the tank, open the bag and refill it with the other two films and reels, and repeat the loading process.
I usually only developed one film at a time but I can see how you would get stressed out particularly if something went wrong, fortunately I could quietly vanish down to the shed and do the loading there in peace and quiet.