I finally did it... developed my own film!

brewmaster15 · 02-01-2020, 08:23 PM - **14 Likes**

This is something I have wanted to do for decades.. My photography experiences go back to the early 90s where I shot slide alot and print. I always wanted to develop my own film but it never happened... then digital came around and I largely put my 35 mm film cameras into storage. I recently decided I wanted to start shooting film a bit and decided "what the heck" maybe I should finally try developing my own film too. I decided to ease back into it with my Pz1p and headed out yesterday with a fresh role of film and high hopes. It was a sunny day so I loaded the camera the with kentmere 100, and of course the sun went away and it got super cloudy. Oh well... make the best of it, I really didn't expect my first attempt at black and white film developing to amount to much, If I even managed to get anything to show at all.

I developed the film and honestly my jaw dropped. I couldn't believe that I actually had images! It went relatively well too. I had bought a changing bag but decided to use a bathroom that looked light tight. It was not exactly and I thought I may have screwed it all up, but the leak was apparently not enough to fog the negative this time..Still need to fix that leak..ceiling tiles of all places!

Anyhow, some images from my very first roll of black and white film. scanned with epson v600.

What an incredible feeling to actually capture the image, develop it yourself and scan it yourself. I know theres nothing terribly special about these images but they were literally 30 years in the making, lol

Al

**sergysergy** · 02-01-2020, 08:36 PM

Those are awesome! I am jealous now. Maybe I should try

disconnekt · 02-01-2020, 09:18 PM

Way better than my first attempt a few months back lol

**beachgardener** · 02-01-2020, 10:05 PM

Nice one, film images do give another look to images, more so than the clinical digital look. But there is time for both.

I like ID-11 for developing. Will you keep going with it? I have FP4 in my Z-1 at present.

brewmaster15 · 02-01-2020, 10:19 PM

Originally posted by sergysergy

Those are awesome! I am jealous now. Maybe I should try

Thanks Sergy! If you havent tried it yet go for it lol.

---------- Post added 02-01-20 at 10:20 PM ----------

Originally posted by disconnekt

Way better than my first attempt a few months back lol

Lol.. truly "beginners luck" here.Thank you though!

---------- Post added 02-01-20 at 10:26 PM ----------

Originally posted by beachgardener

Nice one, film images do give another look to images, more so than the clinical digital look. But there is time for both.

I like ID-11 for developing. Will you keep going with it? I have FP4 in my Z-1 at present.

OH HECK YEAH! I have a ton of film cameras to play with and theres so many films still made to try .. Im really just thrilled to be able to add this to my hobby. I still will shoot digital but my hobby just got bigger and better!

These pics were caffenol.. stand method.In my research I came across a bunch of caffenol shots and thought "why not".I did pick up a bunch of commercial developers and will try them as well but caffenol seemed like the right one for me to try first.

I Did use ilford for a stopper and ilford rapid fix followed by kodak flo..

AL

**BigMackCam** · 02-02-2020, 02:59 AM

Very well done - those look great!

I applaud your efforts. I wouldn't have the patience for this... which is a shame, as there's definitely a unique look to film - and I imagine the satisfaction is easily worth the effort.

**twilhelm** · 02-02-2020, 04:13 AM - **1 Like**

Well done! Not only are the images great, your first use of caffenol was exceptional. I’ve been developing for years and my first use of caffenol was dismal. And if you like making your own developer, I can help you with that slippery slope as I have recipes for Rodinal, D76 and Ilford ID-11 among others.

**Kevin B123** · 02-02-2020, 04:53 AM

Nice work and a good haul from any roll, whether you developed it or not

.

I can see how satisfying it must be to do this but I won't get a chance as my better half would go ballistic if I brought the chemicals into the house

.

**gaweidert** · 02-02-2020, 06:11 AM

You have discoverer the magic of photography. Film, or conventional photography, is very organic and B&W film photography the most organic of all. Great B&W film photographers are true wizards of the craft. By comparison, digital photography is pretty sterile. More like being in a clean lab rather than playing in the dirt.

tuco · 02-02-2020, 08:02 AM

Congrats.
The first image has a faint, blue sky.

LesDMess · 02-02-2020, 09:28 AM

Originally posted by brewmaster15

What an incredible feeling to actually capture the image, develop it yourself and scan it yourself. I know theres nothing terribly special about these images but they were literally 30 years in the making, lol

You really won't know how easy it is to process b&w until you do the first one. Capturing something worthwhile - like you did, is another matter altogether!

---------- Post added 02-02-20 at 11:31 AM ----------

Originally posted by brewmaster15

These pics were caffenol.. stand method.In my research I came across a bunch of caffenol shots and thought "why not".I did pick up a bunch of commercial developers and will try them as well but caffenol seemed like the right one for me to try first.

I Did use ilford for a stopper and ilford rapid fix followed by kodak flo..

So you really are a brewmaster . . .

**blackcloudbrew** · 02-02-2020, 10:27 AM

Congrats for sure. Got back to doing b&w film 10 years ago after many many years of not doing it, but I still remember exactly the same feeling as you've expressed when that first roll of film had pictures on it. Also got back into dark room work, which is still a joy to do and I love having o de fixer. Anyway, enjoy.

Oh, and hey what developer did you use?

brewmaster15 · 02-02-2020, 11:02 AM

Originally posted by BigMackCam

Very well done - those look great!

I applaud your efforts. I wouldn't have the patience for this... which is a shame, as there's definitely a unique look to film - and I imagine the satisfaction is easily worth the effort.

Thanks Mike! I thought that as well. I hope someday you give it a try.

---------- Post added 02-02-20 at 11:05 AM ----------

Originally posted by twilhelm

Well done! Not only are the images great, your first use of caffenol was exceptional. I’ve been developing for years and my first use of caffenol was dismal. And if you like making your own developer, I can help you with that slippery slope as I have recipes for Rodinal, D76 and Ilford ID-11 among others.

Thank you !! I would greatly appreciate any info on making my own developers you have. Now that I have actually jumped into this, I expect I will be doing alot of experiments! I enjoy diy projects and this is really intrigued me now.

---------- Post added 02-02-20 at 11:08 AM ----------

Originally posted by Kevin B123

Nice work and a good haul from any roll, whether you developed it or not

.

I can see how satisfying it must be to do this but I won't get a chance as my better half would go ballistic if I brought the chemicals into the house

.

Thank you on both the image and developing comment! Its funny, but I really thought the chemicals would be an issue... I even read it could be stinky, but it wasn't all that bad.I your better half would have an issue , minimize it by going caffenol.. common house stuff mostly.

---------- Post added 02-02-20 at 11:09 AM ----------

Originally posted by gaweidert

You have discoverer the magic of photography. Film, or conventional photography, is very organic and B&W film photography the most organic of all. Great B&W film photographers are true wizards of the craft. By comparison, digital photography is pretty sterile. More like being in a clean lab rather than playing in the dirt.

Thank you, I definitely enjoy that playing in the dirt when I can !

---------- Post added 02-02-20 at 11:11 AM ----------

Originally posted by tuco

Congrats.
The first image has a faint, blue sky.

Thanks, the clouds came in pretty fast, but there were spots here and there of blue, here one minute, gone the next.

---------- Post added 02-02-20 at 11:12 AM ----------

Originally posted by LesDMess

You really won't know how easy it is to process b&w until you do the first one. Capturing something worthwhile - like you did, is another matter altogether!

---------- Post added 02-02-20 at 11:31 AM ----------

So you really are a brewmaster . . .

Lol... thank you. Yes I suppose I am.

---------- Post added 02-02-20 at 11:15 AM ----------

Originally posted by blackcloudbrew

Congrats for sure. Got back to doing b&w film 10 years ago after many many years of not doing it, but I still remember exactly the same feeling as you've expressed when that first roll of film had pictures on it. Also got back into dark room work, which is still a joy to do and I love having o de fixer. Anyway, enjoy.

Oh, and hey what developer did you use?

Thank you!

I have another thread here..Dark Room Project suggestions needed please - PentaxForums.com would appreciate any feedback there you may have on my dark room designs.

The Developer I used was Caffenol , stand method. Based off the wonderful site...Caffenol Recipes, Help, Tutorials | The Caffenol Cookbook & Bible

al

**blackcloudbrew** · 02-02-2020, 11:30 AM

Wow, Caffenol. Never tried that. When I need to do my dark room work, I rent time in a local photographer's large dark room. For film, I use either Rodinal or the golden elixir - HC100B.

tuco · 02-02-2020, 01:12 PM - **1 Like**

Some feedback on your darkroom. Due to your water supply situation you've described, I'd stick to the classic acid stop bath and hypo clearing agent steps in your film development process.

You may hear you can stop with water only and use an alkaline fixer to make a hypo clearing agent step redundant. But stopping with water really should take multiple fill and drains of the tank; whereas, an acid stop bath is only 30 seconds and a 1 liter mix lasts a while thereby lower water usage for that step. And a hypo clearing agent really shortens the wash time too. So you wouldn't want to get into developing with a pyro developer, for example, because of its greater water usage requirements.

02-01-2020, 08:23 PM - 14 Likes	#1
brewmaster15 Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: CT Posts: 1,860	I finally did it... developed my own film! This is something I have wanted to do for decades.. My photography experiences go back to the early 90s where I shot slide alot and print. I always wanted to develop my own film but it never happened... then digital came around and I largely put my 35 mm film cameras into storage. I recently decided I wanted to start shooting film a bit and decided "what the heck" maybe I should finally try developing my own film too. I decided to ease back into it with my Pz1p and headed out yesterday with a fresh role of film and high hopes. It was a sunny day so I loaded the camera the with kentmere 100, and of course the sun went away and it got super cloudy. Oh well... make the best of it, I really didn't expect my first attempt at black and white film developing to amount to much, If I even managed to get anything to show at all. I developed the film and honestly my jaw dropped. I couldn't believe that I actually had images! It went relatively well too. I had bought a changing bag but decided to use a bathroom that looked light tight. It was not exactly and I thought I may have screwed it all up, but the leak was apparently not enough to fog the negative this time..Still need to fix that leak..ceiling tiles of all places! Anyhow, some images from my very first roll of black and white film. scanned with epson v600. What an incredible feeling to actually capture the image, develop it yourself and scan it yourself. I know theres nothing terribly special about these images but they were literally 30 years in the making, lol Al

02-01-2020, 10:19 PM	#5
brewmaster15 Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: CT Posts: 1,860 Original Poster	Originally posted by sergysergy Those are awesome! I am jealous now. Maybe I should try Thanks Sergy! If you havent tried it yet go for it lol. ---------- Post added 02-01-20 at 10:20 PM ---------- Originally posted by disconnekt Way better than my first attempt a few months back lol Lol.. truly "beginners luck" here.Thank you though! ---------- Post added 02-01-20 at 10:26 PM ---------- Originally posted by beachgardener Nice one, film images do give another look to images, more so than the clinical digital look. But there is time for both. I like ID-11 for developing. Will you keep going with it? I have FP4 in my Z-1 at present. OH HECK YEAH! I have a ton of film cameras to play with and theres so many films still made to try .. Im really just thrilled to be able to add this to my hobby. I still will shoot digital but my hobby just got bigger and better! These pics were caffenol.. stand method.In my research I came across a bunch of caffenol shots and thought "why not".I did pick up a bunch of commercial developers and will try them as well but caffenol seemed like the right one for me to try first. I Did use ilford for a stopper and ilford rapid fix followed by kodak flo.. AL Last edited by brewmaster15; 02-01-2020 at 10:27 PM.

02-02-2020, 04:53 AM	#8
Kevin B123 Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: Hampshire Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,176	Nice work and a good haul from any roll, whether you developed it or not. I can see how satisfying it must be to do this but I won't get a chance as my better half would go ballistic if I brought the chemicals into the house.

02-02-2020, 11:02 AM	#13
brewmaster15 Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: CT Posts: 1,860 Original Poster	Originally posted by BigMackCam Very well done - those look great! I applaud your efforts. I wouldn't have the patience for this... which is a shame, as there's definitely a unique look to film - and I imagine the satisfaction is easily worth the effort. Thanks Mike! I thought that as well. I hope someday you give it a try. ---------- Post added 02-02-20 at 11:05 AM ---------- Originally posted by twilhelm Well done! Not only are the images great, your first use of caffenol was exceptional. I’ve been developing for years and my first use of caffenol was dismal. And if you like making your own developer, I can help you with that slippery slope as I have recipes for Rodinal, D76 and Ilford ID-11 among others. Thank you !! I would greatly appreciate any info on making my own developers you have. Now that I have actually jumped into this, I expect I will be doing alot of experiments! I enjoy diy projects and this is really intrigued me now. ---------- Post added 02-02-20 at 11:08 AM ---------- Originally posted by Kevin B123 Nice work and a good haul from any roll, whether you developed it or not. I can see how satisfying it must be to do this but I won't get a chance as my better half would go ballistic if I brought the chemicals into the house. Thank you on both the image and developing comment! Its funny, but I really thought the chemicals would be an issue... I even read it could be stinky, but it wasn't all that bad.I your better half would have an issue , minimize it by going caffenol.. common house stuff mostly. ---------- Post added 02-02-20 at 11:09 AM ---------- Originally posted by gaweidert You have discoverer the magic of photography. Film, or conventional photography, is very organic and B&W film photography the most organic of all. Great B&W film photographers are true wizards of the craft. By comparison, digital photography is pretty sterile. More like being in a clean lab rather than playing in the dirt. Thank you, I definitely enjoy that playing in the dirt when I can ! ---------- Post added 02-02-20 at 11:11 AM ---------- Originally posted by tuco Congrats. The first image has a faint, blue sky. Thanks, the clouds came in pretty fast, but there were spots here and there of blue, here one minute, gone the next. ---------- Post added 02-02-20 at 11:12 AM ---------- Originally posted by LesDMess You really won't know how easy it is to process b&w until you do the first one. Capturing something worthwhile - like you did, is another matter altogether! ---------- Post added 02-02-20 at 11:31 AM ---------- So you really are a brewmaster . . . Lol... thank you. Yes I suppose I am. ---------- Post added 02-02-20 at 11:15 AM ---------- Originally posted by blackcloudbrew Congrats for sure. Got back to doing b&w film 10 years ago after many many years of not doing it, but I still remember exactly the same feeling as you've expressed when that first roll of film had pictures on it. Also got back into dark room work, which is still a joy to do and I love having o de fixer. Anyway, enjoy. Oh, and hey what developer did you use? Thank you! I have another thread here..Dark Room Project suggestions needed please - PentaxForums.com would appreciate any feedback there you may have on my dark room designs. The Developer I used was Caffenol , stand method. Based off the wonderful site...Caffenol Recipes, Help, Tutorials \| The Caffenol Cookbook & Bible al Last edited by brewmaster15; 02-02-2020 at 11:11 AM.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Places to get film developed in England	lrynhiggin	Troubleshooting and Beginner Help	7	05-02-2019 04:06 PM
Film Developed 64 years after being in the hot ATTIC	niceshot	General Photography	16	02-01-2019 10:45 AM
Just developed my first film!	vector	Film Processing, Scanning, and Darkroom	33	07-12-2017 04:39 PM
I developed my first roll of film!!!	Shell650	Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras	17	02-05-2014 08:07 AM
Got my first roll developed, and many of my shots came back noisy. Is this due to...	Codazzle	Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras	10	11-19-2012 01:59 AM

02-01-2020, 08:36 PM	#2
sergysergy Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2011 Photos: Gallery Posts: 5,171	Those are awesome! I am jealous now. Maybe I should try

02-01-2020, 09:18 PM	#3
disconnekt Pentaxian Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: SoCal/I.E. Photos: Albums Posts: 1,699	Way better than my first attempt a few months back lol

02-01-2020, 10:05 PM	#4
beachgardener Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 3,842	Nice one, film images do give another look to images, more so than the clinical digital look. But there is time for both. I like ID-11 for developing. Will you keep going with it? I have FP4 in my Z-1 at present.

02-02-2020, 02:59 AM	#6
BigMackCam Digitiser of Film Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: North East of England Posts: 20,674	Very well done - those look great! I applaud your efforts. I wouldn't have the patience for this... which is a shame, as there's definitely a unique look to film - and I imagine the satisfaction is easily worth the effort.

02-02-2020, 04:13 AM - 1 Like	#7
twilhelm Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Florida Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,369	Well done! Not only are the images great, your first use of caffenol was exceptional. I’ve been developing for years and my first use of caffenol was dismal. And if you like making your own developer, I can help you with that slippery slope as I have recipes for Rodinal, D76 and Ilford ID-11 among others.

02-02-2020, 06:11 AM	#9
gaweidert Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Rochester, NY Photos: Gallery Posts: 5,325	You have discoverer the magic of photography. Film, or conventional photography, is very organic and B&W film photography the most organic of all. Great B&W film photographers are true wizards of the craft. By comparison, digital photography is pretty sterile. More like being in a clean lab rather than playing in the dirt.

02-02-2020, 08:02 AM	#10
tuco Pentaxian Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Pugetopolis Posts: 11,027	Congrats. The first image has a faint, blue sky.

02-02-2020, 09:28 AM	#11
LesDMess Pentaxian Join Date: May 2011 Location: Santa Cruz, CA Photos: Albums Posts: 3,235	Originally posted by brewmaster15 What an incredible feeling to actually capture the image, develop it yourself and scan it yourself. I know theres nothing terribly special about these images but they were literally 30 years in the making, lol You really won't know how easy it is to process b&w until you do the first one. Capturing something worthwhile - like you did, is another matter altogether! ---------- Post added 02-02-20 at 11:31 AM ---------- Originally posted by brewmaster15 These pics were caffenol.. stand method.In my research I came across a bunch of caffenol shots and thought "why not".I did pick up a bunch of commercial developers and will try them as well but caffenol seemed like the right one for me to try first. I Did use ilford for a stopper and ilford rapid fix followed by kodak flo.. So you really are a brewmaster . . .

02-02-2020, 10:27 AM	#12
blackcloudbrew Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Cotati, California USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 4,460	Congrats for sure. Got back to doing b&w film 10 years ago after many many years of not doing it, but I still remember exactly the same feeling as you've expressed when that first roll of film had pictures on it. Also got back into dark room work, which is still a joy to do and I love having o de fixer. Anyway, enjoy. Oh, and hey what developer did you use?

02-02-2020, 11:30 AM	#14
blackcloudbrew Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Cotati, California USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 4,460	Wow, Caffenol. Never tried that. When I need to do my dark room work, I rent time in a local photographer's large dark room. For film, I use either Rodinal or the golden elixir - HC100B.

02-02-2020, 01:12 PM - 1 Like	#15
tuco Pentaxian Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Pugetopolis Posts: 11,027	Some feedback on your darkroom. Due to your water supply situation you've described, I'd stick to the classic acid stop bath and hypo clearing agent steps in your film development process. You may hear you can stop with water only and use an alkaline fixer to make a hypo clearing agent step redundant. But stopping with water really should take multiple fill and drains of the tank; whereas, an acid stop bath is only 30 seconds and a 1 liter mix lasts a while thereby lower water usage for that step. And a hypo clearing agent really shortens the wash time too. So you wouldn't want to get into developing with a pyro developer, for example, because of its greater water usage requirements.