[wkraus]

This is an important post for me in this thread. Last night I home-developed a test roll of film - my first ever attempt at developing - and this is the first negative I've digitised from that roll. It's not going to win any prizes or even admiring glances - but it's special to me

This is the old Wesleyan Chapel (c. 1880) in Chester-le-Street, Co. Durham, England... taken on a dull day with mostly white-washed sky


["Wesleyan Chapel, Chester-le-Street" - Agfa Isola II 6x6, Fomapan 200, Rodinal (Fomadon R09) 1+50 for 10"]

Looks good in every respect! I developed my own stuff for many years but stopped in the 1990 due to lack of time. In 2018, after a 25 years break, I started again developing my B&W negs when my son asked me to teach him how to do it. After about 30 rolls of film in my “second life”, it still gives me a thrill opening the tank to see how the film turned out.

[BigMackCam]

Looks a lot better than my first try, which had loads of light leaks and timing issues

I'd say it's a good first effort

Thank you, Eric In all honesty, I had my fair share of issues... cutting the end of the roll too short so there wasn't enough room for the clip when hanging to dry; wearing a rough woolly jumper during developing, not realising there were strands of wool on my hands, and transferring them to the wet film strip when squeegeeing with my fingers... plus some over- and under-exposure on certain shots, as I was guessing shutter and aperture combinations for the lighting. But, overall, it went better than expected for a first attempt

Looks good in every respect! I developed my own stuff for many years but stopped in the 1990 due to lack of time. In 2018, after a 25 years break, I started again developing my B&W negs when my son asked me to teach him how to do it. After about 30 rolls of film in my “second life”, it still gives me a thrill opening the tank to see how the film turned out.

Many thanks I'm not sure I get the thrill just yet... I'm still at the anxiety-coupled-with-dread stage, followed by relief when it looks like there's at least something on the film, useable or otherwise I expected the first roll would be valuable practice but probably a total failure, and if I got a single useable shot from it, that would be a bonus. So, I'm delighted to be able to post a second one from the same roll...

This is Chester Burn Viaduct, built c.1862 - 68:



["Chester Burn Viaduct, Chester-le-Street, England" - Agfa Isola II 6x6, Fomapan 200, Rodinal (Fomadon R09) 1+50 for 10']

[gofour3]

This is Chester Burn Viaduct, built c.1862 - 68:

Great results Mike!

Phil.

[BigMackCam]

Great results Mike!

Phil.

Thank you kindly, Phil I owe a debt of gratitude to @Viking42 for his advice on gentle agitation with Rodinal, the use of water instead of acidic stop bath (for this developer only), and the choice of Ilford Rapid Fixer. I'd been led to believe Rodinal can result in pronounced grain, but I was pleasantly surprised by the results from this first run with Fomapan 200. There's plenty of detail, but the grain is really rather mild. So... Thank you, Svend!

[gofour3]

This barge ran aground during the rain/wind storm we had here on November 14/15th. The coastguard has been unable to budge it and are waiting for the next "King tide", where the water levels are higher.

The barge is now becoming part of the English Bay landscape......

(Spotmatic & Takumar 55/1.8, shooting Tmax 400)



Phil.

[jbinpg]

Nice shot. Yeah, saw this on the news the day after the storm. My brother in Tsawwassen said he has never seen such rain and wind before (but he was only 5 years old when Typhoon Freda ripped through in October 1962). They are going to need more than one tug to float that barge off the beach.

---------- Post added 11-24-21 at 04:08 PM ----------

BigMackCam;5445032] Thank you, Eric In all honesty, I had my fair share of issues...

LOL! Haven't we all. We could probably fill 20 forum pages listing the newbie mistakes when learning film developing. Eventually it will alll become muscle memory, Mike, but it will take a while to get there.

Jack

[stevebrot]

This is an important post for me in this thread. Last night I home-developed a test roll of film - my first ever attempt at developing - and this is the first negative I've digitised from that roll. It's not going to win any prizes or even admiring glances - but it's special to me

This is the old Wesleyan Chapel (c. 1880) in Chester-le-Street, Co. Durham, England... taken on a dull day with mostly white-washed sky


["Wesleyan Chapel, Chester-le-Street" - Agfa Isola II 6x6, Fomapan 200, Rodinal (Fomadon R09) 1+50 for 10']

I wish my test rolls through antique cameras using new film/developer combos looked so good. Yes, it is special!

[fs999]

This is an important post for me in this thread. Last night I home-developed a test roll of film - my first ever attempt at developing - and this is the first negative I've digitised from that roll. It's not going to win any prizes or even admiring glances - but it's special to me

This is the old Wesleyan Chapel (c. 1880) in Chester-le-Street, Co. Durham, England... taken on a dull day with mostly white-washed sky


["Wesleyan Chapel, Chester-le-Street" - Agfa Isola II 6x6, Fomapan 200, Rodinal (Fomadon R09) 1+50 for 10']

Nice result !

cutting the end of the roll too short so there wasn't enough room for the clip when hanging to dry

That's why I use clothes pegs

Suzuki Optical Co. Press Van • Asahi Kogaku Takumar 1:3.5 F=75mm
Adox CMS II 20 ISO film in home made Caffenol CLCN 16min @ 20°C
Scanned with Plustek OpticFilm 120 at 2400dpi with Silverfast AI Studio 9

Scheveningen • Nederland



Caffenol CLCN
500 ml Filtered Water
5gr Anhydrous Washing Soda
1gr Vitamin C
6gr Instant coffee ("Cora")
10 slow inversions then 3 times every 3 minutes for 15 minutes, fixing 60 sec.

[tuco]

T...Last night I home-developed a test roll of film - my first ever attempt at developing

Congratulations. It turned out well.

[BigMackCam]

Another from my first test roll...



["Old Railway Bridge - Plawsworth, Chester-le-Street, England", Agfa Isola II 6x6, Fomapan 200, Rodinal (Fomadon R09) 1+50 @ 10']

[BigMackCam]

The last (I think) of my more useable shots from the first test roll...



["Road-side Stone Cottage - Plawsworth, Chester-le-Street, England", Agfa Isola II 6x6, Fomapan 200, Rodinal (Fomadon R09) 1+50 @ 10']

[drmoss_ca]

Chester-le-Street! My mother was born in Durham, and I still remember the rhyme she taught me as a child:

There was a man, he went mad,
He jumped into a paper bag;
The paper bag was too narrow,
He jumped into a wheelbarrow;
The wheelbarrow took on fire,
He jumped into a cows' byre;
The cows' byre was too nasty;
He jumped into an apple pasty;
The apple pasty was too sweet,
He jumped into Chester-le-Street;
Chester-le-Street was full of stones,
He fell down and broke his bones.

You're doing well with your first film, and it gets both better and easier as you go on. Keep it up!

[AgentL]

The last (I think) of my more useable shots from the first test roll...



["Road-side Stone Cottage - Plawsworth, Chester-le-Street, England", Agfa Isola II 6x6, Fomapan 200, Rodinal (Fomadon R09) 1+50 @ 10']

Looks awesome! Rodinal (Adonal) 1:50 has been my go-to for foma 200 too.

[fs999]

Suzuki Optical Co. Press Van • Asahi Kogaku Takumar 1:3.5 F=75mm
Adox CMS II 20 ISO film in home made Caffenol CLCN 16min @ 20°C
Scanned with Plustek OpticFilm 120 at 2400dpi with Silverfast AI Studio 9

Den Haag • Nederland



Caffenol CLCN
500 ml Filtered Water
5gr Anhydrous Washing Soda
1gr Vitamin C
6gr Instant coffee ("Cora")
10 slow inversions then 3 times every 3 minutes for 15 minutes, fixing 60 sec.

[BigMackCam]

LOL! Haven't we all. We could probably fill 20 forum pages listing the newbie mistakes when learning film developing. Eventually it will alll become muscle memory, Mike, but it will take a while to get there.

Thanks, Jack. I can't help but think I actually got quite lucky on this first roll, given the mistakes I made and being all fingers-and-thumbs during the developing process. Still, having got several useable shots, I'm enthused and ready for more

I wish my test rolls through antique cameras using new film/developer combos looked so good. Yes, it is special!

Nice result !

Congratulations. It turned out well.

Looks awesome! Rodinal (Adonal) 1:50 has been my go-to for foma 200 too.

Chester-le-Street! My mother was born in Durham, and I still remember the rhyme she taught me as a child:

There was a man, he went mad,
He jumped into a paper bag;
The paper bag was too narrow,
He jumped into a wheelbarrow;
The wheelbarrow took on fire,
He jumped into a cows' byre;
The cows' byre was too nasty;
He jumped into an apple pasty;
The apple pasty was too sweet,
He jumped into Chester-le-Street;
Chester-le-Street was full of stones,
He fell down and broke his bones.

You're doing well with your first film, and it gets both better and easier as you go on. Keep it up!

Ha! I'd never heard that rhyme before - and I thought I knew the local history pretty well

To everyone who commented, thanks so much for your encouraging words. The whole process has given me new-found respect for all those who develop their own films and post such beautiful photos in this thread (at a level I can only aspire to at present), but also given me the confidence that I can do this, and will surely improve with plenty of practice