[goddo31]

Hi everyone,

It's really about time that I started doing my own development for film. But I have never done it before and really don't know where to start in regards to equipment. So I could use some suggestions as to what sort of stuff I will need to get started.

I gather I will need the following:
- development tank (daylight type would be good!)
- measuring beakers
- developer solution
- fixer and stop bath solutions (I think I can use water for the stop bath??)
- changing bag and/or dark room
- film reel for dev tank

Any other basic stuff I am missing?

One of the big unknowns for me is what developer to use... I wouldn't have a clue. I was thinking of just doing B&W, and apart from experimentation I use the following films:
- Acros 100
- Tri-x
- Ilford FP4+ 125

At this stage I am just shooting 35mm but definately want to shoot 120 soonish, so a dev tank where I could do either would be nice. I think I have seen tanks that allow you to do 1 roll of 120 or 2 rolls of 135, that sounds good to me. Are some types of tanks and reels better than others?

Anything against buying a film development kit straight from Freestyle?

Apologies for so many questions in one post, thanks for any help and suggestions.
cheers,
Jason

[vparseval]

I don't know the dev kits from Freestyle.

Especially if you want to branch into 120 later, make sure to get the right reels. They are the single most important thing and I have by now my fair share of experience with crappy ones. Get the Samigon tank. It comes with two plastic reels (which happen to be compatible with Paterson tanks if you want to switch later). Those reels are absolutely outstanding and foolproof, both for 135 and as well 120 film. Somebody fell in love with them and dedicated a blog post to those reels.

As for a changing bag, get a bigger rather than a smaller one. It makes things considerably easier when your arms are in the bag.

Other than that, you don't have a thermometer on your list yet. You'll need it. Also, a timer is handy. I have one of these Paterson triple-timers that allows me to set the times for developer, stop bath and fixer ahead of time (although only the developing step is really time-sensitive).

As for chemicals, no need for a stop bath. Plain water is fine. Get a wetting agent though, such as Kodak's Photo-Flo or Ilfotol. After washing the film, have it sit in water with a few drops of wetting agent for a minute. This prevents water stains. For 120 film, I would also consider a film squeegee. I use my fingers for regular 135 film but they are too short for 120 film.

Consider the shelf-life when deciding on a developer. There's a few developers I personally like that don't last very long (Ilfosol, DD-X) so I've eliminated those from my workflow. I'm now basically using HC-110 only which is very flexible, cheap and lasts forever. Get a syringe and you can mix your developer straight from the syrup and you can avoid making a stock solution first.

You will sooner or later try other film/developer combinations anyway. It's a lot like LBA. ;-)

Cheers,
Tassilo

[tuco]

Other accessories that may be handy:

• A good thermometer - The slender glass one-degree graduations for color are very responsive
• Film hanging clips
• Wetting agent
• A stirring rod
• A loupe and small light table to examine the negatives
• Archiving sleeves to store the negatives
• Some sort of countdown clock

One suggestion for a developer would be one of Kodak's developers such as D-76/XTOL/HC-110 for a start. I say that because if you also grab a roll of Kodak's BW film, you can find complete instructions and product information really easy on how to develop the film by looking up the data sheet for the developer and film. Kodak has a lot of documentation on their products where you can rely on a lot of testing. Then when you are comfortable with the process, you can branch out from there and try other film/developer combos which can be part of the joy of developing your own film.

[goddo31]

Tassilo, Tuco, thanks for the suggestions.
I didn't think about a thermometer - I may already have something similar left over from another hobby that I can use... I'll add that to my list though.
Tuco, I guess my first stop will be one of those Kodak developers and some Tri-X, I suppose I can't go too wrong with that

So far I have been getting some nice archival sleeves every time I pick up my film from the lab. Good point though because if I do it myself I wont be getting sleeves in this manner

Thanks guys, appreciate it.

[Nesster]

+1 on the Samigon tank for the reels, they make life easier especially with 120 film
+1 on the changing bag size, bigger is better.
+1 on the photo-flo/wetting agent

Kodak developers are good & well priced - Tmax developer is very easy to use, and apart from the initial mixing of powder, D-76 really is a long term standard. For fixer, I went with Ilford Rapid fixer, as it is faster and simpler than the Kodak versions. Works just fine.

Bottles. I've been using 1 liter soda bottles, for stuff like stop bath, fixer, or mixed D-76/Xtol. There are many other alternatives of course, but something to get you started.

You'll possibly want a funnel, the kind you get at any hardware or kitchen supply store.

Film hanging clips = clothes pins if nothing else is handy

Careful with a film squeegie, they will take any opportunity to scratch your film.

Timer - depending on where you do your development, i.e. a room with flowing water and a sink, which usually means bathroom or kitchen. I develop in the kitchen, and so have a choice of not one but two accurate digital timers, built into the oven and the microwave.

[goddo31]

Thanks Jussi.
Something I have been meaning to ask - are any of the chemicals used in development particularly hazardous or poisonous? I think this is the number 1 concern of my partner!

[brofkand]

Don't drink the chemicals. They are hazardous. Wear goggles. If they get in your eyes you may go blind.

Developer and stop bath can be poured down the drain; it's "harmless" to water supplies. At least, no more harmful than household bleach.

Fixer is particularly nasty; it contains precipitated silver so it will kill fish. When your fixer is expired (Freestyle sells a chemical in an eyedropper bottle that turns white when you drop it in if it's bad), pour it into a big jug. Once that jug is full, take it somewhere to have the silver recovered.

[stevebrot]

The MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) for darkroom chemicals are available from the manufacturers and oftentimes from the sales outlet. While a few generalizations can be made about the various darkroom chemicals, there are so many different formulations that it is probably not wise to put blanket statements on the Web.

Having said that, I do think that one can qualify the overall safety of commonly used B&W chemicals by pointing out that they are widely used in high school darkrooms using only general precautions. In other words, they are generally safe when used as intended. The same is true for environmental impact with the possible exception of used fixer which contains dissolved silver salts that may precipitate out as colloidal silver. The environmental impact of colloidal silver in small quantities is not well established, but there is no sense throwing away a limited and valuable resource if it can easily be reclaimed. The commercial photo labs in my area accept used fixer from home darkrooms for proper recycling and disposal. There are also methods for treatment of fixer using steel wool or something similar to remove the silver from solution prior to disposal of the liquid portion. Google is your friend for the available options.

General precautions for use:

• Do not drink the chemicals
• Avoid prolonged contact of developer with skin
• Avoid contact of any darkroom chemical with eyes or mucous membranes
• Vapors from acid stop bath and fixer may be a respiratory irritant. Use in a well-ventilated setting.
• Do not mix darkroom chemicals with household cleaners

Steve

[Nesster]

Thanks Jussi.
Something I have been meaning to ask - are any of the chemicals used in development particularly hazardous or poisonous? I think this is the number 1 concern of my partner!

One of the sorrows of my life: my wife won't let me have a real wet darkroom due to her concern over the chemicals. Never mind I spent years doing darkroom work and had one growing up. (OTH: I'm also thankful, as I know the time sink darkroom work is.)

+1 to what's said above; however, it is the smell that our partners are alert to. Most developer isn't too bad, stop bath is vinegar, but fixer does have a smell to it. (Wife's been known to sniff out fixer from across the house...) The thing is, not much will be exposed for long; in a kitchen you can open the window or turn on the fan...

When I use the soda bottles, I put much tape over the bottle with clear text saying what it is, DO NOT DRINK, and so on

[goddo31]

Thanks again guys, I'm trying to note and remember each of the points you have mentioned.
The silver content of fixer sounds like the only real concern from what I gather - I think I will need to find out how to safely dispose of it locally.

...Might need to dig out some old chemistry books and figure out how to get the silver out of that used fixer Wonder how long it would take to accumiulate an ounce of the stuff? (joking)

[stevebrot]

...Wonder how long it would take to accumiulate an ounce of the stuff? (joking)

Fully depleted fixer contains 3-5 grams silver per liter. Figuring 10 rolls of 35mm film per liter, you could get your ounce after about 60 rolls of film. The best information I have found regarding darkroom waste is from Kodak publication J300:

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/corp/environment/kes/pubs/pdfs/j300.pdf

This document gives an overview of chemical hazard and details risks and appropriate disposal for various waste systems. It also tells how a home user can reclaim silver from used fixer.


Steve

[goddo31]

Thanks for all the information Steve and everyone else.

I am now starting to price up some of this gear and have a quick question - is there much benefit to a stainless steel developing tank and reel, as opposed to plastic etc?

cheers,

[stevebrot]

...is there much benefit to a stainless steel developing tank and reel, as opposed to plastic etc?

Ha! Ha! There is a long-standing religious debate on the benefits and hazards of the two. I have both, but have a strong preference for the stainless steel tanks and reels. Here is a quick wrap-up of the strengths and weaknesses of both:

Stainless:

• Durable
• Steep curve on learning how to load the reels (feed is from the center out and is done by feel)
• High quality reels are essential for easy loading
• More expensive (this is less true today than in the past)
• Reels are easily damaged by dropping
• Simple design
• Metal construction conducts heat readily
• Some lid designs are slow to fill/empty
• Metal lids/caps may be difficult to remove. I prefer the flexible plastic lids with my stainless tanks.

Plastic (Paterson Type):

• Less expensive (depending on brand/quality)
• Reels easier to load (feed is by a ratchet mechanism from rim inward)
• Reels adjustable to various film sizes
• Film may jam onto the reel when loading (particularly if the rails are damp)
• Tanks may be damaged by dropping
• Generally fast fill/empty
• Plastic construction conducts heat more slowly
• More complicated with lots more parts than stainless
• Reels are more difficult to get fully dry
• Higher chemistry volumes than with stainless (375ml vs. 250 ml for single roll 35mm)
• Note that some designs (Yankee) may not allow agitation by inversion

Plastic (Jobo Type)

• No experience here...too expensive!

Both stainless and plastic leak to some extent, though the stainless tanks with plastic lids are pretty leak-tight in my experience. There are numerous Paterson clones. I have the Arista Premium version from Freestyle (aka AP, RKR...made in EU). For stainless tanks, there are a number of makers and all are about equal from what I can see. For reels, Hewes is the best. The quality points for reels are the gauge of wire and evenness of spacing between the wires and the two halves. For vintage used stainless, Nikor (not the same as Nikkor) and Kindermann stand out in my mind. I found all my current reels as new-old-stock Nikor at a local used photo shop.


Steve

[goddo31]

Didn't know I would potentially stir up a religious debater here!
Thanks for the info Steve, that's given me plenty of points to consider.

cheers,

[BillM]

Theres a ton of expirience, with equal amounts of good advice up there Jason.
My son came along and 'knocked me out' of the game. Worry too much about stuff
like that and kids. Still, better safe than...
reclaiming silver is fairly simple, sure there's wealth of information on web nowdays.
Best thing is, folks like above willing to share knowledge and know-how
forgot this, have dish-mops here, like a miniature floor mop, great for cleanup
Bill