I just posted the above tutorial video teaching you how you can develop your own film! While there is enough information for you to be able to follow the instructions and get results, it is difficult to pack in all the information I wanted to. To supplement the video, I am creating this blog post with extra info.
Getting Started
Black and white film developing might seem intimidating, but it is actually not that difficult. In the video, I tried to demonstrate my method for developing film as simply and inexpensively as possible. You will need some special equipment and supplies, but it doesn't have to cost a lot.
We will be developing our film in our home bathroom, as it is a place where we can get away with making a small mess and also have running water. For most people this is feasible. If it isn't... maybe you can be punk rock and go use a public restroom, or even use a jug or two of distilled water as your water supply and develop your film outside! Be creative!
There is a portion of the process (loading the film developing tank) that must be done in complete darkness. You can either ensure that your bathroom is completely dark (cheaper method, but less convenient) or you do this step in a 'changing bag' (costs a little bit of money, but is more convenient).
Supplies
There is some necessary equipment and materials. In the tutorial video, I use what would be considered the bare minimum to develop film. There are a few other items that are nice additions to the process, which I will mark in parentheses as being optional. You need the following:
-Exposed black and white film (We use Ilford HP5 in the video)
-Developing tank (plastic or stainless steel)
-Developer (Ilford Ilfosol 3 in this tutorial)
-Fixer (Ilford Rapid Fixer in this tutorial)
-Storage bottle(s) for fixer and other chemicals, 1 liter size is sufficient
-Measuring cup marked in milliliters
-Kitchen timer (you could use your phone)
-Darkroom thermometer
-Can opener
-Scissors
-Rag for keeping things clean
-Negative storage sleeves (an envelope could work in a pinch, although not ideal)
-Changing Bag OR Black tape to make sure your bathroom is sealed off from light
OPTIONAL:
-Stop Bath (such as Kodak Indicator Stop Bath)
-Hypo clearing agent
-Kodak Photo Flo
Where to get this stuff? Check to see if there is a local photo supply in your area. If you can't find it locally, there are many online retailers you can order equipment and supplies from. Links will be provided at the end of this blog post.
Loading the Tank
Loading the reels inside a developing tank is difficult to explain in words, so hopefully the video makes this clear enough. There are pros and cons to both plastic and steel tanks. The plastic reels tend to be easier for beginners, but can sometimes jam, and the tanks can be a bit leaky. Steel reels have no moving parts and are quite reliable, but take more skill and practice to load.
At any rate, you must load the tank in COMPLETE DARKNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!! You have a couple options. You can either put the tank, reel, film, can opener, and scissors inside of a changing bag and do the process inside of it, with the lights on OR you can make sure your bathroom is completely dark and do it in there.
The changing bag has two arm holes and a double zipper at the bottom. You unzip it, put in your materials, close it up, and stick your arms in. Sealed off to the light, you can somewhat comfortably load up your tank. You can do this with the lights on, so it is pretty convenient.
If you don't have or can't afford a changing bag, you can load your film in the bathroom (or perhaps a closet). The room must be COMPLETELY dark, as film is quite sensitive to even a small amount of light. Many bathrooms have no windows, but if your bathroom has a window, you must completely block it off from light. Something opaque like corrugated cardboard and some opaque tape might work well. You also need to make sure there is no light coming in at the seams of the door. An easy to fix this is to cover the seams all the way around (including the gap under the door near the floor) using some cheap black electrical tape. As you can imagine, this might seem like kind of a hassle and the changing bag might look like the better option. As an alternative to taping things off, sometimes I just wait until night, turn off all other lights in the house, and generally this way there is no noticeable light whatsoever coming through the door seams of the bathroom.
Once you have your darkness sorted out, you can load the reel. You first have to remove the film from the cartridge. You can manhandle it and tear it open (not totally recommended) or you can pop the caps off with a can opener. You can then tear or cut the film off of the core. I also like to cut the leader end square.
To load a plastic reel, you simply feed the end of the film into the entry point, then rotate each side of the reel back and forth which will automatically load the film. Hopefully your reel doesn't jam, because figuring out the problem in complete darkness can be frustrating!
Loading a steel reel is harder until you have practiced it enough times. You start the end of the film in the center of the reel. You can hold the end on the core of the reel with your thumb and forefinger of one hand, or you can try to hook the the sprockets on the end of the film onto two little hooks which are found near the core. Whatever way you approach it, once you have the end of the film secure in the center, you loosely hold the remainder of the film in your other hand. With the tips of your thumb and index finger gently pinch the sides of the film to give it a slight curl. Pulling the remainder of the film, with gentle tension, rotate the reel. This technique allows you to guide the film into the reel. It's really best to just watch the video and it will make more sense.
Practice loading a spare piece of film in the light until you can do it easily with your eyes closed. Once you have it down, it won't be as difficult for you when you have to do it for real.
Once you have your reel loaded, you can put it in the tank, put the lid on, and turn on the lights or take the tank out of your changing bag.
A Note about Chemicals and Safe Disposal
Generally speaking, photo chemicals can be fairly benign. However, it is still important to dispose of them properly. You should do some research and figure out what is and is not ok in your local municipality. Kodak furnishes documents about safe disposal of photo chemicals, and this can provide good guidelines for you to follow. That said, just because I do it one way in the video does not necessarily mean that you can do the same thing. If you want to keep it simple, while erring on the side of safety, store your spent chemicals in an old plastic jug or bottle and take them to a local facility which can accept hazardous waste. I will provide links to the Kodak documents at the end of this blog post!
Choosing a Developer (and other chemicals)
One neat thing about developing your own film is how you can use different developers (in combination with different films) to achieve different results. You can research different developers on the internet and find one that works for you and meets whatever goals you have in mind. Some developers come in a powder mix form, while others are liquid. Most all developers have to be diluted with water for use. Popular developers include the powder Kodak D76 (and its Ilford counterpart ID11), Rodinal, Kodak HC110, and many more.
For this tutorial, we wanted something economical and easy to use, so I selected Ilford Ilfosol 3. I selected this developer because it is in liquid form, so we can easily mix up only the amount we need for developing and then dispose of it. This is commonly referred to as a 'one-shot developer' because of it's single use. It is possible to reuse most developers, but developing 'one-shot' will get us more consistent results from roll to roll. The other reason I chose Ilfosol 3 is because the developer to water ratios make it easy to measure out in a measuring cup. My personal favorite developer, HC110 (sort of syrupy looking stuff), is also good, but requires using a plastic syringe to measure out because the developer is used in fractionally much smaller amounts.
You will also need a fixer. We are using Ilford Rapid Fixer. It is very common, easy to measure, and as the name implies works very fast. I have also had good success with Kodak Kodafix, although it takes a little longer.
There are several other chemicals you can use, which I will cover in optional steps. You can use stop bath, such as Kodak Indicator Stop Bath, although we will be using just water for that step which works just fine. You can also employ use of a hypo clearing agent (not very necessary in my opinion) and Kodak Photo Flo. Photo Flo is the only optional chemical that I recommend investing in, even though I don't use it in the video. I'll cover it in more detail in its respective optional step.
The Steps!
1. Pre-wash.
I fill the developing tank with water (approximately 68 degrees) to wet the film. By pre-wetting the film, it will help the developer spread over the film when you pour it in. This way, you get good even developing. I have heard some people omit this step, but I usually do it.
2. Developer
We must first mix up some developer. We will be using Ilfosol 3 in a ratio of 1:9. In a stainless steel tank that takes 250ml of solution, that means I need 25ml developer to 225ml water. I use my darkroom thermometer to get my sink water running at 68 degrees. The temperature of the developer affects the developing time. Developing at 68 degrees is most common, but 75 degrees is often used as well. Once I get my water to temperature, I mix my developer in the aforementioned amounts.
Once mixed, I pour the developer in the tank and put the cap on. I then begin to agitate the tank. Everyone has a different agitation technique, but what I do is repeated invert the tank while rotating it with each inversion. After agitating, I tap it on the table/counter a couple times before setting it down. I agitate for the first thirty seconds, and then I agitate again, for ten seconds, on each minute mark after that.
Your developing time will be determined by several factors, including type of film, what ISO you exposed it at, what temperature you are developing at, what developer you are using, and what dilution of said developer you are using. In this tutorial I am developing Ilford HP5 exposed at its normal ISO of 400, developed in Ilfosol 3 diluted 1:9 at 68 degrees. This gives us developing time of 6 min 30 sec. We found the developing time inside the film's box. Developing times for the most popular developers are usually listed in the box, but if you can't find the particular combo you are using, you can find this information on the internet.
3. Stop
After development, dispose of your developer as is best suited to your particular situation. Once the developer is poured out, we need to do a stop bath to completely terminate developing. In this tutorial, I just wash it with water to rinse out any remaining developer. You can also use a chemical stop bath such as Kodak Indicator Stop Bath (which is highly diluted with water) to terminate developing via a chemical reaction.
4. Fixer
Even though the images have been developed, they are still fragile, and must be 'fixed'. There are various fixers, but in this tutorial I use Ilford Rapid Fixer. Ilford Rapid Fixer is diluted 1:4 for film, so that means I mix 50ml fixer to 200ml water. When it is freshly mixed, Ilford Rapid Fixer needs as little as 2 minutes to do its job. You can reuse fixer for several rolls of film before it is spent. I increase my fixing time by a minute or so with each reuse. I usually dispose of spent fixer after 3-4 rolls. I use the same kind of agitation method while fixing as I did during development. Once I am done fixing I normally pour it back into a bottle to either save it for further use, or to safely dispose of it. Spent fixer has leftover silver in it and is not good to pour down the drain.
OPTIONAL STEP: Hypo Clearing Agent
Hypo clearing agent is a chemical which helps clear out left over fixer, as part of the washing process. The idea is, is that by using hypo clear you will not have to use as much water to wash the film at the end. Some people use it, but I never have. I wish I had more to say about it than that. Do some research and see if it is for you.
5. Wash
After I have poured out my fixer, all that is left is to wash the film clean! It is also technically safe to remove the lid at this point, since the images are fixed. Everyone has their own methods, some that use more water and some that use less. In interest of saving water, I have settled on a pretty minimal amount of washing. Whether this has an adverse impact on the archival qualities of my negatives, I don't know, but I am not too stressed about it.
I simply fill up the tank with water, cap it, and invert/agitate ten times. I pour it out, repeat, this time inverting 20 times. I do it one last time for 30 inversions and I am done! I think this is based off of some published Ilford method.
OPTIONAL STEP: Photo Flo
This is the one optional chemical I can whole heartedly recommend. You will have to let your film dry, and it can sometimes develop water spots, especially if you have hard water. Photo Flo helps solve this. I did not use it in the tutorial video in interest of simplicity. All you need to do with Photo Flo is fill your tank with water, lid off, and put in a couple drops of Photo Flo in, sploosh your film around for a moment, and you are good! Photo Flo is a surfactant, similar to what is used in liquid dish soap, and it helps water to sheet off the surface of the film. This helps prevent the dried water spots!
6. Dry
I just put a wire hanger on my shower curtain and use clothespins to pin the film to the hanger, as well as pinning the bottom to weight it down while it dries.
7. Cut and Sleeve
Once dry, I cut my negatives, sleeve them up in a plastic page (or stuff em in an envelope if I have to), and admire my wizardry! The negatives can then be scanned with a film scanner or printed in a darkroom if you have access to one.
Conclusion
I hope this provided you with a simple way for you to get started developing your own film! Just let me know if you have any questions!
LINKS
Freestyle Photo - great source of supplies!!!
B&H Photo - good supply source
Adorama - more supplies
Amazon - you can also find supplies on Amazon
Digital Truth Massive Dev Chart - look up nearly any film/developer combo!
Kodak Chemical Disposal Page - find various info and publications regarding safe disposal of chemicals
Kodak Chemical Products - info on Kodak chemicals and more
Kodak Alaris - home of Kodak films
Ilford - home of Ilford films and chemicals
