35mm Develop by Inspection ... or too small?

removed account4 · Sep 25, 2004

hi there

i have been developing my sheet film by inspection since i read michael smith's article a few years back. but that is sheet film, and i have been shooting a some roll film ( 35mm & 120 ) these days and want to do the same thing to make sure i get "everything right" .

i am going to process each roll alone in a small tank - and i was going to just pour the developer out put the film in a water tank and flick the switch ... anyone have experience developing smaller format films by inspection?

any insights would be very helpful

thanks ( in advance )!
john

dr bob · Sep 25, 2004

jnanian said:
hi there

i have been developing my sheet film by inspection since i read michael smith's article a few years back. but that is sheet film, and i have been shooting a some roll film ( 35mm & 120 ) these days and want to do the same thing to make sure i get "everything right" .

i am going to process each roll alone in a small tank - and i was going to just pour the developer out put the film in a water tank and flick the switch ... anyone have experience developing smaller format films by inspection?

any insights would be very helpful

thanks ( in advance )!
john

That will work only if further development is not required. Exposing unconverted silver halide will form a latent image which will, upon further development, become completely black on fixing.

If the development is to your liking, and further development is not required, you may get by with just a little fogging and/or staining. Fixing should remove all the undeveloped halides converted or not.

garryl · Sep 25, 2004

The old timers articles I've read say what you need is - a desensitizer bath, a green safelight, a pair of scissors, and lots of practice. They were past masters of clipping off frame that were done and re-dunking underdone ones. If you get the courage and/or the curiosity to try it- good luck and let us know how you make out.

Jeanne · Sep 25, 2004

hi John,
I do 120 negs in pyro this way. I turn off all the lights, take the top off the tank, pull out the reel and unwind the first 2 or 3 frames. Then I hold it behind my back while I flip on the safelight, quickly look at the first 3 or 4 frames, flip off the safelight, rewind the film on the reel, and put it back in the tank.

I can't imagine doing 35mm this way, but 120 isn't bad, expecially if you've had a lot of experience with sheet film & know what you're looking for.

bjorke · Sep 25, 2004

By freaky coincidence, I just posted in another thresd about this. Salgado's lab folks are indeed reputed to develop his 35mm negs by inspection

removed account4 · Sep 25, 2004

thanks for all your replies !

i don't think i am coordinated enough to clip and redunk
i can barely clip my strips to put in negative files <g>

but i think when i get a chance i will process one roll at a time and make believe it is sheet film ( look at a few frames under the green light ) and keep going if i need it ...
thanks again for the heads up about the lab bjork ( i'll check out your thread )

- john

removed account4 · Sep 25, 2004

dr bob said:
That will work only if further development is not required. Exposing unconverted silver halide will form a latent image which will, upon further development, become completely black on fixing.

If the development is to your liking, and further development is not required, you may get by with just a little fogging and/or staining. Fixing should remove all the undeveloped halides converted or not.

dr.bob -

i know this will happen with a conventional red safelight, but i have never experienced fogging when i have used a green/inspection safelight ..
kodak does not recommend DBI anymore ---maybe this is why...

thanks for the warning

- john

gainer · Sep 25, 2004

I have heard that pyro developers desensitize film so that there is less chance of fogging.

dr bob · Sep 26, 2004

jnanian said:
dr.bob -

i know this will happen with a conventional red safelight, but i have never experienced fogging when i have used a green/inspection safelight ..
kodak does not recommend DBI anymore ---maybe this is why...

thanks for the warning

- john

Thank YOU! Maybe I'll give it a try with my "new" efke 4x5. Gotta get a green light though - never had one.

David A. Goldfarb · Sep 26, 2004

dr5 used to offer development of negatives by inspection as a standard service. Dr. Wood is on APUG and they are sponsors, so you might ask him. I think they may have been using infrared inspection.

eric · Sep 26, 2004

I used to process B&W film for a living at a B&W lab in NYC. (no names for now). I processed film for Annie Leibowitz, Steven Meisel, Bruce Weber, Patrick Demarchelier and many others. I did them in 5 gallon tanks with baskets. I did 35mm, 120m, 4x5, 8x10's. I processed EVERY roll via inspection (until we got those newfangled things called Jobos for large format and tech pan). I had a foot switch attached to the green filter. I can go into a lot of detail but you can PM me if you want more information. Couple of key things -- go in the dark and do NOTHING for about 10 minutes so your eyes get acclimated. When inspecting roll film, take a a few inches from the roll, emulsion up, and click the light quick (hopefully with a foot switch so your hands are free). I figure, you know what it should look like if you are asking the question but the tricky part is getting the workflow going to do multiple rolls. PM me so I can explain the workflow I used to do.

Jeanne · Sep 26, 2004

dr bob said:
Thank YOU! Maybe I'll give it a try with my "new" efke 4x5. Gotta get a green light though - never had one.

Dr. Bob -- depends on what you're souping in, but I've found that an OC light is just fine for pyrocat negs. It takes your eye a touch longer to adapt than the green light does, but it won't hurt the film.

That's why I hold my film behind my back when I flip the switch -- the fraction of a second that it takes me to get the film forward gives my vision time to adapt.

I have heard that some actually prefer OC for reading pyrocat negs. So if you're using pyrocat, go for it -- you'll be amazed!

35mm Develop by Inspection ... or too small?

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