A little help?

[Mr Philip Barnard]

Hi all,

I wonder if I can get a few pointers. I'm new to film processing and have just got a kit for my birthday. I've shot two ilford Hp5 400 and loaded them into the tank successfully. However I'm struggling with the chemical side of it. Mostly agitation times and concentrations of chemicals for ilford hp5.

Would anyone have a suggested work flow that I can follow as searching the Internet can come up with confusing and conflicting answers?

The chemicals included with the kit are

Tetenal paranol s developer
Tetenal indict stop Bath
Tetenal superfix plus
And mirasol 2000 antistatic

Thanks in advance

Phil

 

[markbau]

I'm not familiar with those particular chemicals. Basically you want to mix the first three up according to the instructions. How much you mix will depend on how much liquid your tank needs to cover a 35mm film. That quantity should be written on the tank. For instance, if your tank needs 500ml for one 35mm film and your developer needs a 1:25 dilution you need 20ml of paranol added to 500ml of water, that gives a total of 520ml, a little more total is fine, its the dilution ratio that is important. Mix up the stop and fixer according to the dilution that should be written on the bottle and let them stand in water at 20C so they are all at the same temp and at 20C (measured with a thermometer.) Have a timer ready and pour the developer in and invert the tank a for 30 seconds, then let stand for 30 seconds, then invert the tank a few times for 10 seconds and let stand until the next minute is up and so on until the development time has elapsed, pour the developer down the drain and add the stop bath, agitate continuosly for a minute then pour in out, then add the fixer for the time on the bottle, agitating for about 10 seconds every minute, keep the fixer, then wash the film in running water for about ten minutes. If you have a wetting agent like photo flow, add a few drops to the water, let it stand for a minute then hang the film up in a dust free place to dry.

 

[MattKing]

Welcome to Photrio.
Wherever possible, start with the manufacturer's instructions. Here is a link for your developer, which appears to have some similarities to Rodinal: https://www.freestylephoto.biz/static/pdf/product_pdf/tetenal/paranol-s-mixing-instructions.pdf
markbau's advice looks good. I'll add a few qualifications:
1) if you have a very small tank, you need to be careful about using very dilute chemicals. Sometimes it is possible to end up with a tank that doesn't have enough actual chemical in it, even if the solution's volume is enough to cover the reel and film. Most instructions include information about capacity, which allow you to calculate such things, but the developer instructions I linked to don't have that. In order to avoid that, I would suggest starting out with the less dilute 1 + 25 dilution referred to in the instructions I linked to;
2) fixer is intended to be re-used. There should be capacity information (expressed in rolls or square meters/inches of film) on the package. One roll of 120 or 135-36 film is 80 square inches/0.052 square meters;
3) the mirasol wetting agent you have is intended to be diluted 1:400 for use. That means as little as 2 ml in 800 ml of water. It is important to be fairly accurate with that dilution, so you need something like a fairly tiny eye dropper or a pipette to accomplish that. Don't mix up a larger quantity and keep it - mould will grow in most stored working strength wetting agent;
4) the Ilford site offers a bunch of information for beginners, including this resource: https://www.ilfordphoto.com/beginners-guide-processing-film/. While that resource refers to Ilford chemicals, it is generally applicable.
Have fun, and good luck.

 

[kevs]

Hi all,

I wonder if I can get a few pointers. I'm new to film processing and have just got a kit for my birthday. I've shot two ilford Hp5 400 and loaded them into the tank successfully. However I'm struggling with the chemical side of it. Mostly agitation times and concentrations of chemicals for ilford hp5.

Would anyone have a suggested work flow that I can follow as searching the Internet can come up with confusing and conflicting answers?

The chemicals included with the kit are

Tetenal paranol s developer
Tetenal indict stop Bath
Tetenal superfix plus
And mirasol 2000 antistatic

Thanks in advance

Phil

Hi Philip, welcome to Photrio. I'd suggest the following workflow; it works for me.

1) Prepare the chemicals as per instructions. Bring the developer to the recommended temperature; this is usually 20c/68f. Use a waterbath or other method you find convenient. Follow the developer manufacturer's instructions and development times. Don't worry too much about stop bath and fixer temps; getting them within 5 degrees of the development temperature is good enough.
2) Have a timer handy. Mobile phones usually have a stopwatch function.
3) When you are ready to start, steadily pour the developer into the tank. Don't take more than a few seconds. Try to avoid letting air bubbles form. Start the timer when all of the dev is in the tank. Put the lid on the tank and seal it; this is important.
4) Invert the tank x25 in the first minute and x10 in each subsequent minute. Don't worry too much about agitation; the film will still develop if you can't be accurate! Do not shake the tank. Do not bang a plastic tank against a surface; you may crack it open (bt;dt)!*
5) Twenty seconds before your development time ends, steadily pour out the developer. Keep it for further use or discard, per instructions.
6) Pour in the stop bath. Invert the tank x10. Wait two to three minutes. Pour it out again.
7) Pour in the fixer. Invert the tank x10. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for fixing time, which shouldn't be longer than 3 minutes. Pour it out again. You can now remove the spiral from the tank. But you're not done yet; put it back in and follow the next steps.
8) Wash your film. Fill your tank with water around the developing temperature. Invert the tank x10. Repeat x10.
9) On your final wash, add a few drops of wetting agent. You really don't need much. Invert the tank x10. Pour it out. If you get lots of bubbles, you used too much wetting agent.
10) Remove the spiral, take out the film and hang it in a dust-free place to dry. Do not squeegee it or use your fingers as squeegees; the emulsion is soft and scratches easily.
11) When the film is dry, cut it into strips and store.

*Someone is bound to pipe up and say "you should smartly rap the tank six times to dispel air bubbles!" I think that's a great way to ruin a perfectly good tank. If you get air bubbles, which show on the neg as tiny, clear pinholes, you can pre-soak film before developing it. Then you'll get someone who goes, "ooh, Ilford says don't pre-soak film, Ilford knows best, blah de blah". I presoak my film and I very rarely get air bubbles. The upshot is; once you've found a method of developing that works well for you, stick with it!

Have fun,
kevs.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Hi all,

I wonder if I can get a few pointers. I'm new to film processing and have just got a kit for my birthday. I've shot two ilford Hp5 400 and loaded them into the tank successfully. However I'm struggling with the chemical side of it. Mostly agitation times and concentrations of chemicals for ilford hp5.

Would anyone have a suggested work flow that I can follow as searching the Internet can come up with confusing and conflicting answers?

The chemicals included with the kit are

Tetenal paranol s developer
Tetenal indict stop Bath
Tetenal superfix plus
And mirasol 2000 antistatic

Thanks in advance

Phil

this may help:

 

[pentaxuser]

OP you must do what on balance you think is the best based on all the suggestions here but I have always tapped the plastic tank on a relatively hard surface after the first period of agitation. Most explanations of the process seem to cover this so it would suggest that this is a good way of releasing air bubbles that may stick to the film surface

Of course there is tapping and tapping in terms of what is needed to release bubbles and what is needed to crack a tank. Ii reminds me of the joke. In court the defendant on an assault charge only admits to reaching out and touching the other party's face but under pressure from the prosecution then admits that at the time his hand was balled into a fist and was travelling at considerable speed

pentaxuser