clueless home developer

thinking about developing my own film at home to save money - its like $5-6 to develop a roll here

shooting with:
tri-x 400 120mm rated at 200
arista premium 100 35mm
arista premium 400 35mm

how can i determine the developing times?
arista 100 is plus-x - so 7min45sec at 21degrees at 1:1
arista 400 is tri-x - so 9min at 21degrees at 1:1
tri-x 400 rated at 200???? - maybe 13min at 21degrees at 1:1?

can i use regular tap water

things i'll need to buy:
film changing bag
35mm film canister opener - can i use something diy - like scissors or a bottle cap opener?
thermometer
measuring tubes/cups
funnel to pour stop and fixer back into storage bottles
clothes-pin for hanging negatives
some kind of clip weight for drying negatives straight

D76 developer
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/1464817-Kodak-D-76-Film-Developer-to-make-1-Gallon
i should make the whole gallon at once and divide the solution into 500ml plastic coke bottles and store in a cool place
i can use 250ml of developer with 250ml water to develop one roll of 120mm or two rolls of 35mm at 1:1 in my patterson plastic developing tank
discarding the developer after each use, i'll be able to develop 15 rolls of 120mm or 30 rolls of 35mm

kodak indicator stop
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/1464247-Kodak-Indicator-Stop-Bath-16-oz.
dilute 1 part concentrate with 63 parts water
i have no idea how i should prepare this - all at once? just like 1 liter?
and how many times can i reuse stop bath

kodak fixer
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/1971746-Kodak-Fixer-Powder-To-Make-1-Gallon
again, have no clue, make all at once because its powder?
how many times can i reuse fixer

kodak hypo clearing agent
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/1464254-Kodak-Hypo-Clearing-Agent-Powder-to-Make-5-Gallons
why don't they have this in 1 gallon , can i use legacypro instead
make all at once?

kodak photo flo
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/1464510-Kodak-Photo-Flo-200-16-oz.
do you use this at full concentrate
is this even necessary

can i dump these chemicals down the sink

That is a lot of questions all at once...
1. How about that hockey game.....?
2. The tap water here is VERY good. Go by the exact times they call for @ http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php
3. Follow the directions that come with the chemicals that you purchased. I tried the tabs that you left and the all came back as "404 Page not found"
4. Dispose of the used developer @ Kaslo & Broadway (Bottle depot & paint & chemicals)
5. Make 1 liter of stop according to the directions
6. Make up the full 3.85 Liters of Fixer And divide to smaller air sealed bottles. Reusable
7. Hypo clear I do not use
8. Photo Flo is 1-200 mixture so 1 bottle will last years
All the chemical etc that you mentioned actually last quite a while (except D76 is a 1 shot deal) Check in your area if they have any other chemical disposal instead of the one I mentioned. Order your film from Freestyle as well and you won't be paying $5-6 a roll that you mentioned. Vancouver is a very pleasing place to do photographs so just enjoy.....

Your choice of chemicals is good. If the Kodak fixer has a hardener incorperated in it then best to use hypo clear to shorten wash times. My suggestion is a fixer without hardener. Also, recommend Edwal LFN for final rinse instead of Photo-Flo, much better product.

Shooting Tri-X at 200 would mean "pulling" development, less time in developer not more. Did you possibly mean Plus-X at 200? That would require pushing, and more developing time.

New Info: Tri-X shot iso 200--10.5min @20c, then using time/temp chart shows less than 5 min development time @21c. This is not recommended as any film developed less than 5 minutes could result in uneven development. (source:MDC)

Why on earth does everyone starting out developing their own film think they need hypo clearing agent? I see this all the time, is there still a popular old book around or website which suggests HCA?

Considering developer capacity you can only develop one roll of 120 and one roll of 135-36 with 250ml of D76. You can *fit* two rolls of 135-36 in the tank and cover them with developer but you run the risk of underdeveloping the film resulting in thin, hard to print negatives because of developer exhaustion.

One roll 120= 80 sq. in.
One roll 135-36=80 sq. in.

250ml of D76 will fully develop 80 sq. in. of film.

To do two rolls of 135-36 1:1 you will need 500ml of D76 plus 500ml of water in a 1 liter developing tank.

Quite often, Kodak's recommendations for developer capacity were based on the minimum amount of chemical needed to get a printable negative developed on an automated high volume processor.

For further information read Steve Anchell's 'The Darkroom Cookbook,' 3rd edition, for details on how much developer is required to fully develop a film.

I use a little pair of vise grips to open my 35mm canisters. I recently inhertited a real canister opener and will start rolling my own so that might change. But I clip the vise grips onto the top of the canister's edge, once in my dark box, just rock the vise grips towards the center of the canister and it pops right off.

chij said:

35mm film canister opener - can i use something diy - like scissors or a bottle cap opener?

clothes-pin for hanging negatives
some kind of clip weight for drying negatives straight

Click to expand...

Yes, a bottle opener works perfect. Also, a 2nd clothespin will suffice for a bottom weight.

I'd suggest getting a dial type METAL thermometer. It costs few times more than the glass type but reaction time is so much faster, getting developer solution to the right temperature much easier. Trying to do that quickly with glass thermometer is very frustrating because of the reaction lag.

Discussing development time online is waste of time.... every little bit of variation in exposing and developing (technique) will cause changes sufficient enough to affect the "perfect" time. Just start from what's published and go from there. Unless you *really* screw it up, you will get usable and good result and from there, it's more of personal preference.

I'd also suggest spending some quality time with Kodak's technical literature about most of your chemicals. A LOT of your question is answered there in depth.

About Photo-flo, for some, including myself the standard 5ml to 1 liter (1:200) dilution causes drying marks. I use half that now and it works much better.

hpulley said:

Why on earth does everyone starting out developing their own film think they need hypo clearing agent? I see this all the time, is there still a popular old book around or website which suggests HCA?

Click to expand...

Unlike Harry, I'm a strong proponent of using HCA for film. It cuts washing time, and it makes it much more likely that washing will be complete.

Greg Davis did a bunch of tests on the variables and posted the results in this very long thread:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

If nothing else, I think that his results show that it makes sense to use HCA with film.

To the OP: feel free to contact me if you would like to talk about this stuff.

I interpret Greg's tests as showing that with a rapid non-hardening fixer, no HCA is needed. With a hardening fixer, HCA is useful. I only use non-hardening rapid fixer.

dances_w_clouds said:

1. How about that hockey game.....?

Click to expand...

hockey would be better if they had cheerleaders

Rick A said:

Shooting Tri-X at 200 would mean "pulling" development, less time in developer not more. Did you possibly mean Plus-X at 200? That would require pushing, and more developing time.

New Info: Tri-X shot iso 200--10.5min @20c, then using time/temp chart shows less than 5 min development time @21c. This is not recommended as any film developed less than 5 minutes could result in uneven development. (source:MDC)

Click to expand...

i've read that others rated their tri-x at 200 for better results
do you pull the film during developing, or develop it as if you rated it 400
ie. are you intentionally overexposing 1 stop because you find that yields better results with tri-x

"Pull development" just means shortening the time in developer before dumping chem and pouring in the stop bath. The MDC shows two different times for Tri-X in D-76 1+1, 9.5 min for 35mm and 10.5 for 120 film. It also shows 9.75 min for iso 400. I would be inclined to develope as if it were shot at 400 speed. You have to remember that the MDC times are starting points, and you must experiment to find the time that works for you.

chij said:

i've read that others rated their tri-x at 200 for better results do you pull the film during developing, or develop it as if you rated it 400
ie. are you intentionally overexposing 1 stop because you find that yields better results with tri-x

Click to expand...

It is fun and worthwhile to experiment with rating films at something different that the box speed to see what they do.

BUT...

The more I learn about the craft of photography and the better I get at each task the more I like using the box rating.

The results others get are nearly irrelevant because things as simple as their thermometer reading being differently than yours or their metering technique giving different readings than yours (both of which are the norm BTW) or any number of other variables can skew the result.

Shooting any film at half box speed will get you more shadow detail than if you shot it at box speed.

Which is more important to you though, an extra stop of detail or a less blur with a faster shutter speed?

The answer to that question can vary for every shot.

With regard to changing development because of a change in exposure:

That depends on how the SBR of the scene matches the paper your printing on.