Darkroom Misadventures

[dynachrome]

The Mamiya Press Super 23 I was waiting for arrived. Yesterday I shot a roll of 120 Tri-X and that's when the fun began. I grabbed the film and noticed that it expires in 2009. I rated it at 200 to be safe. The shots were outside in good light. The chemicals I had lying around were none too new. To test them I used short lengths of 20+ year old T-MAX 100. The fixer was easy. I poured out 4 oz. of C-41 and added 12 oz. of water. The film cleared in 45 seconds. Then I took out what I thought was a pint of Ilford Microphen in 20 oz. soda bottle with 2010 mixing date. It turned out to be Fuji Microfine. It was taking to long for the film to turn black and the developer had a faint purple color so I didn't use it. I then reached for bottle of D-76, also mixed up in 2010. It was in an old Grolsch swing top beer bottle. The test clip started to turn black fairly quickly. According to my Kodak Deluxe Darkroom Thermometer the D-76 was at 67F. I gave it 11 minutes with agitation every 30 seconds in a SS tank.. I almost forgot that the changing bag I used had a loose cuff for my left hand. Two rubber bands around the outside of the cuff solved that problem. The negatives show some fog and are a little grainy but the 6X9" prints I had made today look good. Photo-Flo got the negatives to dry nicely. With fresh film and chemicals, who knows what I might get? I think it was the Grolsch bottle which saved the day.

 

[WilmarcoImaging]

Fun times! Thanks for bringing us along.

 

[wyofilm]

Everyone starting out in the darkroom should read this. Goes to show just how robust film processing can be.

 

[jvo]

i'm gonna do some work in the darkroom tonight - i wonder have many misadventures i can put in my path??!

 

[Cholentpot]

Everyone starting out in the darkroom should read this. Goes to show just how robust film processing can be.

My first ever print was done with expired Kodak Paper and D-76, vinegar stop-bath and a safe light made from a goose-neck lamp with red tissue paper taped over the shade. Print lacked contrast but worked.

 

[wyofilm]

Print lacked contrast but worked

You probably did cartwheels with excitement, because it was your first.

 

[Cholentpot]

You probably did cartwheels with excitement, because it was your first.

You betcha! Magic!

It's on display in a frame just because of that.