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Developed my first B&W film

TareqPhoto

Member
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Joined
Nov 19, 2009
Messages
1,171
Location
Ajman - UAE
Format
Multi Format
Hey all!
Just today i started to develop my B&W film at home, i did 3 rolls, too bad that 1 of them came out nothing or bad, and the other 2 came out fine [not sure until i scan or print], I am so happy i did it at home even i did develop before at workshop i attended, but nothing like when i do it alone myself without someone else with me around.
Honestly for first roll i developed [which was also my first ever B&W film i shoot] i did many mistakes, so even it went bad i will not feel bad as i expect i will ruin it or it is ruined already before i develop., also it was a nightmare to load the roll into the reel, i spent about 1 hour and so to load it for the first roll[which is the bad one], and then took something between 5-15 minutes for the others, the first roll i tried first with Paterson reel, gave up and then tried Jobo one, gave up again and last i tried the stainless steel one and it worked but seems i corrupted so far, also because i was so mad and disappointed i put a water in Jobo tank and then put it in the changing bag [while the film is closed on Paterson tank without reel, and took out the film in the changing back to wash the roll, as when i tried to load it was stuck and not going through so i thought it was like adhesive or not dry or so], i learnt but seeing the other two coming out nicely i forgot all my mistakes, even those two came out were the shots i was looking for, I have one roll remain but i don't know if the fixer is enough.
 
- what's with the yellow images?
- sacrifice a roll of film and practice loading it onto a reel first in daylight, then in a changing bag until you get the hang of it. I also find stainless steel reels far easier, but if they get bent out of alignment even the slightest bit they can be very difficult to load. Reels need to be *dry* when loading; this is especially true for the plastic reels.
- sure these are just tests, but since you are scanning, why not keep the vertical elements plumb?
 

I am still learning!
 
TareqPhoto said:
I am still learning!
Click to expand...
Sorry, I'm not meaning to be overly critical. Looking at the uploads again, I think the images with the strange color balance must be RGB scans of B&W negatives before they were converted to monochrome in Photoshop. I don't think there is any benefit to scanning B&W images as RGB but you can experiement (note that there *is* a benefit to scanning color images as RGB, then converting to B&W in Photoshop).
Loading reels is like riding a bicycle -- it may take a while, but once you learn you will never forget.
Concerning horizontals and verticals -- check out the rulers, grid lines, and canvas rotation features in Photoshop.
 

- I did scan as normal 16bit and converted it to RGB in Photoshop to do that color tone i want.
- I hope you are right, as i don't see myself learnt or improved at all in loading the roll on reel after 50 times of practice in daylight and dark, but honestly it depends on the roll, if it is dry and if the reel is dry, otherwise it will never help even if i practice 1 year everyday.
- I will check that, but i am not good enough in Photoshop, also i hope i can get those lines straight or aligned in the shot out of the camera, not going to waste time always to straighten all the lines on many shots that i will scan, and what if i will print them by darkroom without scanning?
 
nice work

good to see more people playing with black and white. Reckon you'll do another?
 

Hi Tareq,

Congratulations on your first single handedly developed rolls!

The development looks good, nice tonality overall in the negs.

About the reels: Like PSchwart said, reels and film need to be absolutely dry when loading, as the film will otherwise stick to the plastic (and probably also steel, but I don't have experience with them).

Don't give up: what now seems a nightmare while loading, will become second nature in a blink of an eye. I use a Patterson tank with it's plastic reels, and have no trouble at all to load film, doesn't take more than a minute.

You will do similar in a few months time!!

Marco
 
pellicle said:
nice work

good to see more people playing with black and white. Reckon you'll do another?
Click to expand...

Thank you!
I have one more roll, not sure what it is about, but i may develop soon, just my fixer is not enough maybe so i will wait until i can get another more fixer or use my another powder fixer.
I am gonna shoot more B&W sooner or later, but i feel i don't have much interesting subjects in my country, and because of work, family and friends i can't start to do fine art work.
 

Thank you, Marco!

In fact not just me, even my friends in the workshop said it is so difficult loading 120 then 35/135, even 135 was difficult to load, but as long you all saying it will be easy to do with time and practice so i will wait that time when i can do it in darkness quickly or easily.

I am looking to scan more frames, but i want to develop more, just i want to take rest and read more about developing as i was lucky to get 2 rolls out of 3, and not sure about the 3rd one[first one thought to shoot with and to develop], the problem is that i can't tell if it is the mistake of storing the film or loading or developing.
 
I only use steel reels and almost only 120film although occasionally 35mm. You didn't mention your loading technique. What has worked for me for almost forty years is as follows: with 120 cut the corners of the leader on an angle, slightly curl the film and insert it under the reel clip, place the reel on a table top and gently push the film - it should almost roll itself on to the reel. 35mm should work the same except it is probably be a slightly longer roll. As mentioned above practice in the light then try it with your eyes closed until it becomes automatic. I have no idea where you are but there is subject matter everywhere. What may be common place to you can be exotic to someone from another place.
 

OK, i will keep that in mind, thank you very much!
 

Ah... the scans are to big for my old CRT screen. Stupid, but I hadn't actually realized this was 120 film. Thought it was 35mm. Anyway, although I only have experience with 35mm (still want to get a MF set!), I guess with time and practice, you will get the hang of it too. But it may indeed prove a bit more difficult, due to the floppier wider film format.
 
jeffreyg said:
with 120 cut the corners of the leader on an angle
Click to expand...

Good tip about the cutting, I do it with 35mm film too, and it helps in loading the reel like you say.
 
I think loading 35mm is easier, i did load 35 once in that workshop even i shoot MF only, i see that 35mm was easier, even my friends were faster in loading 35mm than 120.
In fact i am not sure if i should try 35mm film, as i am really happy with 120 MF but seems many going with 35mm, even others who use 120 i find that they use large format, it is like either 35 or large format, didn't see many talking about MF.
 
TareqPhoto said:
Thank you!
Click to expand...

you're welcome


I have one more roll, not sure what it is about, but i may develop soon, just my fixer is not enough maybe so i will wait until i can get another more fixer or use my another powder fixer.
Click to expand...

check your clearing rate by sticking a bit of film (say, a snip of the leader if it is roll) by dropping it into the fixer in a tray in full light and watching it clear ... time it ... should be no more than 2 ~ 3 minutes.

I am gonna shoot more B&W sooner or later, but i feel i don't have much interesting subjects in my country, and because of work, family and friends i can't start to do fine art work.
Click to expand...

I personally found / find that its hard to move from black and white to colour successfully. I don't know why, but it seems to take time to reprogram my mind to "see" the right things.

Don't dismiss your environment as being mundane, when I was in Finland people I knew were always intrigued why I was interested in the mundane things there.

For instance

this locale:


from a different angle with a pinhole camera



perhaps its not your style, but vision is always there ... just like film you need time to develop it

as the Japanese say "Ganbatte kudasai"

 

All Europe anywhere and all North America is paradise for me, everything is nice there, so for sure i will be interested in anything there, almost all or most of my winner shots and the best are from out of my country.
 
Loading the film can be a pain. After a while it becomes easier. I'd suggest that you have nothing on your work surface (assuming a dark room) except the film, something to open the cassette, reel(s), scissors, tank, and of course, its lid! You don't want to be frantically fumbling in total darkness looking for the d*** lid! Its amazing how big even a small bathroom floor is when you're looking for something in total darkness. That's one advantage of a changing bag - nothing can fall on the floor.

Mistakes happen. Back in my teen years - about the time the earth cooled - I loaded the tank, poured in the developer ..... and realized that I'd poured in fixer!! I hadn't labeled the bottles clearly, since I'd been able to tell the difference by smell! Dumb! And that day I had a cold... The fixer was nice and fresh, and cleared the film in seconds, apparently. No image, of course. Do believe that bottles were clearly labeled from then on.

Go forth and develop!!
 
Tareq, I am a beginner myself and so far my record about loading films in reels is as follows:

1st roll: spoiled completely while trying to do the job (long story);
2nd and 3rd roll: worked fine.

My suggestion is to look on YouTube, there are some videos about a "trick" on how to load the film in a easier way. I don't know if this is what has already being suggested.

Basically, you begin loading the first 8 - 10 cm of roll in the daylight. This is the "lead" of the film so you are not spoiling your work. Better to do this in somehow subdued light anyway to avoid "transport" of light from the film base anyway.

When you have done that, your film is "solidly" anchored to your reel. Now you put it all inside the changing bag and you only have to have the film "advance" inside the reel. So the difficult part, the "hooking" of the film to the reel, is something that can be done in the light.

I have a Jobo "transparent" plastic reel which I think is defective. I can see and feel some irregularities in the film path, like some "dents". I have two other Jobo white plastic reels. Those seem to work very well and do not oppose resistance to the advancing of the film.

Another reason why reels might not favour the advance of film is if they have some residual of final rinse on it (maybe you bought them 2nd hand like I did). In this case I suggest to clean them maniacally with hot water and a bit of dish soap.

Another suggestion I would put forward is that it is better to practise with the changing bag rather than in the dark or with closed eyes, if you are going to use the changing bag.

Fabrizio
 
WOW, my old thread, i miss it, now i load MF films like a charm, easy to do in my changing bag[tent].
 
TareqPhoto said:
WOW, my old thread, i miss it, now i load MF films like a charm, easy to do in my changing bag[tent].
Click to expand...

Told you!

Great to hear you continued your conquest of analog film, now get a darkroom that doesn't require recalibration each week

Warning: you may get hooked
 
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