Developing B&W for the first time. Advice needed.

Hi all,

I've asked Matt some questions about developing film some time ago and got great answers but I'm not sure I covered everything I need to know.

This is what I just bought:

A film changing tent from Adorama.
2 Hewes 135 reels
A Seki SS 2-reel tank
A film cartridge opener

I'm planning on using D-76 developer. It seems like a good option for a beginner. I'm developing some Delta 400 and Kentmere 100 and 400 all shot at box speed. Matt gave me good advice on how to agitate the tank, etc.

I haven't bought film clips to hold the film or sleeves to house the film after processing. Not sure if regular office folder clips will work but I have plenty of those.

I don't have a thermometer and don't know which one to get but I think I need one.

I don't have any beakers to measure the developer or containers to store the developer in once mixed and not sure what to get or where to get it. Also, what's the best way to mix up the develop and what do I mix it in?

I don't know what other chemicals I need, but vaguely know that I need (or don't need?) stop bath and photo flow or something. I need to know exactly what to do after I dump the developer out of the tank.

Thanks for your help!

You are going to get a ton of answers to your questions.

For clips, I have used everything from designated film clips to regular paper clips with pennies at the bottoms for weights. Right now I'm using wooden clothespins. They are cheap.

A thermometer does help if you are particularly concerned with varying temps. I keep my distilled water for mixing my developer in an area that stays roughly 68 degrees year round so I rarely check temp unless its particularly cold or warm out.

Beakers can be purchased from amazon pretty easily, but I've preferred the dollar store because of cost. I prefer brown plastic chemical bottles for storage. When mixing my chemistry in a bottle I just use a classic inversion technique for mixing. If it's open top I use a stir stick.

You NEED fixer. You can substitute water for a stop bath and you can use distilled water for a final rinse to reduce water spots.

The basic steps in developing film: 1. Devloper 2. Stop/water rinse 3. Fixer (use time listed on your fixer) 4. Wash (I prefer to wash 5-10 minutes) 5. photo-flo or distilled water rinse 6. hang to dry.


You are going to get a TON of varying answers I'm sure, but when starting out the KISS method is best until you have some success.

Prepare for an avalanche of randomness! ;-) Seriously, your question is about people's habits. There are endless variations of habits, but the result is the same if a person does everything right. This document lists everything you need.

@KerrKid how old are you? I was 16 when I developed my first roll of film, it's not a rocket science, just do it

rcphoto said:

You are going to get a ton of answers to your questions.

For clips, I have used everything from designated film clips to regular paper clips with pennies at the bottoms for weights. Right now I'm using wooden clothespins. They are cheap.

A thermometer does help if you are particularly concerned with varying temps. I keep my distilled water for mixing my developer in an area that stays roughly 68 degrees year round so I rarely check temp unless its particularly cold or warm out.

Beakers can be purchased from amazon pretty easily, but I've preferred the dollar store because of cost. I prefer brown plastic chemical bottles for storage. When mixing my chemistry in a bottle I just use a classic inversion technique for mixing. If it's open top I use a stir stick.

You NEED fixer. You can substitute water for a stop bath and you can use distilled water for a final rinse to reduce water spots.

The basic steps in developing film: 1. Devloper 2. Stop/water rinse 3. Fixer (use time listed on your fixer) 4. Wash (I prefer to wash 5-10 minutes) 5. photo-flo or distilled water rinse 6. hang to dry.


You are going to get a TON of varying answers I'm sure, but when starting out the KISS method is best until you have some success.

Click to expand...

Ok. Distilled water for the developer.

Source thermometer from wherever.

House is 75 degrees.

Mix D-76 and water in gallon jug, bowl, etc. Not sure how much dev mix a package makes.

Where to get brown jugs?

Ok. Dollar General for beakers.

Distilled water for stop bath? How much?

What fixer to use?

What wash? Tap water? Distilled?

Photo flo, liquid soap, or plain distilled water for last step then hang to dry.

miha said:

@KerrKid how old are you? I was 16 when I developed my first roll of film, it's not a rocket science, just do it

Click to expand...

Me, too. That was 50 years ago, though.

I just don’t want to mess up photos that count so I’m trying to make sure I do it correctly.

Steven Lee said:

Prepare for an avalanche of randomness! ;-) Seriously, your question is about people's habits. There are endless variations of habits, but the result is the same if a person does everything right. This document lists everything you need.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the link. I believe Matt may have sent me that link, too, and I’d forgotten about it. That answers a lot of questions.

May I advise on the best method I have so far encounted to develop film?



If you develop film at 1:1 in D76 or other developer, can I suggest the following method of preparation? Assuming you’re using tap water as part of your developing solution and not distilled or deionized water, this method is fairly easy.



To make a 1:1 developing solution for one 35mm film, you will need 150ml of water mixed with 150ml of developer = 300ml (I know it says 290ml on the tank, but 300ml and its division by ½ to 150ml is easier to remember). This mixture of developer and water should ideally be at a temperature of 68F/20C.



Pour 150ml of developer into a measuring jug and measure its temperature. If it is under or over 68F/20C, make a separate jug of water to compensate for the difference. Example if the developer temperature is 18C, make the water to 22C, before adding 150ml of developer.

To get the water at the required temperature, put a thermometer in the empty jug and add hot and cold, either from two separate taps or a mixer tap. Don’t worry about the quantity as you can let the excess flow over the edge, just concentrate on getting the temperature you require, in this case 22c.Then pour out the excess to leave 150ml and add the developer, thus achieving a developer solution at 68f/20c.



And never ever, ever after the film is fixed, washed and dryed, use a squeegee. Let the film dry naturally overnight in a bathroom or airing cabinet.

KerrKid said:

Me, too. That was 50 years ago, though.

I just don’t want to mess up photos that count so I’m trying to make sure I do it correctly.

Click to expand...

You will not mess it up.

1. developer at 20 deg centigrade
2. water or stop bath
3. rapid fix at 1+4
4. Ilford wash method / running water
5. some weak photo-flo / a drop of dish soap / leave it out all together
6. hang to dry

KerrKid said:

Ok. Distilled water for the developer.

Source thermometer from wherever.

House is 75 degrees.

Mix D-76 and water in gallon jug, bowl, etc. Not sure how much dev mix a package makes.

Where to get brown jugs?

Ok. Dollar General for beakers.

Distilled water for stop bath? How much?

What fixer to use?

What wash? Tap water? Distilled?

Photo flo, liquid soap, or plain distilled water for last step then hang to dry.

Click to expand...

I believe D76 comes in packages that make 1 gallon of stock solution then gets diluted further right before you develop your film.

The cheapest place i've found brown jugs was from B&H. If you're west coast freestyle is competitive.

I use distilled water primarily for mixing my stock solutions. I don't know if it makes a huge difference.

If you're going to buy stop bath use the dilution recommended on the package. If you are just going to use straight water as a stop I would fill the tank, give an inversion or two and then dump, repeat 1 more time. Then fix.

I like ilford rapid fix.

I wash in tap water 5-10 minutes and then photo-flo diluted with distilled water. The ilford instructions give good advice on washing.

DO NOT USE LIQUID SOAP.

rcphoto said:

DO NOT USE LIQUID SOAP.

Click to expand...

Liquid soap, tap water, etc... no major crime.

The whole temperature dance seems unnecessary when the Ilford chart show how to compensate dev times based on temperature variations. I think I'd rather adjust dev times rather than futz with getting the temps at 68 degrees. Besides, it looks like higher dev temps reduce dev times which doesn't seem like a negative to me.

What am I missing with this thought?

Yeah, I never tried to keep my chems at a specific temp ... I just measured the temp of the developer at that moment and looked up the time.

KerrKid said:

The whole temperature dance seems unnecessary when the Ilford chart show how to compensate dev times based on temperature variations. I think I'd rather adjust dev times rather than futz with getting the temps at 68 degrees. Besides, it looks like higher dev temps reduce dev times which doesn't seem like a negative to me.

What am I missing with this thought?

Click to expand...

You are quite correct about this up to a point. However, at certain temperatures above 68f/20C you have less control over specific times and at certain temperatures below, some of the developer constituents have reduced activity. So why not try and hit the nearest to 20C/68F.

cliveh said:

You are quite correct about this up to a point. However, at certain temperatures above 68f/20C you have less control over specific times and at certain temperatures below, some of the developer constituents have reduced activity. So why not try and hit the nearest to 20C/68F.

Click to expand...

I would be above 68f as a rule. I can always put the dev mix in the fridge to cool it off a bit I suppose. As long as I don't have to stay right at 68f or bust would be nice.

Some time ago, a friend of mine said not to worry a lot about temps as long as I keep all the chems being used at the same temperature. Of course, I'm not talking about everything at 90f. Is he correct or not considering all the dev chems are at max 75f for example?

I aim to reduce chance & randomness. It's pretty easy to maintain temperature. I have two dishwashing basins i fill with water at 20°C. I fill an 8x10 tray and stand the three beakers in in it. BTW hardware store pyrex measuring cups are much more solid than beakers. Depending on my notes i may be adjusting the time for development (N+/N-). I want to end up with reliably uniform negatives to make my printing life as smooth as possible.

KerrKid said:

The whole temperature dance seems unnecessary when the Ilford chart show how to compensate dev times based on temperature variations. I think I'd rather adjust dev times rather than futz with getting the temps at 68 degrees. Besides, it looks like higher dev temps reduce dev times which doesn't seem like a negative to me.

What am I missing with this thought?

Click to expand...

Any change from the basic rule of 68 degrees temps is NOT the thing to do when you start out developing and particularly not when the films you develop hold important images.

Reducing developing times is not smart because any mistake will have a stronger influence. Analog and trying to be fast do not get along when it comes to developing film.

I would shoot one film with unimportant images and start with that.

As some have said here: just develop one film to begin with. Make a contact sheet using one step softer from normal. If everything is too soft you likely agitated too little. When too contrasty you likely agitated too much.

As I believe the OP is aware, I am a big advocate of always working at the ambient temperature. I do, however, live in a very temperate climate, so the task of making sure both my room temperature and the chemical temperatures between 18C and 22C is quite simple.
In those conditions, one only needs to use the appropriate tables and/or calculators to adjust the development time in order to obtain consistent, reliable results of good quality.
With a modicum of planning - it is handy to have a 4 litre jug of water on hand that has had time to reach room temperature - and a reasonably good thermometer, it is easy to work without worrying about temperature uncertainty. And cutting down on uncertainty is really helpful when you are new to this stuff.
I combine that approach with preferring to use developers that require reasonably conveniently long developing times in that temperature range. That also makes it easier to be consistent.

Unless your tap water is of really bad quality and contains lots of iron and such elements it will do for mixing chemicals and rinsing the film. No need to use distilled water there.

Distilled water is mostly used in the last step of the process to avoid drying marks. Add a few drops of photoflo or some similar product, let is sit for a while and then hang your film to dry.