developing negs only ... what do i need?

JBrunner · Jan 15, 2008

bessa_L_R3a said:
I can totally confirm this!!! I just finished mixing my fixer and my dev and I squashed up the accordian containers before screwing on the caps (getting a nice whiff of chem in the process) and stuck them in the bathroom. 20 minutes later, they are back to their original size! What a rip off!!!

That's pretty fast for air to permeate plastic. Either the lids leak, or, more likely, they warmed and the little bit of air in them expanded. Stranger things have been seen, however. Like that saucer over at Galli's.

bessa_L_R3a · Jan 15, 2008

one roll, two reels or one?

I'm only doing one roll on the maiden voyage ... Should I put the other empty reel in there with the other one for companionship or leave it out?

It's going to be 375 mL of chems according to my tank info.

Kevin Caulfield · Jan 15, 2008

Yes, put the other reel in, and it will stop the important one riding up. If you have enough chemistry in the tank, that's not a problem anyway, but yes, it's best to use the top reel to stop the bottom one from moving. Good luck

JBrunner · Jan 15, 2008

Hey Guys!!! We're gonna be a dad!!!!

TheTrailTog · Jan 15, 2008

I'm going to be in this boat again in about 3 weeks when I try to make my first prints. You've all been forewarned for the onslaught of questions...LOL

bessa_L_R3a · Jan 15, 2008

Looks like labor may last all night

Flight check ... Times ...

Pre-wash time?
Dev time is 5 minutes at 68F ... My liquid bath has stabilized on its own to 68.5.
Stop bath time?
Fixer time? I did the clear check (wow, that is cool ... yes, I'm a geek). Took 1 minute. So I will fix for 2.

WETTING AGENT QUESTION
My wetting agent (photoflo) says mix 1 part chem to 200 parts water. How do I make a quart? Can't do the math.

TheTrailTog · Jan 16, 2008

Here's my routine if it helps:

Developing time: Dependant on film/developer/temp
Stop Bath: 30 seconds
Fix: Kodafix twice length of clearing test
Rinse: fill and empty twice
Wash Aid: Hypo for 2 minutes
Rinse: fill and empty 10 times
Wetting Agent: Photo Flo 30 seconds

Then hang em to dry.

bessa_L_R3a · Jan 16, 2008

Xia_Ke said:
Rinse: fill and empty twice
Wash Aid: Hypo for 2 minutes
Rinse: fill and empty 10 times

Since I don't have any Hypo, I'm going with what Squarefrog does in his youtube video: fill w/water, invert 5 times, empty, fill with water, invert 10 times, empty, fill with water, invert 20 times, empty ..

just to try.

Ok, i'm heading for the changing bag. gotta go pee first. fingers crossed!

TheTrailTog · Jan 16, 2008

bessa_L_R3a said:
WETTING AGENT QUESTION
My wetting agent (photoflo) says mix 1 part chem to 200 parts water. How do I make a quart? Can't do the math.

I do 1000ml water with 5ml of Photo Flo for quart bottles.

bessa_L_R3a · Jan 16, 2008

Operation changing bag SUCCESS!

Xia_Ke said:
I do 1000ml water with 5ml of Photo Flo for quart bottles.

awesome thanks!

I have successfully reeled in my first roll! or at least I think I have ... Got a few fingerprints on the film in the process ... oh well ... Maybe I can do it with cotton gloves next time.

Off to mix up my wetting agent ... The contractions are getting closer and closer apart.

IloveTLRs · Jan 16, 2008

bessa_L_R3a said:
Hi,

I've started mixing ... got my HC 110 DIL B!!! It's a lot less colorful than I had imagined ... Very light yellowish, like water with a dash of lemon ...

It don't smell that good either, does it? I used HC-110 for the first time the other day. I think I'm in love

The smell of ID-11 reminds me of college, so that's what we must have been using then (or D-76.)

But back on topic ... how far apart are the contractions now?

bessa_L_R3a · Jan 16, 2008

and when i did the clear check i splashed a drop of fixer on my finger, which now has what appears to be a small burn.

MattKing · Jan 16, 2008

bessa_L_R3a said:
and when i did the clear check i splashed a drop of fixer on my finger, which now has what appears to be a small burn.

Not to worry it is not a burn it is just a little bit of chemistry that is easily rinsed off (unless it is far stronger than any fixer I have ever worked with)

Spilled fixer is not great for clothes because it can cause a bit of staining but it should not cause a problem for skin or most hard surfaces

We wait with bated breath!

Matt

bessa_L_R3a · Jan 16, 2008

Born at 2:20am I'm exhausted

After much hand wringing, inverting, temp. wrangling, washing, fixing, developing (not in that order), studying, posting, reading, and stressing ...

36 negatives were born in my bathroom ... Lifted the reel out of the photo flo, hooked it up to a clip, let go, and watched in utter amazement as a strip of previously gray film unrolled into a strip of rectangles with stuff in them!!!!!

First 35mm roll developed on my own (with critical information from all of you, my sincerest gratitude), first roll off my new rangefinder ...

It's 3:20am ... gotta work tomorrow ... will scan the babies tomorrow night and post the very first positive images ...

And here is where it all happened:

http://robertdavid.fastmail.fm/negatives/

Thank you all and good night,

Robert.

TheTrailTog · Jan 16, 2008

Congrats Robert! See, wasn't that easy? So what do you think? Gonna stick with it or back to the lab for you?

Chazzy · Jan 16, 2008

I think that one of the reasons that APUG thrives is that people love photography enough to give generously of their time and attention to beginners and people who are repeating questions already heard. We don't get a lot of grouchy people saying "read the FAQ" or "you should have searched the archives, since this question comes up all the time." Despite the occasional acrimony, this is a very friendly place.

stillsilver · Jan 16, 2008

Congrats on the job. Doing something for the first time is apprehensive. You have come to the right place for photo questions.

Mike

srs5694 · Jan 16, 2008

bessa_L_R3a said:
Since I don't have any Hypo, I'm going with what Squarefrog does in his youtube video: fill w/water, invert 5 times, empty, fill with water, invert 10 times, empty, fill with water, invert 20 times, empty ..

That's the Ilford method. There was a rather lengthy (there was a url link here which no longer exists) The upshot is that not everybody thinks it's all that great. Also, it should only be used with a non-hardening fixer. You mentioned Kodafix, which I believe is a hardening fixer. With that fixer, you should either use a hypo clearing agent and rinse for ~5 minutes under running water or don't use an HCA and rinse for ~20 minutes under running water. (Both times are from memory; check the bottle or instructions on Kodak's site to verify them.)

Ralf · Jan 16, 2008

bessa_L_R3a said:
... will scan the babies tomorrow night and post the very first positive images ...

Looking forward to some scans!

Telling from the pictures you posted above, everything went just fine and the film development went very nice. Congrats.

bessa_L_R3a · Jan 16, 2008

srs5694 said:
That's the Ilford method. Also, it should only be used with a non-hardening fixer.

I used Ilford Rapid Fixer, which is a hardening fixer, right? So what harm did I do?

bessa_L_R3a · Jan 16, 2008

Xia_Ke said:
Congrats Robert! See, wasn't that easy? So what do you think? Gonna stick with it or back to the lab for you?

Nah ... I think I´m going to buy a Canon 40D .... NOT!!!!

I loved it. Can´t wait to shoot another test roll and do it all over again.

Yes, I do appreciate being able to ask questions that may be covered on other threads. And I also don´t mind someone telling me to check out this thread or that if an answer is already there.

Now, couple questions:

-Can I re-use the wetting agent?

-Is there any reliable way to control temp? I tried the liquid bath but it was very difficult to get the thermometer to stay constant. I think the developing was done from 68 to 70 but I can´t say I´ll be able to repeat that ... Next time I may try just letting all chems come to room temperature and going from there. But if room temp is 71 degrees, how do I compensate in Dev time?

TheTrailTog · Jan 16, 2008

bessa_L_R3a said:
...-Can I re-use the wetting agent?...

Photo Flo is so cheap and lasts forever, why take the risk? Reusing only increases the chances of residue on your negatives. As for your temp question, not sure what to tell you. I don't bother with water baths or anything like that. All of my chemicals are stored at room temp and I just adjust my times depending on the developer temp. Between heat in the Winter and a/c in the Summer, my room temps are always between 68 and 72 degrees.

JBrunner · Jan 16, 2008

bessa_L_R3a said:
N
-... Next time I may try just letting all chems come to room temperature and going from there. But if room temp is 71 degrees, how do I compensate in Dev time?

Here is Ilford's temp chart:

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/2006210208211880.pdf

srs5694 · Jan 16, 2008

bessa_L_R3a said:
I used Ilford Rapid Fixer, which is a hardening fixer, right? So what harm did I do?

My apologies; I noticed "Kodafix" mentioned, but it was in a post by Xia Ke that followed one of yours. The two must have merged in my mind. According to Ilford's Web site, Ilford Rapid Fixer is a non-hardening fixer. Thus, your fixing and washing regime was probably OK, although you might want to check the thread I mentioned earlier to see a fuller discussion of the merits and potential problems of the Ilford wash procedure.

Can I re-use the wetting agent?

I agree with others that it's cheap enough to not be worth bothering. B&H sells a 16-oz bottle of Photo Flo 200 for $7. If my computations are correct, that'll be enough for 378 rolls of film at 250ml per roll (what my tank uses for a 35mm roll), for a cost of a bit under $0.02 per roll. At that price, it's not worth trying to economize on it.

Is there any reliable way to control temp?

I think you're getting too worked up over temperature. If your room temperature is just a few degrees off of 20C/68F, use a time adjustment chart, such as the one to which JBrunner has pointed, and tweak your development times. Even the 68-71F range you mention is pretty small. To be sure, using the 68F times at 71F will result in slightly denser negatives than expected, but not so much denser that the negatives would be ruined.

Personally, I use a water bath only when developing color negatives or slides or when the room temperature is very cold or very hot (on hot summer days, say). In the latter case, I don't even bother keeping the developing tank in the bath; I just bring the developer to the desired temperature and then let it drift. If the temperature drifts a couple of degrees during development, it's not that big a deal. Probably somebody who's fussier than I would disagree, but that's how I see it.

To more directly answer your question, though, some people use immersible heaters (such as aquarium heaters) to keep water baths at color temperatures (100F). This obviously wouldn't be good for lowering the temperature, as you want to do. I'm sure you could build a refrigeration rig to do this, but I don't think there's really much need.

bessa_L_R3a · Jan 16, 2008

srs5694 said:
I think you're getting too worked up over temperature. If your room temperature is just a few degrees off of 20C/68F, use a time adjustment chart, such as the one to which JBrunner has pointed, and tweak your development times.

Yes, that is the answer ... sorry it took so long to sink in ... i am thick headed.

developing negs only ... what do i need?

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