Developing small pieces of film

[ilona]

Hi all!

I am using pieces of 35mm B&W film in pinhole cameras that I made reusing film canisters. I am wondering about how I should develop these small pieces of film, more precisely how much developer I should use.

In order to see if the cameras work well, I am planning to develop 5 pieces of film soon and I do not wish to wait until I'm done with the whole roll of 36 exposures. The pieces I already have exposed have the size of 10 24x36 negatives (approximately).

Should I reduce the amount of developer I mix in the water in order to get a correct processing? Or should I simply pour the solution I would use for a whole 35mm film? After all, I do not use more developer when I process 36 exposures instead of 24 (or should I???).

Any tip is welcome.
Best wishes!
Ilona

 

[Steve Smith]

I would use a standard 35mm reel and put the pieces of film in one at a time and wind each one into the spiral a bit to make room for the next one.

I would also use the amount of developer recommended for a full film to ensure that it is fully covered and this should be at the same strength as for a full roll.

Steve.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I think of this in an LF way--just use trays.

 

[Jim Jones]

I've used opaque film cannisters to develop small pieces of 35mm film. If your strips of film are too long to spiral around the interior of the cannister without overlapping, a narrow tray like we sometimes use in the USA for organising silverware might work. You don't need much developer if you can keep the film wet. 450ml of developer is more than enough to develop an entire 36 exposure roll.

 

[DannL]

I've used opaque film cannisters to develop small pieces of 35mm film.

I agree . . . I usually won't wait until a roll of 36 is exposed. 10 to 12 exposures is about all I can tolerate of my own work in a single sitting. I just cut the film "in camera", "pull it out" and "spool it up" on a standard reel. I develop with the same amount of chemicals as I would for a full roll of 24 or 36.

 

[ilona]

Hi!
Thanks a lot for your replies! I'm going to give it a try this evening.

 

[ilona]

Hi!

In the meantime, I processed some pieces of film two times using a standard 35mm reel and the standard amount of developer/water.

The first time, I got some some non-developed parts on the film because some pieces touched each other on the reel.

The second time, I took care to distribute the pieces on the reel (by manually pulling them towards the center as they wouldn't advance simply turning the reel) and everything went ok.

Hope this might help others trying pinhole photography with film.