Finally going to try and develop a roll of film at home

[logan2z]

I've been promising myself for ages that I'm going to start home developing, and this weekend I'm going to make good on it.

I shot a test roll of Tri-X a few weeks ago that's been sitting there waiting to be ruined, er, I mean developed by me Unfortunately, nobody seems to want to ship HC-110 these days so I'm stuck using an unopened, expired bottle of the old formula that expired back in 2019. Hopefully it'll still be ok, I understand it has a very long shelf life.

I've got a brand new Hewes reel that should hopefully be easy to load - that's really the only part of the process I'm concerned about, but with any luck it'll go smoothly. I still need a solution for hanging the film to dry as I didn't pick up any drying clips yet, but I'm thinking something like this might do the trick:

https://www.instructables.com/How-To-Develop-Film-Drying-Clips/

I don't think I'll hang anything as heavy as a roll of tape from the film, though, that doesn't seem like a great idea.

Anyway, wish me luck!

 

[MattKing]

Good luck - you will soon enough say to yourself: "why did I wait so long?"
Waste another roll of film to practice, and practice, and practice loading your film - first in the light, then with your eyes closed, then in the dark.
And these dollar store items work well for hanging the film to dry:

 

[Donald Qualls]

HC-110 in the original sealed bottle would still be good from a lot longer ago than 2019. I've got some I rebottled in little juice bottles in 2005 and it's still the original color, which indicates it hasn't gotten either damp or oxidized -- in fifteen-plus years. After sitting in a shed for six winters, temperatures down to near 0 F (lowest) in winter, and upwards of 100 F in summer (that shed is in direct sun most of the day in summer).

Yours will be fine.

If you haven't done so, you should sacrifice a roll of film to practice loading that reel. Hewes are the good ones, but there's still a knack to loading a stainless reel in the dark.

I've always found the clips I use are heavy enough.

 

[Pieter12]

If you have a hook in the ceiling or wall (just make sure there is enough clearance so the film won't touch the wall, binder clips will do the job just fine. One clip at the top of the strip, the hook goes through the handles, and one or two at the bottom to weigh it down. You can also string some clothesline or rope or monofilament from the showered to the shower curtain rod or whatever you have, just put the string though the clip handles first.

 

[BradS]

Don’t overthink it. Clothes pins and string worked for Eddie Weston and Ansel Adams….

 

[removed account4]

you'll see loading the film on the reels is the hardest part.
practice with practice film in the daylight first with your eyes open until you get the hang of it
you curve / bow the film, it makes it easier .. then squint your eyes and then close your eyes
eventually you'll be in the darkroom ( or a dark room ) with your eyes closed like the rest of us
loading your reels.
have fun!
John

 

[madNbad]

If you start with the exposed film still in the cassette, trim the leader, holding the reel in your left hand and with the flat part of the cassette against your right thumb, bow the film just a bit and you'll feel it catch the tongs in the Hewes reel, Now while holding the cassette, start turning the reel. About every five or six turns, push back on the film a bit and you should feel a little slackness. This means your loading is going good and the film is in the tracks. Keep rolling to the end, trim the film away from the cassette, drop it in the tank and seal it up. Pretty soon you'll be giving someone else advice.

 

[gone]

I use clothes pins to hang the film too (and the prints). It would be helpful if you had a spare roll of film to practice with in the light before loading the reel in the dark.

 

[logan2z]

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I did sacrifice a roll of film to practice loading the reel but I'll do a few more practice runs before I go forward with developing the test roll.

 

[pentaxuser]

My experience of loading is that it becomes easier if you cut the end of the shaped leader so it is square then introduce the film in light into the reel so enough of the film is secure in the reel. My experience has been that enough of the film at the start has been wound into the camera before frame 1 to give you enough film to do this without any danger of exposing taken frames to light. I then cross to the light switch and turn it off. If the tank and its lid is close then one step or so gets me back to where they are. I have already placed the central column into the reel so no need to fumble for that

With a Jobo reel I find that pushing the film into the reel an inch or so at a time with one hand while steadying the reel with the other gets the film on in a minute or so. Holding the film cassette and reel with one hand now I can reach for the scissors with the other and cut the cassette off. It is then a matter of feeling for the tank, placing the reel into it and feeling for the lid to secure it to the tank.

It actually is more complicated to describe than to do.

It may seem an obvious thing to do to feed enough of the film onto the reel in the light but when I first started to load I was reluctant to risk the film being exposed to light until I realised I had a much bigger safety margin than I thought I had.

If worse comes to the worst and you get into a muddle, start to sweat, the film sticks etc as can happen occasionally even with successful experience, you then simply pull the film out of the reel and wind it back into the cassette then relax, have a cup of coffee, wash and dry your hands etc with no harm done. For that reason I use a film retriever as my camera auto rewinds the film completely into the cassette but of course if yours is manual rewind then that doesn't happen. Yes you can do as I describe even if you prise off the end of the cassette instead of using the cassette as an aide to feeding it onto the reel but you've got the added complication of needing another light tight container for the film.

By the way running a soft leaded pencil such as a 6B around reel's grooves before loading does really work in my experience and is worth doing.

Good luck

pentaxuser

 

[DMJ]

Unfortunately, nobody seems to want to ship HC-110 these days

Why is this?

If you are having a hard time finding chemistry you can always use Caffenol, stop with plain water and fix with plain hypo (sodium thiosulfate). All ready available.
https://www.caffenol-cookbook.com/The Caffenol Cookbook & Bible - Recipes and Tutorials.pdf

I use HC-100 and with the high temperatures now you will get very short developing times, around 4 minutes and I don't know if this is a good idea for your first roll, you may want to enjoy doing inversions for a longer time Have fun and don't worry much.

 

[removedacct1]

Why is this?

I'm guessing its because its HazMat qualification has changed. From Freestyle's listing:

"WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals including Diethanolamine, which is known to the State of California to cause cancer. For more information, go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov. "

However, Hydroquinone (found in D-76 and many other formulas) is also a known carcinogen and you can get D-76 shipped to you without a problem. It must be something about the fact that its a liquid and poses a different kind of handling risk. You'll find some suppliers will not ship you Rodinal either.

 

[abruzzi]

There are a lot of chemicals that B&H won’t ship, but Freestyle still ships most of them, including HC-110.

 

[DMJ]

Freestyle ships HC110, I just checked their website and I also bought Rodinal and PMK from them not long ago. Is HazMat the same as CA Prop 65? Prop 65 is a warning labeling system about chemicals that can cause cancer, which affects also the packaging of the product.
I have ordered HazMat without issues in CA, they need to be ground shipped but I also notice that B&H will not ship some of them.

 

[removedacct1]

Freestyle ships HC110, I just checked their website and I also bought Rodinal and PMK from them not long ago. Is HazMat the same as CA Prop 65?

I'm using "HazMat" in the colloquial sense, not literally.

 

[AgX]

Logan, do not overcomplicate things.
I started home processing without Youtube, without any textbook. A friend told me how to do it and I think he processed one of his films when I visited him, but of course I could not see anything in the dark....
My advantage was that all I needed back then I could buy at the non-food department of a local supermarket. So I got me a Jobo tank, a beaker, a funnel, a bottle of developer. a bag of fixer and a bottle of wetting agent. From home I took a stem room-thermometer, wooden cloth-pins and a surgical forceps as weight.
I had no darkroom at all, but from my 4th roll on I started bulk loading, still without any information at all, and without tools other than household utensils and a package of plastic reloadable cassettes.
Think about this.


The only thing I better should have done differently back than, was wearing no gloves. No one did. And as being a careful worker it always went right. Until some day. Only a few droplets of Ultrafin concentrate on the back of my hand, and flushed off immediately, but still it had effect.

 

[Arthurwg]

Difficult part for me has always been getting the film on the reel. Somebody should fund a Kickstarter to make a device to do that.

 

[pentaxuser]

Difficult part for me has always been getting the film on the reel. Somebody should fund a Kickstarter to make a device to do that.

I realised after I had written my reply that the OP had Hewes stainless steel reels and I was talking of Jobo plastic ones which might mean that all bets are off including the trick of the pencil. However a question springs to mind: Does the use of a Hewes reel preclude the safety margin that I spoke of, namely there is a lot of spare film available to get it on to the reel in light thereby avoiding the need to fumble in the dark with attaching the film to the reel?

Thanks

pentaxuser

 

[MattKing]

However a question springs to mind: Does the use of a Hewes reel preclude the safety margin that I spoke of, namely there is a lot of spare film available to get it on to the reel in light thereby avoiding the need to fumble in the dark with attaching the film to the reel?

Yes, that approach is precluded unless you tend to use a longer than usual amount of leader.

 

[pentaxuser]

Thanks Matt. Given my success with the Jobo reel I don't think I am tempted to try stainless steel Hewes.

pentaxuser

 

[removed account4]

Why is this?

If you are having a hard time finding chemistry you can always use Caffenol, stop with plain water and fix with plain hypo (sodium thiosulfate). All ready available.
https://www.caffenol-cookbook.com/The Caffenol Cookbook & Bible - Recipes and Tutorials.pdf

I use HC-100 and with the high temperatures now you will get very short developing times, around 4 minutes and I don't know if this is a good idea for your first roll, you may want to enjoy doing inversions for a longer time Have fun and don't worry much.

I'd suggest caffenol too (great book btw, but I am a bit bias )
IDK if I would suggest caffenol unless the person is certain they can get
the right ingredients, some folks have a hard time sourcing the right "stuff"
they use baking soda instead of washing soda or they can't find
powdered vit c, or use the wrong kind of rot-gut coffee
and have all sorts of problems ... and if it is their first time processing film
and run into snags they won't be sure if it is the chemistry they are using
or their camera or technique of processing. ...

Logan if you go to sprint systems of photography's website
( https://www.sprintsystems.com )
they will send you fresh chemistry directly from the factory,
you won't have to worry about much. they have info on
processing every film and nearly every situation ( from old film to plastic lenses )
right on their website
https://www.sprintsystems.com/time-charts
their developer is formulated in such a way that it won't block up highlights their
stop bath smells like vanilla and TBH I can't say anything bad about their chemistry ...
its easy to mix 1:9 (fix 2:8 for film ) is liquid concentrate and comes in a 1L sealed bottle
(its what a lot of schools that have a photo class tend to use whether they are a high school, college &c )
===
DMJ I've heard of people using really short development times, I'd be careful, FWIW word on the street is
that shorter than 5 minutes has the potential to give you uneven development... ( I hope I didn't jinx you ! )

 

[AgX]

I am not sure whether acquiring Hewes reels as a beginner was a good idea. I never used them (unknown here back then... up to now never come one across...) but I read countless complaints here about them. I started with System 1000 Jobo reels (the clear ones) and never ever had any difficulty loading them with 35mm film.

 

[pentaxuser]

AgX, I suppose that if the OP has got a Hewes reel and has mastered loading it then that's fine. No point now in abandoning it. However it sounds as if loading one isn't as easy as say a plastic Jobo and for a beginner the easiest way would seem to be the best way. In fact unless there is an intrinsic benefit from using such reels that cannot be found in using Jobos then I do wonder what the advantages are.

pentaxuser

 

[logan2z]

AgX, I suppose that if the OP has got a Hewes reel and has mastered loading it then that's fine. No point now in abandoning it. However it sounds as if loading one isn't as easy as say a plastic Jobo and for a beginner the easiest way would seem to be the best way. In fact unless there is an intrinsic benefit from using such reels that cannot be found in using Jobos then I do wonder what the advantages are.

pentaxuser

I went with the Hewes reel based on reviews I've read online, including the mostly positive ones at BH:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod..._35mm_stainless_steel_developing.html/reviews

Reviews of the Jobo 1500 reels I read seemed to be mixed, several complained that the reels were difficult to load.

I've been practicing with the Hewes and haven't found it difficult to work with.

 

[Nitroplait]

Hewes reels will serve you well long term. Of all the stainless reels they are among the easiest to load but beginners will often find the plastic Jobo and Paterson reels easier and more intuitive to load.
The experienced user tend to dismiss Paterson, but I think they are fine (for 35mm) if you learn how to clean them and don't use them while wet - and they are very cheap.
I personally prefer the Japanese LPL stainless reels. I just came across them recently, and found them to be a little easier to attach and start the film in at the core of the reels - only marginally. The principle appear to be the same as Hewes - but slighly easier for whatever reason.
Cheap no-name stainless reels are the worst of the worst and should be avoided at all cost - they will cause tremendous amounts of agony.

My best advise for stainless reels is; when loading exposed film in the dark, and you are even the slightest in doubt if you loaded the film correctly - the answer is always; "You didn't".
Do yourself the favor and unroll the film and redo it.
Every time I had that thought and didn't reroll because I dismissed it with a "it's probably OK" - it always turned out not to be OK and I lost some frames because the emulsion would touch to the film in the previous rail somewhere.