How do you manage developing workflow

Arturo Carmona · Jan 2, 2022

Hello guys!

As simple as that, I am interested on knowing your workflow according to developing. I usually get some headache with the ecuation that involves expiring date of developer, number of rolls shot and time. Sometimes I have found myself forcing to get out and shoot something just because of expiring date of quemicals. How do you manage to get all coordinated?

Thank you so much for your experiences!!

brbo · Jan 2, 2022

I don't care about developer. Film is ten times more expensive as developer.

Pieter12 · Jan 2, 2022

I use a one-shot developer with a very long shelf life. Makes it simple.

Sirius Glass · Jan 2, 2022

I store all my factory sealed film in the freezer. When I take it out, I let it take at least an hour to warm up.
If the film has been opened but not loaded into a camera, I store it in the refrigerator.
Therefore I do not worry about film becoming out of date.

I use Kodak XTOL developer from a 5 liter kit. I store it in 1 liter StopLossBagsTM www.StopLossBags.com. I use XTOL in the replenished fashion as described:

By keeping the developer in these sealed bags I have keep mixed XTOL for many months and sometimes years. I always test the developer with a strip of film before I start developing rolls especially if I have not developed film for a while.

I use Kodak Dektol for paper developer and frankly while it will keep for a while in tightly sealed bottles, all paper developers do not seem to have a long mixed storage life.

Please feel free to ask more questions.

koraks · Jan 2, 2022

Pieter12 said:
I use a one-shot developer with a very long shelf life. Makes it simple.

Similar here, at least for color. I assume this is about color since it's posted in the color forum. I use Fuji minilab chemistry for C41, stored mixed and ready for use. The developer I use one shot, fixer too, bleach I replenish. I develop 'on demand', i.e. whenever I have film (and time...) that needs to be done.

For B&W I use instant mytol, also one shot, which I mix immediately before use from (mostly) dry components, which last more or less indefinitely. I keep a small vial of 1% phenidone solution (in glycol) at hand for easy dosing and mixing.

The above handles 99% of the headaches. The remainder is handled by what @brbo said. Chemistry is cheap; film, and in particular the time I spend exposing it, is the more valuable part.

brbo · Jan 2, 2022

Even though developer is relatively cheap I still don't like to throw it away because it went bad. So, I develop film for a small number of people (and scan it and sometimes make an odd print for them if I find a frame on a roll that I think they would like).

Sirius Glass · Jan 2, 2022

I will mix the 1 liter Unicolor kit and develop up to 14 rolls, but I do them as fast as I can so that I finish all the rolls in two or three days.

Jonno85uk · Jan 2, 2022

Arturo Carmona said:
Sometimes I have found myself forcing to get out and shoot something just because of expiring date of quemicals

Heh. I am guilty of this. I don't want my c41 chems going to waste.

I don't think I've ever exhausted c41 chems. They always expire long before getting my money's worth. As for my xtol-r. I try to put at least 1 roll through it a month.

I've recently invested in brown glass bottles with vacuum stoppers. C41 developer has lasted longer, I think. I stupidly forgot to write down the mixing date on the bottle when transferring it over.

sillo · Jan 2, 2022

Jobo and Flexicolor chemicals and one shot dev. 5 liters is ~$14 so if it goes bad, which takes months stored in wine bags, I'll just buy some more. The bleach and fix last a long time so I don't have to worry about them and all the components can be purchased individually. The fix is also so cheap that one shotting it comes out to about 7 cents/roll. The jobo also makes the process so much more consistent with a lot less effort.

Paul Howell · Jan 2, 2022

I had been sending my color out for development, last couple rolls have gone up to $10.00 a roll, so will buy a C41 kit. In the past when I was doing my own C41 and E6 unless for an paying gig I would freeze my shot film until had enough use a 1 quart (now 1 liter) kit in a session.

Alex Benjamin · Jan 2, 2022

Arturo Carmona said:
Sometimes I have found myself forcing to get out and shoot something just because of expiring date of quemicals

I'm almost tempted to say it's not your development workflow you need to work on, but your shooting one. Because of a pretty heavy work schedule during the week, I only shoot on weekends. Yet, expiring developer is never a problem. It's more not having enough - that, and film! Past three days, I shot four rolls of 120 and 4 sheets of 4x5. They were all developed today, so my 2l of D-23 is now half full, and probably won't last me more than a week or two.

Same when I did color. Did not take me long - especially shooting 120 - to go through the E6 pack I had. With the E6 pack, I develop one less 120 roll than recommended, just to make sure.

So, my suggestion is, unless your situation prevents you from doing so, don't worry so much about expiring developer, go shoot more, develop as soon as you have your set number of films. Might sound trite as advice, but it will solve your workflow problem.

How do you manage developing workflow

Moderator

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency