How many rolls do you shoot before you develop?

mvierow · Mar 8, 2017

I've had a habit of shooting about 4 rolls before I develop, but I've been thinking about waiting and finishing more before I process.

How many rolls do you usually shoot before you start developing? Along with that, how does waiting longer to see your negatives affect how you analyze your photography?

removed account4 · Mar 8, 2017

hi mvierow
my film count is up because of a variety of reasons
but i used to be processing film every few days, which was a few rolls fo film
and a handful of sheets of film. i have between 50 and 100 sheets of 4x5 film to process
and maybe 10-20 rolls of film to process ( it gets to be more every few weeks ), i've realized
that when there is more distance between when the film was exposed and when i see the negatives
i am more apt to see the negatives with an objective eye rather than an excited, more invested eye
since the time i exposed was earlier in the day or a few days back and the memory and excitement of exposing
the film is still fresh, and might cloud my judgement. gary winograd waited for a long time before he processed his film
and from what i remember ... there was a file cabinet full of 10.000 rolls of 35mm film that was unprocessed at the time of his death.

Johnkpap · Mar 8, 2017

I normaly wait untill I have 5 rolls of the same 35mm film or 3 rolls of the same type of 120 film, with 4x5 it is 6 sheets (one Graphmatic).
I do this because I am using the Jobo System, my 1500 tank with extention fits 5 35mm or 3 120mm my 2500 tank has a 4x5 reel and 6 sheets is the minimum that is worth loading.

I am going to try my own C41 soon and I am waiting to get 10 rolls of 35mm before I mix up the kit to avoid wastage.

Johnkpap

bdial · Mar 8, 2017

Usually not more than 1 or 2, unless I've been on a photographic adventure and shot several rolls.
I am much more impatient than John about seeing the negatives, though I might not print them right away.

Patrick Robert James · Mar 8, 2017

Developing film for me depends on my motivation. I will develop as little as 1 if I want to see what is on it. It is far more efficient though to let them accumulate a little bit then do them all at the same time. For 35mm, that means 12 rolls but usually at least 5, which fills one JOBO tank. The most I ever let accumulate though was over 100. That was painful!

Cholentpot · Mar 8, 2017

About as much as I can squeeze out of a kit for C-41. Last time around was 16 although I can squeeze 20-25 out of a kit. It took me almost a year to shoot those 16 C-41 rolls. B&W I develop straight away or wait for two rolls.

NedL · Mar 8, 2017

usually only 1 or 2 but right now I've got a backlog of 5 or 6 to develop... and 3 more nearly done, so I'd better get to it!

Agulliver · Mar 9, 2017

I'm purely an amateur...and how often or quickly I process depends on a number of factors.

Currently I can only process two films at once. I have one Jobo 1520 tank and two reels. I am damned sure I have another Paterson style tank somewhere and at least one more reel but I cannot locate them (wifey...wifey...did you throw something out?)

That said, 90% of the time the ability to process two films at a time is enough for me. Some months I don't shoot any film, whereas if I go somewhere on holiday or just visit somewhere for a few hours with lots of photographic possibilities I might burn off 6 rolls. Generally I try to process ASAP, which could mean the same day or it might take a few days if I am busy. I work close to normal business hours with a bit of a commute so processing film before work is not feasible but evenings are. I do have evening commitments sometimes. But often I can process a film or three within days of shooting. If I am on holiday it's either a plane ride away or camping...and in either case I don't take my chemicals and kit. So those will wait until I return and could be two weeks between shooting and developing.

But that's usually the worst...two to three weeks.

DWThomas · Mar 9, 2017

I usually process one "project's worth" -- that might be one roll on a Sunday afternoon hike, or 5, 6, or 15 if I've been on a trip. (I can't do more than one or two rolls at a time tank-wise.) I normally develop in HC110 1+63 as a one shot, so other than a bit of time there is no real advantage to doing batches and I prefer not to leave exposed rolls laying around.

Come to think of it, I processed a half roll of 35mm a month back. It was a half finished 3rd roll of 36 exposures and I didn't want to wait. Took the camera in the darkroom, opened it, cut the roll and put the exposed portion on the developing reel.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 9, 2017

mvierow said:
I've had a habit of shooting about 4 rolls before I develop, but I've been thinking about waiting and finishing more before I process.

How many rolls do you usually shoot before you start developing? Along with that, how does waiting longer to see your negatives affect how you analyze your photography?

I usually develop after each shoot;however many rolls thay may be.

haziz · Mar 9, 2017

Too many. Problem is, I always shoot more than I develop, so I am constantly falling behind. I am not, yet, at a Gary Winograd rate of film accumulation, but I probably have more than 50-100 rolls to develop, and > 300 sheets of film. This despite me taking some to a professional lab a few years ago, when I realized I will never develop all of them myself. I will always continue to fall behind so long I continue to shoot more than I develop.

twelvetone12 · Mar 9, 2017

If BW, I generally can't wait and develop the roll just after I finish shoot it, the first time I have a moment. For color, when doing it at home, I accumulate the 8-12 necessary rolls for the kit I'm using and to those in a go.

locutus · Mar 9, 2017

For Rolls i just develop them individually after i finish them, for sheets I do 6 at a time.

Laurent · Mar 9, 2017

haziz said:
Too many. Problem is, I always shoot more than I develop, so I am constantly falling behind. I am not, yet, at a Gary Winograd rate of film accumulation, but I probably have more than 50-100 rolls to develop, and > 300 sheets of film. This despite me taking some to a professional lab a few years ago, when I realized I will never develop all of them myself. I will always continue to fall behind so long I continue to shoot more than I develop.

I have the same issue! I do not shoot a lot these days, too many things to do, but I could have several months backlog before I go to the darkroom.... And then of course I'm also behind in terms of printing.

Anon Ymous · Mar 9, 2017

1 roll. I'm not a high volume shooter. I've done 2 in very rare occasions.

Toyo · Mar 9, 2017

Anon Ymous said:
1 roll. I'm not a high volume shooter. I've done 2 in very rare occasions.

Same here.
I like to get film processed as soon after exposure as possible
T

kb244 · Mar 9, 2017

When school is in session (meaning regular darkroom access and we're going thru all the film one-shot), usually between 1 to 2 rolls per development. Otherwise I might save up about 4, but not longer/more than that.

But it usually takes me a day to get thru a roll or two, in which case I'll develop the next day.

Jesper · Mar 9, 2017

I'm always impatient and develop right after shooting. The number of rolls/sheets depend on how many I used during the session.

R.Gould · Mar 9, 2017

Never more than 2, but usualy I would develop my films as I use them

mooseontheloose · Mar 9, 2017

Well, I'm currently developing my backlog, which mostly date to last summer (Aug 2016) when I was in Europe for 3 weeks, but a few go back to March of the same year. I've developed 23 so far, and I have about 7 or 8 more to go. I usually try to develop my film more quickly than that (within 3 months of exposure) but last year was extremely busy for me. However, when I'm not shooting in large quantities (which happens once or twice a year when I travel) I usually wait until I have 5 or 6 rolls, to at least make it worthwhile to mix up some fresh developer.

Helinophoto · Mar 9, 2017

Usually 1 or 2, developed within the same day depending n how much is shot.
The only times that there may be accumulation, it's when I am on vacation, but these rolls are developed as soon as I get home.

I shoot very small volumes, so there is no point of waiting and then process several rolls. (would normally take months)

Ian Grant · Mar 9, 2017

Usually i process the evening after shooting/finishing a film, that could be anything from 1 to 20+ rolls of film or a few sheets of LF. Sometimes if I'm away from home I take my dev tanks etc with me to process on the go. I prefer not to get a backlog of film processing.

Ian

Harry Stevens · Mar 9, 2017

B&W Straight away, colour well about 15 rolls at the moment but I am waiting for summer, I have hundreds of old B&W negatives that I have never viewed either scanned or printed from....

Agulliver · Mar 9, 2017

My answer above refers to B&W. What I will do when I have multiple rolls is to develop two in the tank at the same time if they require the same processing time and agitation....or if there is only a minor difference such as 30 seconds in 7 minutes. I try to develop as soon as possible...on a few occasions I have gone from camera to facebook in under an hour but that was partly just to prove a point. I enjoy processing film and while I am patient, if the opportunity is there I want to see those negatives.

The past weekend I shot a few frames at Bletchley Park and knew that the very earliest opportunity to process them would be Wednesday (yesterday)....which is when they were done.

If I get around to doing C41, I would wait until I had enough rolls of film and a clear day to do the processing....until I had sufficient film to make it economically viable. No point shelling out for chemicals and processing two films, only to find that when I next have one the chemicals have deteriorated.

Luckless · Mar 9, 2017

The rate and volume I shoot and process film at is dictated by a fun little interplay of time, budgets, and whether or not I find things that I feel are worth the effort of getting on film.

2-4 rolls of 120 for a developing session is the "General target", as I develop black and white film by hand at home, and that is what readily fits nicely in the tanks I have while making good use of developer. I threw the dice on the double-load scheme, and it has been working well so far, barring a few moments of being an idiot.

Currently I have a single reel and a two reel tank, with a second two reel on the way. I started with just the single reel tank, and rather quickly found it to be annoying when I had a several rolls from a single weekend. So I added the larger tank, and extra reels with the idea that I was very unlikely to shoot more than six rolls of film in a short period of time, but I could have spare dry rolls to reload the larger tank if needed. (Handling and pouring chemistry for 2 120 reels fits nicely with the measuring cups I have on hand. Two reels is a comfortable size to work with, and I feel confident in maintaining consistency with that volume that I don't really have if I start going to longer tanks.)

Reloading the previous tank in the same development session was rather quickly dismissed after just one session, as it was kind of annoying to have to stand there and complete the wash of the first load, hang the film, dry the tank, and then run off to the changing back to reload. And since I was ordering a Mod54 anyway...

So now I have two tanks for two reels, and one tank for a single reel, and can easily run a development session for between one and ten rolls of film. Or one and six rolls of film plus 6 sheets.

I'll normally aim to develop a run of film after I have enough for a single tank, ideally the four rolls, simply because that is the least amount of overall work for the most frames, and fits nicely into part of a Sunday afternoon and then ideally that evening to review, scan, and catalog the negatives for later work.

I like to see the results in a reasonable time, and friends/family will nag if I let too many weeks go by before images are shared. I'm happy to wait a few weeks or even a month or two before running a batch while I 'stock up' on film to process, but I'm not a fan of letting exposed film sit too long,... So it becomes a balance thing.

How many rolls do you shoot before you develop?

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