I am going to take the big step and start developing!

pdeeh said:

Personally I wouldn't let a squeegee near any of my film but there are plenty of people who do and swear by it.

My suggestion is to stop deferring and asking for advice and just get on and do it. If you do make mistakes, you will not be the first or last, and no-one from the Film Developing Police will come and arrest you.


The best advice comes from the people who make films and developers, so the first couple of links given in this thread (there was a url link here which no longer exists) will be more help to you starting out than the often conflicting and confusing advice given in threads like this.

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Do not use a squeegee or fingers on the film. If you must then touch a paper towel to the corner of the bottom of the film to draw off the water.

Sirius Glass said:

After you have used XTOL for a while, try replenished XTOL as it increases the sharpness and tonality.

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Actually, I have! Indeed, it does produce fine grained and sharp negatives, but it's a bit too much for someone starting right now. That's why I didn't suggest it.

Huub said:

After pooring in the developer into the tank, put the lid on the tank. Start the clock. Then invert the tank twice and tap the tank on the table or sink and place the tank on table or sink after that. Wait for the 10 sec mark, invert again and put the tank on the table. Repeat this at 20, 30, 40, 50 sec and at the one minute mark. Then invert the tank once every half a minute. Put the tank on the table after inversion. Continue until the development time is completed. Poor the developer out and poor the stop in. Now inverrt once every 15 sec until one minute is full. Then replace the stop with fix and repeat the inversion secuence for developing during fixing time.

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Aren't they saying like "agitate for 5 seconds at start, then repeat every 30 seconds"?

Znerken said:

I called my local shop, and he strongly recommended me t-max or rodinal. Anyone agree?

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Yes they are probably in stock at local shop.
Rodinal would go not bad quickly and is economical used diluted.
Tmax is excellent, Kodaks best!
Forget about pushing too many people won't like the print signature.
The film choice controls the ISO and the signature on the print.
You need to be careful loading tanks and eg put the developer in first!
But fixing time and washing time are more important than developer choice.
If you want to wet print you need to control temp and time, but overexposure is less of a problem.

Read Ilford's how to process at home Google.
They say things that trivial people would flame me for repeating!

Do the Paterson tanks still have the volumes needed on the bottom of the tank?

semi-stand rodinal

John Koehrer said:

Do the Paterson tanks still have the volumes needed on the bottom of the tank?

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They sure do John!

OP: Have heard great things about TMAX Developer and high speed films. Look forward to seeing some of your negatives! Personally a huge advocate for semi-stand in Rodinal (Adox Rodinal now). Stuff has been around forever, great shelf life, really inexpensive. Any doubt about a roll of b&w, under/over exposure, the stuff is like miracle dev. I have the exact same system 4 paterson tank. 1:100 @ 40 min (15 second inversion at 20min mark). I would also recommend inversion agitation vs twiddling with the little stick (The horizontally whooshing chemical movement tends to cause odd development issues)

@Matt Great tip about the rag for taping the plastic tanks!

My new Paterson Super System 4 Universal tank (2 reels) has the volumes on the bottom as has the older System 4 3 reels tank.

You'll be fine. You have all you need and based on your posts you will do everything right. As others have said don't get too hung up small points. If you agitate 4 times occasionally instead of 5 and pour out the developer at 10 secs before the end of development time instead of 15 secs it will make no difference

I was once on a course with 20 other beginner students. There must have some variation between us in what we did but in what must have been over 50 films developed between us there were none of the films that were not printable

Relax and enjoy

pentaxuser

Thanks everyone. Really looking forward to getting started. Could anyone who use t-max recommend me a agitation scheme? Kodaks is obviously useless.


Thought about:
1. Initial agitation for 1. minute
2. Then agitate every one minute for 5 seconds?

Znerken said:

Kodaks is obviously useless.

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"Obviously"?

This is very much the result of believing what people write rather than trying it for yourself.

There are as many opinions at APUG as there are members, on all and any subject you care to name. They cannot, by dint of logic alone, all be correct.

You will go quite insane if you try to follow all the opinions expressed here ...

pdeeh said:

"Obviously"?

This is very much the result of believing what people write rather than trying it for yourself.

There are as many opinions at APUG as there are members, on all and any subject you care to name. They cannot, by dint of logic alone, all be correct.

You will go quite insane if you try to follow all the opinions expressed here ...

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Well if not insane then at least amused if you have a look at the Bob Hope saloon scene in Son of Paleface where he gets advice about his forthcoming gunfight with the local "fast gun"

You'll still be chuckling and relaxed when you start the development process

It's probably on U Tube. Do a Google

pentaxuser

Znerken said:

Kodaks is obviously useless.

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https://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/j86/j86.pdf

page 3: Agitate once every 30 seconds. Provide initial agitation of 5 to 7 inversion cycles in 5 seconds, i.e. extend your arm and virgously twist your wrist 180 degrees as shown below. Then repeat this agitation procedure at 30-seconds intervals for the rest of the developing interval.

Znerken said:

Kodaks is obviously useless.

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What are you talking about?

I got the impression from both my store and from forums that the agitation scheme in the manual is way too fast and harsh. I was recommended to do it more slowly for one minute, then every 30 seconds

The question you have to ask yourself is, would I rather believe what the manufacturer suggests for the best results (bearing in mind that their aim is unlikely to be for their customers to get poor results from their products, and that they have spent tens of decades and millions of dollars in research, development and testing) , or would I rather believe what a stranger on the internet or in a shop tells me (bearing in mind that you have no idea what their credentials are for giving you advice except self-proclaimed ones) ... ?

Znerken said:

Hey everyone.

I have been scared of developing film for quite a while now, either because of my skills or I blame my asthma.

Anyway, I finally decided I will start developing some film. I have bought a Paterson film developing kit, and now I will purchase some chemicals.

I live in Europe, and I will use the chemicals for the following

• TRI-X 400 pushed to 1600 (35mm)
• TRI-X 400 (35mm)
• T-MAX 100 (120)
• T-MAX 400(120)

I considered X-TOL but I would love if there is a easier to use(fluid) developer? I need a developer, a fixer and a photoflo.

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fantastic;good move.You won't regret it and You'll find out;nobody can develop your film as well as you.After the initial hurdles, you won't trust any body with your film anymore.I wish you lots of success and fun.Don't get too hung up on developer recommendations, Most commercially availabledevelopers are excellent!Kodak's D76 or Ilford's ID-11 are both a good start.If you have any troubles;You are in good hands at APUG.Welcome to the real world of photography.You left the amateurs behind and are in a new league now.

I never had a problem with the Kodak recommendations for agitation.

Znerken said:

I got the impression from both my store and from forums that the agitation scheme in the manual is way too fast and harsh. I was recommended to do it more slowly for one minute, then every 30 seconds

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There are a significant number of people who use continuous agitation (in rotary processors) to develop their film. And they get great results.

There are even low or almost no agitation schemes ("stand" and "semi-stand") that some people have success with, although the potential problems introduced by them require some experience to deal with.

The purpose of agitation is to move exhausted chemicals from the surface of the film and replace them with fresh chemicals.

Any agitation scheme will work, providing that:

1) there is enough, sufficiently random agitation; and
2) it is repeatable.

With the exception of some of the specialized effects from the "stand" related techniques, and with the exception of some really specialized materials, varying the agitation scheme will mostly just increase or decrease contrast. You can counteract those increases and decreases by changing the development time.

The worst mistakes you can make with agitation are:

1) not enough agitation;
2) not random enough agitation (as in not having consistent effect across the entire film or films); and
3) inconsistent agitation, when comparing one developing session to the next.

The Kodak recommendation prevents all these problems, without significantly (or at all) increasing grain or having a deleterious affect on highlight density.

Millions (billions?) of rolls of film have been successfully developed over the decades using Kodak style agitation.

Similar high quality results can be obtained with the 10 seconds every minute approach.

Just don't switch back and forth between them.

FWIW, the style of agitation I've used (45+ years) since I stopped using the "see-saw through the tray in absolute darkness" approach I started with is closest to the Kodak approach.

Have fun!

miha said:

https://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/j86/j86.pdf

page 3: Agitate once every 30 seconds. Provide initial agitation of 5 to 7 inversion cycles in 5 seconds, i.e. extend your arm and virgously twist your wrist 180 degrees as shown below. Then repeat this agitation procedure at 30-seconds intervals for the rest of the developing interval.

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Thank you. That made sense.

But why do some people recommend virgously agitation, while others recommend slow and careful?

I've heard that the virgously one makes the grain more apparent, but I don't know wether that's true or not?

Znerken said:

Thank you. That made sense.

But why do some people recommend virgously agitation, while others recommend slow and careful?

I've heard that the virgously one makes the grain more apparent, but I don't know wether that's true or not?

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If you increase how vigorous your agitation is, you may increase contrast.

If you increase contrast, you may very well increase the visibility of the grain.

But when you decrease the development time to bring the contrast back to what you had before, the grain will generally go back to what you had before.