I pressed the 'Order Completed' thingy

Christopher Walrath

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I just ordered my film for the year (30 rolls of TMax 400 for the Mamiya M645, 12 rolls of Neopan 400 for the sr-T101 and 5 rolls of Efke 50 for matchbox pinholes) and my first and major batch of 'I'm finally gonna develop it myself' gear. GAS w/ overdrive. Now, my fixtures around the house I RENT are suspect, I think. At work (in an auto parts warehouse) there is a porcelain sink in the mens room that came with the building. Will the chems mess up the plumbing and/or stain the sink? Don't worry, home is not really a consideration. Autistic son has allergies and I don't want to be the one that tries out photo chems on him and renting as we do, I would not subject someone else's house to it to begin with. Any other ideas? Building is not an option. Any money to rent a darkroom went into gear. Just need to find somewhere to do it. (Wow, that sounded so dirty)
 

TheFlyingCamera

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Christopher-

Your concerns about your son aside (and those are certainly valid concerns - physical health aside, I don't know that I'd want to have chemistry around someone who would have problems understanding safe handling procedures), there is no reason NOT to process at home. Your chemistry will not stain sinks and the like unless you fail to clean up after yourself in a timely fashion. I would keep chemistry away from food processing areas, but other than that, soup film away! The sink at work will handle your chemistry just fine. I've developed film in porcelain, enamel, and even plastic sinks just fine. My darkroom sink is fiberglass. Photo chemistry is for the most part less caustic than other household chemicals you use daily (chlorine bleach is far stronger and more toxic than any standard film developer, stop bath or fixer, as are most powdered detergents for automatic dishwashers).
 

Bruce Osgood

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I would be careful if using a staining developer, the pyro kind. I don't know first hand about any residual effects of staining developers on sinks but I had an expensive experience toning prints in am older porcelain bathtub.
 

MattKing

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Chris:

Most B & W chemistry is fairly benign. If you are able to safely store things like household cleaners at home, you can safely store photographic chemistry.

The effect of most B & W chemistry on plumbing is also fairly benign. At the concentrations used for working solutions, it is mostly water.

As Scott notes above, your plumbing is probably affected more by household bleach or dishwasher detergent, than the developer or fixer you will use with the film you list.

Some of the toners may be a little more problematic, so you might want to post specific questions about those.

Many of the people on APUG (myself included) have spent years handling B & W chemistry directly - often without gloves. There is some concern about allergies, but most have no adverse effects.

With respect to your son, I'd enquire of his doctor. I would guess that his autism is unlikely to be affected by exposure to the chemistry, short of drinking it or splashing it in his eyes.

Matt
 

mark

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Clean up after yourself and do not let any chemicals dry on anything. Clean (not just rinse) all of your processing stuff after use. The chemicals are not going to harm your sinks or your plumbing. Flush with warm water for a minute after processing if you are worried. Heck, that is what the wash cycle does anyway.

Matt is right check with the doc and make sure the chemicals are stored in a way to prevent children from getting to them.

Have fun. You will be fine.
 

Photo Engineer

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Porcelain sinks can be discolored by photo chemicals, but the stains are removable in my experience, with simple household products.

PE
 

Ian Grant

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Chris, I kind of have a similar although different problem, no room for a darkroom in a one bed-room apartment, and although we've just been left a house, there's no possibilities there either.

At least in the US you should be able to rent & use a community darkroom, there's no chance here. For the first time in 39 years I have got no darkroom, well not strictly true I have one a continent away but even that has to be dismantled, when I return as the house is for sale.

You need to find some-one locally who will let you use their darkroom, there's no other way, I can't suggest how you find someone willing to help you.

I'm god-father to an austic lad, and can sympathise with your problems, regardless of whether photo chemicals are likely to cause him allergies you don't want or need to expose him to developing agents like metol, which are known to cause allergic responses. It's a no win situation.

maybe someone on APUG can offer you use of a darkroom

Ian
 
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Christopher Walrath

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I think I'm going to go with opinions here I have come to value in the past two years. I'll do it at home. Faith has FMS (fibromyalgia). This way I won't have to keep myself at work to dev when I can be there to assist in a pinch. I'll just tell her to fall when the red light is off. (Boo, Hiss) I know.

As to the chems, weapons of choice are HC110, indicator stop bath (Kodak) and Kodak's rapid fixer., distilled water to rinse and I have some wetting agent that I am unclear as to when and why this might be used. Also, has anyone every developed Neopan or Efke with Kodak chemicals? Fairly straightforward for times or are there some adjustments I should be aware of?
 

JBrunner

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Hi Christopher,

The wetting agent is used after the final rinse, just as the film is hung to dry, and keeps spots from drying on to the negatives. On part four of my developing video you can see me do this.

In the interest of fewer chemicals about, you could consider using water as a stop. It takes longer, as it stops development by dilution, rather than direct chemical action, but you could ditch one chemical that way. It works well for me.

The Massive Development Chart has times for the Neopan in HC110:

http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.html

For the Efke 50, which is not listed with HC110, I'd try 8 minutes Dil B, but I'm pulling that out of my butt. That's my guess for a usable (erring to the thick side) neg to start dialing in a better time. Somebody who's done it will have better advice.
 
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Kevin Caulfield

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Chris, when in doubt, go with the the J Man.
 

Uhner

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Kevin Caulfield said:
Chris, when in doubt, go with the the J Man.
Click to expand...

I’m not one to argue with that statement, but you may want to use a higher dilution with Efke films – say HC 110 1 + 50 @ 20C for 8 or maybe 9 minutes as a starting point. Gentle agitation once a minute and use a plain water stop bath. This recommendation is however, like Mr Brunner’s, based on guesswork and I have no idea if negatives from pinhole cameras need higher contrast than normal.
 

JBrunner

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After further review of the play, I believe Uhner's advice may be more on track. I use HC110 1:50 (that's mixed strait from the bottle, not a "working solution) @ 20C (68f) for 13 minutes on FP4 rated 100 with decent results FWIW.
 

walter23

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MattKing said:
Some of the toners may be a little more problematic, so you might want to post specific questions about those.
Click to expand...

Don't mess with anything that requires adequate ventilation unless you have adequate ventilation. A bathroom without a fan would be a very bad place to do selenium toning because those fumes are extremely irritating. Same goes for mixing up solutions from powders - ventilation and dust protection. Don't toss the stuff around and leave clouds of dust in the air, pour carefully.

As for regular B&W chemistry (develop, stop & fix), make sure you rinse everything thoroughly and you shouldn't have a problem. I don't know that I'd be doing it in the kitchen sink (though I have, albeit for only a few times, used mine), but this stuff is all very water soluble (it's in solution as-used, right?) so you just have to wash it off to ensure you don't leave residues (something I wish my shared darkroom cohabitants would figure out ).
 
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