My 1st Roll

Pioneer · Mar 13, 2011

I may be hooked!! I just finished developing my first roll of black and white film and I keep going back into the bathroom to look at "MY" pictures. I read a lot on this forum and I know that I am late to the party and that most of you are old timers in the developing game, but I am still thrilled.

I was nervous but everything has gone perfectly so far. Once the film is dry I'll scan it to the computer and then I'll really get to see what I have.

The film is Arista 400 Premium. The developer was Arista Premium Powder and I used it stock. I developed at 8 minutes, hit it with the stop bath, then the fixer, and finally rinsed for a couple minutes with fresh water. I have read article after article and really stressed over this but once I did it it took about 15 minutes and I was looking at the pictures hanging over the tub.

Pardon me while I go back to look at my pictures some more.

Tomorrow I have several more rolls of film to develop. Woo hoo!!

Mats_A · Mar 13, 2011

Welcome to big, wonderful world of film. You are hooked now. We own you and there is no going back. Congratulations on your first roll.

r

Mats

markbarendt · Mar 13, 2011

I've been doing it long enough to know that it works, still I am amazed.

Jeff Kubach · Mar 13, 2011

I was hooked on film photography years ago and I haven't looked back since!

Jeff

Pioneer · Mar 13, 2011

Thanks everyone.

I am scanning that roll of film right now so it shouldn't be too long before I can look at what I have. This particular roll went through my K1000 with the M 50mm f2, but I have about 9 rolls from various cameras lined up on the desk waiting their turn. I've been shooting 35mm and 120 roll film for a little while now but I finally got tired of paying $5.50 a roll to get my 35mm black & white developed and another $12 to get it scanned. I figured that I could at least do the black and white myself and save a dime or two.

Out of curiosity, what scanning resolution do most of you find best for scanning?

Christopher Walrath · Mar 13, 2011

Might have caught something. 'Rinsed for a couple minutes'. In running water, fifteen-twenty might be of the order unless you followed Ilford's 5-10-20 method. If you indeed only rinse in running water for a couple minutes the hypo is still on the film and can do damage.

That being said, fantastic. I'm glad your first batch turned out well. Now, do more.

AlbertZeroK · Mar 13, 2011

Wait till you see a white piece of paper magically transform into a picture in a tray... It's the reason I could never develop paper in a drum!

AlbertZeroK · Mar 13, 2011

I scan on a Canon 9000F ($200 New) at 4800 DPI TIFF, but the scanner is actually only able of doing about 2000 DPI, but you have to use the 4800 DPI setting to get that. My files are HUGE though and unless you have a work horse, they can be difficult to work with. If you have the space, I would recomend scanning in TIFF and converting to JPEG which is how I post my photos - of course, I have an Intel i7 Workstation with 12G RAM, so I can easily handle the files.

What scanner do you have?

Pioneer · Mar 13, 2011

I am using an Epson V500. I haven't used it much yet but, since I want to develop my own black & white film, I will soon be figuring out how best to use it. I started scanning some of my negatives at 600 dpi but that may turn out to be too low a resolution. But, nice thing about film, I can always re-scan the negatives again if I need.

kb3lms · Mar 13, 2011

Hey, congrats of your first roll. As some of the others have said, I'm still amazed when that developed roll comes out of the tank! Process some more B/W and then maybe try some color. You will never look at photography the same way again!

My Nikon Coolscan IV scans at 2900 dpi and prints come out pretty good. Scanning is great but do yourself the favor of hitting the "auction site" or the local newspaper and find yourself an enlarger. Couple of trays, packages of dektol, stop, fixer and a box of RC paper. (Maybe you can find somebody who is selling the whole package) That will finish the job. When you see that blank piece of paper turn into an honest-to-goodness photograph there is no turning back.

hpulley · Mar 13, 2011

Congrats on developing your first roll!

Wait 'til you develop your first print... Even more exciting to look at and share some nice big prints.

Pioneer · Mar 13, 2011

Thanks for the heads up. In reviewing my process I do believe that I did not fix the film long enough and I may not have rinsed long enough. I did rinse for quite awhile but I did not time the rinsing period. I plan

Worker 11811 · Mar 13, 2011

All your photograph are belong to us!

tkamiya · Mar 13, 2011

It's not too late to fix it again and wash it again.....

Pioneer · Mar 13, 2011

Thanks for the encouragement. At some point I suspect I'll make the move to printing as well. Actually, I was on the yearbook staff in high school (we won't say when that was, just that our camera was a Minolta SRT101) and I had the opportunity to do the enlargement/printing thing. I actually enjoyed it back then and I am sure I would enjoy it again. But if that is in my future I'll have to actually figure out where I put a darkroom and for now, the changing bag is a lot less hassle.

kb3lms said:
Hey, congrats of your first roll. As some of the others have said, I'm still amazed when that developed roll comes out of the tank! Process some more B/W and then maybe try some color. You will never look at photography the same way again!

My Nikon Coolscan IV scans at 2900 dpi and prints come out pretty good. Scanning is great but do yourself the favor of hitting the "auction site" or the local newspaper and find yourself an enlarger. Couple of trays, packages of dektol, stop, fixer and a box of RC paper. (Maybe you can find somebody who is selling the whole package) That will finish the job. When you see that blank piece of paper turn into an honest-to-goodness photograph there is no turning back.

steelydam · Mar 13, 2011

Pioneer said:
I am using an Epson V500. I haven't used it much yet but, since I want to develop my own black & white film, I will soon be figuring out how best to use it. I started scanning some of my negatives at 600 dpi but that may turn out to be too low a resolution. But, nice thing about film, I can always re-scan the negatives again if I need.

I scan film with the V500 at 600 dpi and it looks great on my computer screen. When I send out to Snapfish or whatever for 4x6 or 5x7 prints, they look fine. I have never ordered bigger enlargements but if I was going to, I'd probably scan at a higher dpi. For larger prints, I hit the darkroom...can't be beat.

brian steinberger · Mar 13, 2011

Pioneer, fix atleast 5 minutes, then a brief rinse, then a hypo-clearing agent for 2 minutes, then final wash for atleast 5 minutes, if not more. I wash for 8 minutes. This is more important than anything in your process if you want your negatives to last.

Christopher Walrath · Mar 14, 2011

It's good to give advice to those starting out. However, the scanner discussion is kind of off-forum so let's try and keep that down a bit. Others have been chastised for it before. Shame to see it happen here.

Pioneer · Mar 14, 2011

Thanks Chris. And it is true. One of the things I really appreciate about this forum is getting real time advice on all aspects of using film.

Christopher Walrath said:
It's good to give advice to those starting out. However, the scanner discussion is kind of off-forum so let's try and keep that down a bit. Others have been chastised for it before. Shame to see it happen here.

My 1st Roll

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