my film and developers

Kevin H. · Oct 27, 2013

hello all...two burning questions...1) how can I test the potency of my developers, and..2) how can I get my film to be straight like commercial shops do ?
thanks!

NB23 · Oct 27, 2013

1- use within expiry date
2- consistency is key. And no silly stand or semi-stand developmdnt methods.

Kevin H. · Oct 27, 2013

not very helpful, thanks for your time...

Karl A · Oct 27, 2013

What do you mean by getting your film straight?

David Allen · Oct 27, 2013

hello all...two burning questions...1) how can I test the potency of my developers, and..2) how can I get my film to be straight like commercial shops do ?
thanks!

A bit more information would be helpful:

What do you mean by potency? - how potent the developer is in comparison to other developers or if the developer is fresh enough to use?

What do you mean by straight? - that you achieve a straight line curve or that the films dry without a curl?

Bests,

David
www.dsallen.de

NB23 · Oct 27, 2013

Kevin H. said:
not very helpful, thanks for your time...

Lol. You'd be surprised at how 20 years of practice come down to simply this.

fotch · Oct 27, 2013

1. Anyway you would like.
2. Do as they do.

Neal · Oct 27, 2013

Dear Kevin,

Potency? Developer is so cheap that there is essentially no reason to use anything you aren't confident in. I suppose you could save snips of a standard film and keep a time to black sort of record. Remember, you can avoid the problem of old developer by shooting more film. ;>)

Straightness (flatness)? Dry your film in the shower. If the house is really dry, run the shower for a few seconds and then put the film in. Another suggestion I've read is to leave the film on the reel, spin the reel(s) in a salad spinner to remove excess water and then dry on the reel (I would think it would stick but I've never tried it). A variation on that (again, never attempted) is to spool the reel with the emulsion side facing out. The shower method works for me.

Good luck,

Neal Wydra

NB23 · Oct 27, 2013

I thought he meant straight as in straight, standard contrast. In this case, following the manufacturer's times and inversion recomendations.

Regular Rod · Oct 27, 2013

Kevin H. said:
hello all...two burning questions...1) how can I test the potency of my developers, and..2) how can I get my film to be straight like commercial shops do ?
thanks!

Don't test. Use one shot developers that you make up from powders just before use, such as Caffenol, or with stock solutions that do not degrade, such as OBSIDIAN AQUA or 510-PYRO, both of which keep for years. It's nothing to do with stand or semi-stand agitation routines, which BTW are far from silly and are very, very useful, especially for roll film, where you may have a variety of exposure values on the one film...

If it curls emulsion side in then it was dried with too much heat, curved the other way it was dried with too cool a temperature. Some films are worse than others for curling. The best roll film for laying flat is any of the Ilford films. These lay flat even if you were unable to control the drying temperature...

RR

removed account4 · Oct 27, 2013

NB23 said:
Lol. You'd be surprised at how 20 years of practice come down to simply this.

i know what you mean NB23 ..
i tend to avoid questions like this

tkamiya · Oct 27, 2013

Kevin H. said:
hello all...two burning questions...1) how can I test the potency of my developers, and..2) how can I get my film to be straight like commercial shops do ?
thanks!

If you are asking:

"How do I know my developers are still good?", then I can share what I do in my own darkroom.
1) I keep all of my developers in bottles completely full with no air
2) I keep my developers within expiration dates (usually 6 months in full bottles)
3) If I have any doubt, I do the following. I cut off the film leader (which was fully exposed). Develop it for specified time. Fix it for specified time. Make sure it went to full density. If it didn't something is wrong - likely the developer. I toss it and mix a new batch.

If you are asking:

"How do I get my film to dry completely flat?"
1) I'd like to know the answer for that myself. I heard too much moisture, not enough moisture, etc. Nothing seem to make any difference.
2) Get it to completely dry, then put it in sleeves and put weight on it for few weeks
3) It appears no matter what I do in my darkroom, they won't dry flat, so I basically gave up.
4) After few weeks in sleeves, they do flatten out. So I must wait for that

Kevin H. · Oct 28, 2013

Thanks Rod, where to get the chemistry you mention? I havent tried stand methods but ill bet they leave a finer grain.

Kevin H. · Oct 28, 2013

tkamiya said:
If you are asking:

"How do I know my developers are still good?", then I can share what I do in my own darkroom.
1) I keep all of my developers in bottles completely full with no air
2) I keep my developers within expiration dates (usually 6 months in full bottles)
3) If I have any doubt, I do the following. I cut off the film leader (which was fully exposed). Develop it for specified time. Fix it for specified time. Make sure it went to full density. If it didn't something is wrong - likely the developer. I toss it and mix a new batch.

If you are asking:

"How do I get my film to dry completely flat?"
1) I'd like to know the answer for that myself. I heard too much moisture, not enough moisture, etc. Nothing seem to make any difference.
2) Get it to completely dry, then put it in sleeves and put weight on it for few weeks
3) It appears no matter what I do in my darkroom, they won't dry flat, so I basically gave up.
4) After few weeks in sleeves, they do flatten out. So I must wait for that

By full density, do you mean totally black? and what about opened bottles of concentrate? I haven't done any developing in 8mos(?) as I have been learning my omd.Perhaps I could use the solutions for stand dev. ? Thanks a lot.

Kevin H. · Oct 28, 2013

Neal said:
Dear Kevin,

Potency? Developer is so cheap that there is essentially no reason to use anything you aren't confident in. I suppose you could save snips of a standard film and keep a time to black sort of record. Remember, you can avoid the problem of old developer by shooting more film. ;>)

Straightness (flatness)? Dry your film in the shower. If the house is really dry, run the shower for a few seconds and then put the film in. Another suggestion I've read is to leave the film on the reel, spin the reel(s) in a salad spinner to remove excess water and then dry on the reel (I would think it would stick but I've never tried it). A variation on that (again, never attempted) is to spool the reel with the emulsion side facing out. The shower method works for me.

Good luck,

Neal Wydra

Yes, Neal...my film is always very curly...how do commercial processors get it to lay so f;at? How can I get similar results/ thanks!

damonff · Oct 28, 2013

For film flatness, I cut them (after they're dry) and sleeve them, then roll them against the curl so that they fit inside of an empty paper towel roll. Let them stay this way for anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days depending on the film. Flat every time and ready to scan or whatever.

Thomas Bertilsson · Oct 28, 2013

Kevin H. said:
hello all...two burning questions...1) how can I test the potency of my developers, and..2) how can I get my film to be straight like commercial shops do ?
thanks!

1. Use a developer where it's known that it lasts for much longer than it takes you to use it up, like Rodinal (Adox Adonal these days, I think), or HC-110. You can also use a developer where you know it's going bad if it changes color. That way you don't have to bother with testing it. Me knowingly, the only way you can test a developer's activity is to use it on a sheet or roll of film. You could, for example, shoot an extra sheet, or if you use 35mm you could fire off the first four or five frames that are just repetitions of the first one, and do a clip test.

2. I don't know how the labs do it. I worked for one for a couple of years, and when the film came through the processor (Refrema dip & dunk) it ended up in a drying cabinet at the end, and it surprised me every time how the film came out perfectly flat. I have never been able to replicate this. But at the same time, I don't worry about it either. The negatives are sleeved, and for the first months of their life they are stored under a big heavy book that eventually gets them flat.

Good luck.

Regular Rod · Oct 28, 2013

The reason the labs' films tend to come out flatter than is often got at home, is that they have complete control over the temperature at which they dry the films. Once the temperature has been adjusted it need not be changed again and so film after film comes out as flat as it can be. The thing to do at home is adjust the drying temperature just like the labs did when setting up their driers.

RR

Neal · Oct 28, 2013

Hi Kevin,

I think you are drying your film too quickly and possibly too thoroughly. I'm sure you've noticed that when you first hang the film, there is a slight bow as the emulsion has expanded due to absorbing water. As it dries you have, I'm sure, seen the bow go the other way as the emulsion dries out. Again.

Dry your film in the shower. If the house is really dry, run the shower for a few seconds and then put the film in. Another suggestion I've read is to leave the film on the reel, spin the reel(s) in a salad spinner to remove excess water and then dry on the reel (I would think it would stick but I've never tried it). A variation on that (again, never attempted) is to spool the reel with the emulsion side facing out. The shower method works for me.

I leave the film to dry overnight if that helps at all. As noted by another above, even if the film started out with a bit of a bow, it will flatten in storage.

Neal

my film and developers

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