Never Developed Colour Before...

[limnides]

Hi all!
I've recently purchased some Kodak Portra 5x4 for my pinhole and since I got it I've been wondering how I'm going to get it developed. It dawned on me tonight that I could just do it myself - but I've only been developing my own (black and white) film for a few months now; I'm not entirely confident in myself.

Are there any tips you can give a first timer? I have a changing-bag and a daylight tank that work brilliantly, so it's more about temperature and chemicals and not panicking. I heard it's absolutely necessary to be spot on with temperature - how's the best way to control it? My taps aren't really reliable when it comes to heat dispersement - so maybe it isn't the best idea? and how do I properly dispose of the chemicals after I've finished?

Sorry for all the rambling. I'm just a bit nervous, hah.

Cheers!

 

[srmcnamara]

well, the good news is it's not nearly as hard as you think it is! I use the Tetenal/jobo press kit or whatever they're calling it these days, available at BH or Freestyle. It makes a liter of chemistry which fits my combi-plan tank perfectly. To control the temperature just grab a big ol' bucket and fill it with water that's 100 degrees F. keep your bottles and tank in the tempered bath and follow the instructions with the kit and you're golden.

 

[brucemuir]

I use a plastic dishpan thing and set my plastic bottles w/chems in there and it takes maybe 10-15 minutes to get up to temp.

Developer is the critical step with the bleach and fix allowing a bit of fudge factor.

This isn't ideal of course but it's entirely close enough for anything but catalog work and no one shoots that on film anymore anyway.

Give it a shot. It's easy and results a very good.
Try searching around in the color sub forum because there is days worth of reading that provides valuable insight.

 

[limnides]

Cheers for the advice and vote of confidence.
I'll pick up a kit Monday - I'm looking forward to this!

and I'll definitely be perusing past threads - I've learned loads since I've joined, just from reading.