New here. Just want to develop b&w

Gdt

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Colorado
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I am sure I can find suggestions in this forum regarding developing b&w film

Would some patient and friendly person break down the method just to develop film for scanning

I appreciate your help
 

Paul Howell

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1. Pick a film, what do shoot, what formate, what characteris do you like in a scanned image, detail, a fine vs coarse grain, dynamic range of tone or high contrast vs low contrast or a middle of the road film that balances all of these.

.2 Pick a developer, again what do you like in an image? Most film characteristics 's are baked into the film, developers emphases' different aspects.

3. Buy film shoot a few rolls.

4. Buy a daylight tank with reels to develop your film in. Patterson tanks are pretty user freindly.

5. If you don't have light tight room buy a changing bag.

6. Buy a developer, stop bath, fixer, fixer, hypo clearing agent and wetting agent. If you live an area with really hard water distilled water for wetting agent.

7. Go to thrift books and buy a book for darkroom work for beginners.

8. Go to YOUtube for step by step guides

9. Be prepared for failure.
 

Vetus

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Watch John Finch (pictorial planet) on youtube
 

retina_restoration

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@Gdt: without knowing anything about your skill level it’s hard to know how simplistic a tutorial you require. I’m going to assume you know absolutely nothing about the process and recommend a step by step tutorial here for starters.
As mentioned, John Finch (Pictorial Planet on YouTube) can likely demonstrate the basics in visual format as well.
Even the Ilford demo is fairly informative.
 

MattKing

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If you prefer reading instructions, this was one of the many Kodak materials that were designed to help:
https://125px.com/docs/techpubs/kodak/AJ-3-2016.pdf
Some of the Kodak product references may be a bit dated, but otherwise its suggestions are easy to do and likely to result in good results.
You should plan on practicing loading the reels for your tank. Most of us have a roll or two of spoiled film that is perfect for that purpose!
 

Milpool

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It’s pretty easy so don’t be intimidated. The Kodak publications such as the one linked above are good. I suggest Ilford’s beginner guides on how to process film.

Beginners Guide to Processing Film

Processing film need not be daunting. Our guide on covers the equipment, chemistry and methods for anyone new to processing films.
www.ilfordphoto.com

Beginner's Guide

<p>Whether you are new to film photography or picking it up again after a number of years, it is very easy to get started and a rewarding activity regardless of your level of expertise. Introduction to film photography To get you started we’ve created a series of animations that will introduce...
www.ilfordphoto.com


I recommend skipping YouTube (besides the Ilford stuff).

Keep it simple, do it with care, and you’ll get great results whether you want to scan your film or print it in a darkroom.


Gdt said:
I am sure I can find suggestions in this forum regarding developing b&w film

Would some patient and friendly person break down the method just to develop film for scanning

I appreciate your help
Click to expand...
 

Sirius Glass

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Welcome to Photrio!

Choose one film, one developer and stick with those until you are feel you really understand that pair. The try another film.
 

Sidd

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Oct 18, 2023
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Kolkata
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Gdt said:
I am sure I can find suggestions in this forum regarding developing b&w film

Would some patient and friendly person break down the method just to develop film for scanning

I appreciate your help
Click to expand...

Welcome to Photrio. Best of luck for your new journey. Try few rolls as you have been suggested above by experts in the field. And, then start reading through the great archive of knowledge and experience transferred here by the experts over last twenty two years.
 

guangong

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Sep 10, 2009
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When I was a little kid, there were beginners developing kits made by FR for children, so developing film is not that difficult. Every skill requires a first step. From there on it’s mostly becoming more familiar with the materials used to make a negative (film, chemicals, etc). And be prepared to screw up. All the above commentators, some far more sophisticated about developing techniques than me, have on occasion screwed up. Just relax and have fun. Progress will come naturally.
How to do photography books sell for almost nothing. Stock up on a few.
 

jeffreyg

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florida
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Follow directions and suggestions that others have mentioned. I will add that once you have decided on the film, chemistry and tank and reel waste a roll of film and practice rolling it on to the reel in the light and then the dark until you are confident to roll it on to the reel in the dark which is the most difficult step in developing your film.
 

runswithsizzers

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Gdt said:
I am sure I can find suggestions in this forum regarding developing b&w film

Would some patient and friendly person break down the method just to develop film for scanning

I appreciate your help
Click to expand...

Have you got the equipment you will need? You don't need a lot of expensive gear, but you will need a tank and a spiral reel (assuming you want to develop 35mm film), a thermometer, some way to measure your chemicals, and some kind of containers to store the chemical in once they are made up. You will also need some kind of timer / stopwatch (I use my iPhone), and a totally dark space where you can load the film onto the reel. I use a dark bag / changing bag, but if you have an area in your house that is completely dark you can get by without the dark bag. A beer bottle cap opener can be used to pry the film canister open.

The size of the measuring and storage containers you need will be determined by which exact chemistry you buy. For example, a 10 mL graduated cylindar is handy for measuring Rodinal, but unnecessary if you are using powdered developers.

If you have a restaurant supply place in your home town, they will sell measuring containers in various sizes, and probably thermometers, storage containers, and timers, too.
 

Andrew O'Neill

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Expose and develop your film so that there is adequate shadow detail, and the high lights are not overly dense. I often scan my negatives to make digital negatives... I really haven't made any development adjustments for scanning. Everything seems to scan well, even my larger negatives that have been developed for Carbon Transfer printing (negative Dmax is usually around 2.20), and other Alt. processes that require a negative of long density ranges.
If you do not know how to process film, just follow the advice given above.
 
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