Newby looking for advice on Developer Tank & supplies for developing my own film!

Hello All!
If there is a sticky on this subject (which there probably is) and I have overlooked it please excuse me.
I am new to the world of film and am shooting with a HasselBlad 500CM and would like to start developing my own film. I have looked at many videos and read many threads on the subject but thought I would ask here to gain a consensus.

What equipment will I need to develop B&W and Color film negatives?
Here is what I have on the list so far...
Tank with Reel
Accordion storage bottles (x3?)
Dark Bag (necessary? or just do in the dark?)
Thermometer
Funnel

I am unclear on which particular chemistry to buy and would appreciate suggestions based on B&W and COLOR film.

Also I am curious about shooting expired film and developing it myself as well. I assume this can be trickier due to different times and chemistry for old film?

At this time I just plan on scanning the negatives, so no need for printing advice at this point.

Thank you very much!!
Jake

Hi Jake and welcome to APUG.

Depending on where you are and availability of different brands, etc, there are a number of options for B&W and a few for C41 and E6.

Regarding expired film, it can be very hit and miss. You'd be best to start with in-date film to make sure you have the process right to start with, but there is definitely fun to be had with expired film, not to mention cost saving. There are many experts here on APUG who can help in that area.

Ilford has a pretty good website which gives a thorough guide to developing B&W film. I'd recommend that as a starting point.

Colour processing requires pretty tight control of temperature. You could use a Jobo or similar, or even a water bath as long as you can control the temperature.

Anyway, I hope this helps you a bit. Have fun!

Thanks for the Welcome Kevin!

I am in the U.S. (Kansas). I will take a look at the Ilford site and see what I can come up with.

Appreciate the response.

Jake

Jake

I second the suggestion to look at the Ilford site, they will give you a lot of guidance on B&W developing.

I develop B&W, and color transparancies (E-6). B & W is much easier for a bunch of reasons including:
Much less sensitive to temperature
chemicals are easier to find
chemicals are less nasty - easier to dispose of.

If I were you, for the time being I would forget about color and just work on B&W. I do a lot of my B&W by hand, and the equipment that you need is:

Someplace dark to load reels (could be a dark bag, a dark room, or just wait and do it with the lights off in the middle of the night).

Reels - two choices here, steel or plastic. My preference is for steel, because they can be loaded when they are wet, when you are processing a bunch of film and doing batch after batch, this is handy. For MF film, and when they are bone dry, plastic reels are slightly easier to load.

Tank that fits your reels. Generally plastic reels have plastic tanks, and steel reels have steel tanks. If it is a steel tank, there are ones with steel lids and ones with plastic lids. The really good quality ones with steel lids are the best, but the worst are the poor quality steel lids. Plastic lids are cheap and work OK.

Chemicals - you don't necessarily need the accordian bottles, the most important is to have a dark bottle to store your developer in. Once mixed up the developer tends to start degrading, and most developers turn darker as they oxidize. One good solution is to use a developer like HC-110, which comes as a syrup, and mix it up as you need it. That way, you don't need to worry about storage. The other chemicals you will need are stop bath (and some people just use water for this), and fixer. From a disposal standpoint, fixer is the nastiest of these since it accumulates silver salts in it which are bad for the environment. You will want a container to store your exhausted fixer in until you can dispose of it properly. There is a chemical which gives you an easy test to see if your fixer still has life in it.

If you can't be dissuaded from color, then look into a Jobo processor which will help with the temperature control issues. I use a CPP2 which gives me good results on color transparancies, but is significantly more expensive than a manual tank and reels.

Enjoy!

jdhart73 said:

What equipment will I need to develop B&W and Color film negatives?
Here is what I have on the list so far...
Tank with Reel
Accordion storage bottles (x3?)
Dark Bag (necessary? or just do in the dark?)
Thermometer
Funnel

Click to expand...

Add to the list a couple of graduated measuring cylinders. One around 150ml, another,say 600ml - I find it handy to have a couple of larger cylinders to hand to hold measured quantities of dev & fix once I'm ready to go.

Oh, and avoid those accordian type storage bottles - They are a bitch to clean and you will end up with gunk hidden in the creases just waiting to come out and stick to your film.

Mark and Paul, thank you very much for the info!
So the developer HC-110 is a good all around developer?

Jake

jdhart73 said:

Mark and Paul, thank you very much for the info!
So the developer HC-110 is a good all around developer?

Jake

Click to expand...

By the way, welcome to APUG Jake!

A few things:

First, you need to get a hang of the process, how do manage it all. I might suggest getting a small bottle of T-Max or similar liquid developer to do this. The reason I suggest this is it will make things less complicated for the first few rolls. It is easy to mix and there is no mixing stock from powder at high temperatures and such.

I agree with Kevin to keep away from expired film until you are very confident with the process. If you are still feeling your way and get bad results from expired film, you may not know if it was you or the film. It is better to use good fresh brand name film such as Ilford or Kodak to start.

I recommend stainless steel reels for medium format. I find that they are easier to use than plastic for medium format film. For 35mm I find plastic to be quite a bit easier. Either will work fine, however. If you get any expired film, use a roll to practice loading the film a million times. Do it while watching first, then do it with your eyes closed, then do it in the dark (or in a changing bag) and check your work. Don't load real film until you know you can load it well. It is not easy enough for you to just turn off the lights and hope for the best, practice first!

As for chemicals you need:

Developer (suggestion above for first few rolls)
Stop (not an absolute need, but I do recommend it)
Fix (strongly recommend a rapid fix)

I also recommend a wash aid such as hypo clearing agent or Perma Wash to ensure your negatives get clean.

As for HC-110...

I think that HC-110 is a very nice all around developer and, if used the right way, will last longer than most developers. The trick is to mix it by the batch rather than following the instructions that come from Kodak. Kodak will have you mix a stock solution from the syrup and then mix that with water each time you use it. By diluting it to a stock solution first, you shorten the life and it will behave like D76 or most other developers. I recommend getting a syringe like this one and then mixing it up every time you develop. A bottle of HC110 will last a really long time that way, and it is cost effective too. Here is a web site with info on using HC-110 this way: http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/

I could go on, but I gotta make some dinner.

Oh, and don't forget to have fun!

Welcome:

Here is the Ilford link:

Dead Link Removed

and a good Kodak link:

http://wwwtr.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/aj3/aj3.pdf

For chemistry, you can mix and match Kodak, Ilford and others, based on issues like availability and whether you have a local resource that can give you direct assistance.

If you are shooting black and white, slightly outdated medium speed film will probably okay, but fresh film is better.

Avoid the accordion bottles. If you are going to mix larger quantities, several smaller bottles used one after the other work as well.

If you have a small room that you can make dark, it is much easier to load reels there than in a changing bag.

I use both plastic and steel reels. Each has it's strengths. For plastic, I like these tanks and reels for 120:

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/5041-Arista-Premium-Double-Reel-Developing-Tank-with-two-reels?cat_id=1603

The link posted is Freestyle's, but those tanks are somewhat generic, and can be found under a number of brand names. I see them most frequently under the AP brand name. The reels have wider flanges at entry, which I find easier to use for 120.

I really like HC-110 . I use it diluted 1 + 49 - see Jason Brunner's website for times and for his excellent videos (he is a member and moderator here).

Try black and white first. Once you are comfortable with it, you can use some of the same equipment for colour.

Have fun!

Paul and Matt, thank you very much for the detailed replies!

I am getting some direction here for sure, first thing is to stay away from accordion bottles..LOL!
HC-110 is a good developer. And taking notes on all other items....
Thank all of you for your input!

Jake

Hi. You'll probably want some bottles, some chemicals, some graduated containers, a syringe (for measuring a few ml of Photo Flo; no needle required), a thermometer, a tank or two and reels to go in them, some distilled water, a shower stall, a line and some clips, and some sort of timing device. (A wall clock with a second hand works fine, though a countdown timer works best, as you do not have to remember where you started on the clock with all the distractions around you.) It should all be pretty cheap except for the chemicals. I'll be you can get a whole setup for not much money at all if you get the equipment used.

The full set of chemicals would be: 1) developer, 2) stop bath, 3) fixer, 4) hypo clearing agent, 5) wetting agent (such as Kodak Photo Flo). The only absolutely necessary ones are developer and fixer. The others are highly recommended, but not absolutely necessary. They are certainly cheap enough not to skimp on in my opinion.

Hey JD, where in Kansas?, if you don't mind me asking. I'm in Larryville.

Hi Holmburgers. I am in Wichita... Sliding around ice today!

Ditto,

Good to see some Jayhawkers (the historical term, not necessarily KU...) on the board!