Overwhelmed!! But anxious :))

[MrRgoyer]

Hey all!!! I know I haven't been on here in ages!! And when I was I wasn't that active but I'm back and ready to go crazy just life stuff kept me away getting married moving awesome stuff like that )

Anyways..

I'm posting this thread because I want to get into developing my own 35mm film!! I'm super stoked about this!! I just have a few questions that I hope you fine folks would help me with.

I'm not quite sure what chemicals to purchase. I know what I need developer,fixer,stop bath. I'm just not sure which brands...I read about using caffenol as a developer it sounded interesting to me. I just wanted to get some insight from some fellow apuggers as to what chemicals I should start out with.

Next question.. I have a roll of Ilford HP5 400 in my Minolta X700 and I have the iso pushed right to 1600 would that have to get developed differently?

Thanks guys!! Appreciate any feedback

 

[Ottrdaemmerung]

Welcome to APUG! And welcome to film developing. You're going to love it, and there are lots of resources out there to help you get started. As for chemicals:
Developer: This is the most crucial, and one picks a developer to suit the film and the look one wants to achieve. That said, Kodak D-76 is a great all-purpose developer. It comes as a powder and you mix it to make a stock solution, then dilute the stock as needed. Kodak HC-110 is also great, and it comes as a syrup that you can either mix into a stock solution (as instructed on the label), or better yet, there are tables online that tell you how to just mix a small amount of the syrup directly into a working solution.
Stop bath: Any stop bath is good, and some use a color-changing indicator dye to signal when it's no longer effective. Popular brands include Kodak Indicator Stop and Ilford Ilfostop. I like the Ilford because it uses citric acid and so it has no odor.
Fixer: Again, it doesn't really matter, but I like Ilford Rapid Fixer.

Yes, you'll have to push your HP5 400 two stops in development. The developing time tables at http://www.digitaltruth.com should help you out. Good luck!

 

[MrRgoyer]

Thanks so much for the reply!!! Now it's to get all the stuff!! Is it a good idea to push film when your just starting out in developing?

 

[Ottrdaemmerung]

Pushing film isn't normally done by folks who are brand new to developing, but it isn't difficult -- it merely involves extending the developing time past what you would normally use for box speed. Everything else remains the same.

 

[M.A.Longmore]

.
Welcome To APUG, And Welcome Back !

I've been at it for a few years, and never had the need to try Push Processing.
I thought about it a few times ... Just trying to keep things simple. Then again
I've thought about Redscaling some film also, but then I came to my senses ...

Ron
.

 

[Jeff Kubach]

Welcome to APUG! D-76 and HC110 are two good developers to start with. You can get by without stopbath just wash inbetween. Of course use a fixer. At the end use photo flow.

Jeff

 

[kevs]

Don't forget the wetting agent for your final rinse; a few drops in the final rinse water will do just fine. It helps the film to dry without water spots.

Good luck and happy developing.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Welcome to APUG!