Processing B&W in hotel room

[eli griggs]

I'm from Australia, and a few years ago I had difficulty having hand inspections of film going to Europe (X-Rays etc). I had basically given up, and reverted to electro-novelty digital things. I have some lovely negatives from trips in the "old days."

However soon I'm going to Rome (only) for two weeks and I'm determined to use film (120) for visits to sites I've been reading about for many years, most of my life actually. So my plan is to buy film (HP5+ preferably) in Rome and develop negatives in the hotel room. I have a good understanding of the process and have tanks etc.

Does anyone have particular comments or recommendations?

Ask around for the name and product numbers of a easily removable counter-top vinyl cover in tube shaped rolls, so you can easily clean up, keep from damage and protect hotel or guest furniture from marks, chemical damage or "water marks" or other signs of your photograph activity .

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Yes.....very unrealistic these days..... besides the fact that you have to go through security before you even stand a chance of bumping into crew members.

don't tell me wht it doesn't work; tell me how it works!

 

[GregY]

don't tell me wht it doesn't work; tell me how it works!

it doesn't......
I guess you haven't flown recently.......

 

[munz6869]

I went to Zürich and back (from Melbourne) in June/July, and the only CT scanners were at Melbourne (Tullamarine). So my strategy was to buy all my film (35mm, 120 & 4x5") when I landed in Zürich and then fly with it (unprocessed) back home, with old X-Ray machines at Zürich and Singapore. This... worked fine! No visible fogging apparent. Hoping those two airports don't upgrade any time soon...

Marc!

 

[abruzzi]

I was considering this a while back. My idea was a powdered monobath combined with a daylight loading dev tank like the LabBox (maybe with a spare wheel so I could dev two reels a day). I experemented with Cinestill DF96 and couldn't get it to get anywhere close to a normal looking negative, so I tossed the whole idea.

 

[reddesert]

One option is to just buy the film in Rome, expose it there, and then mail the undeveloped film home. It will probably be fine. There was an extended thread here from a user who was photographing an enormous number of rolls of film in some remote Scottish or Scandinavian islands, and IIRC settled on mailing the film back and forth, and it was fine.

Another is to try getting hand checking at the airport. I flew out of Rome FCO a year and a half ago, and I had 1 or 2 rolls of film. I saw they were sending me towards an old non-CT X-ray machine so I just put the film through it rather than ask about hand checking. However, they may have changed the machines by now, and it can depend on what terminal you are going through of course.

 

[john_s]

Thank you all. I will definitely buy the film there. Now I'm contemplating either developing in the room, or mailing the film home. (I'm not optimistic about asking for hand checking, as there is a stopover on the way)

 

[JerseyDoug]

I regularly mail film exposed when I am in Florida to my home in New Jersey with no issues.

 

[Dr. no]

I rarely ask for a handcheck, and carry film on 10-20 flights/year, including to/from Rome in April (film was x-rayed--older machine). I have watched more closely for the big scanners, but in San Diego had a tight connection and just risked the new scanner--film came through fine. Sometimes you roll the dice.
My personal observation is that most are safe for film--not a randomized controlled study, purely anecdotal. I do think that older (expired years ago) FP4 and Tri-X gets worse faster when x-rayed than newer film. Makes sense, adding r-rays to cosmic rays is not good for any of us.

 

[fiddle]

I regularly mail film exposed when I am in Florida to my home in New Jersey with no issues.

I do the same. I usually ship it to myself on a trip and then back after its exposed.

 

[JPH]

What would you do with the used chemicals, chuck them down the drain? I would not worry too much about the scanners and otherwise have them developed at a local lab e.g. http://www.ars-imago.com/en/footer-servizi-sviluppostampa

 

[Agulliver]

Given that photo chemicals aimed at the public are formulated to be rinsed down the drain....that's exactly what I'd do in OP's situation. It's exactly what I do at home. It's how the chemicals are supposed to be disposed of. Any half functional water processing plant can easily cope.

 

[grain elevator]

You could find out about having your film developed by the photo shops recommended above. That's the first thing I'd do. If that seems too expensive or too slow you can still think about other options.
I don't remember the situation at Fiumicino airport a few years ago... I probably wouldn't risk it either for an overseas trip with stopovers.