Processing books

[ahmet]

Hi

I'm thinking of starting processing my own film. Colour, mostly 120 but some 35mm too. Are there any good books to read to get a good idea of the whole process? Or is it trial and error that goes...

appreciate any help.

thanks

 

[pentaxuser]

Welcome to APUG.There are several good books but Jack Schofields "Darkroom Book" does a pretty good job of covering colour and b&w pretty comprehensively and caters for processing beginners. I'll leave it at one book because on APUG you'll get plenty more suggestions and maybe other endorsements of my suggestion. I have not seen many that concentrate solely on colour which aren't of the large booklet as opposed to book type but Kodak and Ilford do booklets on both Colour neg and chrome(slide) developing and printing.

The problem is that I have seen few recent additions as most of the books are from the era before the "you know what revolution" which now doesn't use film and we speak about as little as possible.


I'll keep my eye on the thread and if none of my reserve publications are mentioned I'll pitch in again. As its Xmas eve you may have to be patient for a day or so. I have at least three ghosts waiting for me tonight. You know the ones: " Christmas Past, Present etc. Well the wife says I am enough of a miser to deserve them.

Have a happy Christmas if it's one of your celebrations and just enjoy APUG's company if its not.

pentaxuser

 

[Neal]

Dear ahmet,

See if you can track down a "Kodak Color Darkroom Dataguide". I think they are out of print but you should be able to pick one up through Amazon pretty cheaply.

Another good one is "Color Photography: A working manual" by Henry Horenstein. Under $20 at Amazon.

Neal Wydra

 

[srs5694]

Most of what you need to learn to process color you also need to learn to process B&W. Things like loading the tank and general procedures (pour in, pour out, agitation, etc) are identical no matter what the film type. Thus, I think most Web sites and books on the topic begin with B&W and move on (or don't) to color. If you've got no interest in B&W, you can of course skip doing it, but you may need to read chapters on B&W processing because that's where the author describes general procedures.

Note that developing color film (particularly C-41) isn't much harder than processing B&W; the main issue with C-41 compared to B&W is that you've got to process it at 100 degrees F, vs. room temperature for B&W. If you want to make prints, though, I recommend you start with B&W. Getting the color balance right on color prints can be tricky, and it's easier to start out with B&W printing. If you'll be scanning your negatives or taking them somewhere to have prints made, this isn't as much of an issue.