Recommend a Brief Guide to Processing Film

[Bobby Brewster]

Hi

As the title. Either online or in book form. I'm not looking for a vastly technical tome on chemistry and physics but an "idiots guide" ( 'cos I'm an idiot ) to the basics. I'm particularly interested in finding out about how development works, how temperature, time, and agitation changes the resultant negative in terms of speed, contrast, grain highlight retention etc so that in particular scenarios I can expose and develop accordingly.

Thank you for your help.

 

[MattKing]

Check out the Learning Zone on the Ilford Photo website: https://www.ilfordphoto.com/category/learning-zone/

 

[Todd Niccole]

Alpha Teach Yourself Black and White Photography in 24 Hours​

Amazon.com

 

[mshchem]

Ilford

 

[Alex Benjamin]

Naked photographer has a playlist titled Film Developing Basics

The Naked Photographer

Photography tips, how-to, and reviews. This channel covers analog to digital, and everything in between. All things photographic will be exposed, (though fully dressed)! PO Box 1031 Nicholasville, KY 40340 Instagram @gregory.davis304 Store: https://bluegrassphotographics.com A production of...

www.youtube.com

 

[Bobby Brewster]

Thank you all. I will have a look at these.

 

[jim appleyard]

Plenty of videos about this on You Tube.

 

[Alex Benjamin]

Thank you all. I will have a look at these.

It's a bit more dificult to recommend a book if you want to stick to the basics. Many tend to get scientific very quickly, if not downright esoteric. One good one that covers all the subjects you mention — "how development works, how temperature, time, and agitation changes the resultant negative in terms of speed, contrast, grain highlight retention etc." — without overwhelming you with hours of tests to perform and complex graphs to figure out is Exploring Black and White Photography (2nd edition) by Arnold Gassan and A. J. Meek. It's pretty easy to find on the used market, and quite cheap.

 

[Bobby Brewster]

It's a bit more dificult to recommend a book if you want to stick to the basics. Many tend to get scientific very quickly, if not downright esoteric. One good one that covers all the subjects you mention — "how development works, how temperature, time, and agitation changes the resultant negative in terms of speed, contrast, grain highlight retention etc." — without overwhelming you with hours of tests to perform and complex graphs to figure out is Exploring Black and White Photography (2nd edition) by Arnold Gassan and A. J. Meek. It's pretty easy to find on the used market, and quite cheap.

Interestingly enough I had found references to and quotes from this book on an article or video, I can't recall which, and thought it seemed to fit the bill. Thank you

 

[Don_ih]

Plus any of a thousand books/pamphlets by Kodak that cover basic film processing - I think I have about 50 of them from various random sources.

But Ilford is comprehensive and everything they talk about is readily available. If you don't have the stuff to do it, they also sell start-up packages of chemicals with Paterson equipment.

 

[relistan]

This is the best resource I know of: https://www.ilfordphoto.com/wp/wp-c...rocessing-your-first-black-and-white-film.pdf
It's super good, contains everything you need to know to get going.

 

[loccdor]

I learned in 2010 from a guide that recommended Ilfosol-3 as the developer. I can't seem to find it anymore. Plenty of good ones out there though.

 

[sterioma]

Ilford

This.

Before YouTube was a thing, those Ilford PDFs got me through my first rolls. After that, I went deeper with The Negative from Ansel Adams.

Good to see that there are plenty of online resources now, I am an avid watcher of printing sessions (the more the better!), as I feel I have so much to learn still.

 

[MattKing]

Here is the most recent version of the Kodak choice: https://125px.com/docs/techpubs/kodak/AJ-3-2016.pdf

 

[cliveh]

After working for 25 years as a college photographic lecturer at various colleges and seeing many different forms of practice to develop black & white film. May I advise on the best method I have so far encounted?

If you develop film at 1:1 in D76 or other developer, can I suggest the following method of preparation?

Assuming you’re using tap water as part of your developing solution and not distilled or
deionized water, this method is fairly easy.

To make a 1:1 developing solution for one 35mm film, you will need 150ml of water
mixed with 150ml of developer = 300ml (I know it says 290ml on the tank, but 300ml
and its division by ½ to 150ml is easier to remember). This mixture of developer and
water should ideally be at a temperature of 68F/20C.

Pour 150ml of developer into a measuring jug and measure its temperature. If it is
under or over 68F/20C, make a separate jug of water to compensate for the difference. Example if the developer temperature is 18C, make the water to 22C, before adding 150ml of developer. To get the water at the required temperature, put a thermometer in the empty jug and add hot and cold, either from two separate taps or a mixer tap. Don’t worry about the quantity as you can let the excess flow over the edge, just concentrate on getting the temperature you require, in this case 22c.Then pour out the excess to leave 150ml and add the developer, thus achieving a developer solution at 68f/20c.

And never ever, ever use a squeegee.

 

[mau]

For developing negatives I think the best option is just to pick any introductory video on Youtube.
I find books to be more useful in the darkroom, because there I prefer to turn my phone off.