Starting with Film for the first time...

An early Rolleicord with a Triotar won't set you back that much, possibly less than what you paid for the Lubitel. The build quality of the Rolleicord will be much better than the Lubitel.

Setting up a home darkroom is simple. I keep everything in a large plastic bin -- darkroom in a box.

You really need just two chemicals: Developer and fixer. You can use plain water as a stop bath. To cut down on wash time, you can add hypo clearing agent, but it's not necessary, although it is useful.

Developing film is a lot of fun. I developed my first roll when I was 12 after reading about it in a book that I checked out from the local library.

Developing color is pretty easy, but it's expensive. The hardest part is controlling temperature, which should be kept accurate. I use a Jobo, but they cost a few hundred dollars. Wal-Mart will send your film off to Fuji who then sends it off to Dwaynes. That service is about 2 weeks, but it's cheap. A roll of 220 E-6 developed was 6.88, a roll of 220 C-41 with prints was under $4. Expect the price to fluxuate and expect Wal-Mart Employees to be completely clueless about this service.

Welcome to the APUG jungle....it's never too late

Welcome to the family! Great set-up you have and great approach! A home lab is so easy and very inexpensive for b/w - color is a bit more money and supplies to store it all, which I felt was too much for my needs, so I have a lab do my C41 for $5(US) per roll.

Like one commenter above said, for a b/w lab, get a big 5 gallon bucket, the fixer and developer with the requisite measuring, storing and dev supplies (tank, etc.) and you will be operational in no time, when done, store it all in the big old bucket in a locked closet (away from kids, grandkids, pets, etc).

Film, figure out the ISO you need to shoot at, then try some various brands to match with my developer to decide what I liked best (that was not going to be too expensive).

We all cant wait to hear/see your test rolls!

HOOOOLY SMOKES! That took forever... sent my first two rolls away to the folks at 120processing.com and they did a great job. The Postal lockout delayed things immensely! Apparently there's a bit of a light leak on the top of the Camera but now I know!

Here's a couple shots that I think turned out the best.


Myself in the hulk of an old Car I found wandering around town.


Abandoned Front Loader.


Moravian Church, Happy Valley - Goose Bay, Labrador

There were a couple blurred ones that were handheld so I think my next rolls with some colour film will build on what I learned here and the results I am even more excited to see. I metered all of these with my Canon 450D but I recently got an app for my iPhone that I cross referenced it with so the Lubitel will travel more now.

Just a note: I find labs do a rubbish job with B&W. This is because every B&W film, unlike C-41, needs an individual dev time. FP4+ in D-76 might be 9 mins, HP5 13 mins, (just numbers I plucked from the air!) etc etc. Obviously this is impractical for the minilab since they get a whole range of films, so they just generalise and chuck each one into the same bath. Results are naturally subpar. Often they will correct the prints using a computer.

The difference in grain between a roll of FP4+ I developed myself and one a lab did was amazing. My roll obviously much better!

Home developing of B&W is infantile, just like a secondary school science task, if not easier still. Colour processing is similar but with more chemicals and tighter control of temperatures. A Paterson tank with plastic multi-format reels is the way to go - cheap and effective. Get used to one film/dev combo. If you develop yourself you will find yourself needing filters to correct the sensitivity of the film (it is overly sensitive to blue and will look weird on a sunny day). Yellow is standard but orange and red give stronger effects.

Regarding cameras, there's a really lovely looking Rolleicord in the classifieds for $225. A very fair price.


Cute photos, BTW. Shame about the power line on the church - I liked the tones in that one.

Welcome to the wonderful world of film and especially medium format!!!
I too run a TLR, a Rolleicord Mk V.

Dev your own black and white for sure. Havent tried colour dev yet myself but I'm keen to...

When I rediscovered film it was a revelation. All the gear I had lusted over as a youngster was so cheap (the Pentax MZ50 I wanted as a kid but couldn't afford, I bought for a dollar...) and I haven't looked back. I still shoot digital for my snapshots and I always have a pocket digi point and shoot in my pocket when I leave he house, but when I want a real photo I reach for film...

Unfortunately the Lubitel is a poor choice. They are poorly constructed and the optics are even worse. You could have gotten a used TLR such as a Yashica, Mamiya, or a Seagull for the same price.

Buy the Rolleicord V in the for sale section - please, before I cave in and buy it.