Wanting to venture into B&W Processing but confused already!!

And you can carry a changing bag with you for those times when a film gets stuck in camera or comes completely out of the film canister and you need to get it out without destroying the images already taken.

I have a darkroom but I always use a changing bag in the kitchen for films. Use whatever you can. Under the bed covers with a few extra blankets thrown on top works too.


Steve.

Ted I've posted a how to dev you first film on my blog:
http://photo-utopia.blogspot.com/
hope it helps
Mark

now we've got three pages of replies with different views on just about everything, I wonder how unconfused the OP is now?

Right - here's what I started with, in a light tight room, mind.

Bottle of fix, bottle of developer, bottle of stop, a reel and three old margerine boxes, estimated temperature of the water.

that's all you need at its most basic.

Murray Kelly said:

For goodness sake, Ted, don't be put off from doing a few films in the simplest arrangement you can muster. Once you hold that wet film up to the light and see the images you'll be hooked.

Just go the minimalist route until you get the urge to go all 'technical'

Murray

Click to expand...

I agree completely. I first came to "film" in a very minimalist route: I was building pinhole cameras using laser-cut pinholes I'd buy over the internet; I didn't really understand film and wanted something that would work under a safelight, so I wound up using B&W print paper as my "film" - I would expose it in the pinhole camera, develop it in NOTHING but developer then fixer; my stop bath was literally just that: a dunk in my city-water-filled bathtub, as my developing and fixing trays were floating in the bathtub to keep the whole getup contained. As soon as the exposures dried, I scanned them and inverted them in Photoshop. I did a poor job of it all, and the first exposures I took are starting to fade and discolor from my sloppy work, but it was indeed all that was required to get me hooked. It was a gateway drug. Now I'm doing hard stuff...

Try your local library for book on basic b&w photography. They will have many pictures which makes it easier to learn.

Jessops used to have a sort of darkroom in a box kit, I don't know if they still do. So far comment has been almost totally on film development. Assuming you also want to print the pictures, you will need (minimum) an enlarger + lens, some chemical trays and tongues, printing paper, a watch with a second hand, print developer (it's different to film dev), stop and fix. It's also nice to have an enlarger timer, a contact printer, a proper print timer and a red safelight. The bit that really matters is the enlarger lens. Mine are (I have two, a 50mm for 35mm and a 105mm for 6x7) probably worth more than everything else in the room put together. Most of this stuff can be picked up cheaply 2nd hand at the moment, as so many people are catching digits. Indeed our local "freecycle" network has had three complete set ups being given away in the last couple of months, so try standing in the street with a sign reading "please give me a darkroom"

There are plenty of books on darkroom work, or a local camera club might be able to teach you. You can easily learn the basic processes in a day, but you then spend the rest of your life learning.

There is no need to be confused over chemicals. Pretty much anyone's film and paper can be developed in anyone else's developers, but like films, individual devs have slightly different characters and it's worth trying a few to see if any particularly appeal. Stop and fix etc are all pretty generic. Papers also have different characteristics. You might like a warm, slightly brown tone, or a real blue black cold tone, or just neutral. There are different surface finishes. There are resin coated papers, fiber papers, fixed and variable contrast papers and papers with more or less actual silver in them and all will look a bit different. You can also use different toners on prints once the basic processing is done, which will also give different looks, but this is fairly advanced stuff and you can get to grips with the basic process from shutter click to print very easily.

David.

I've never used stop, other than plain water. Rinse for 30 seconds, dump and then add fix. Seems to work fine for me! I would recommend: D76 stock (use a liter of D76, fill the developing tank to the top and reuse 5-10 times, filtering the particulate out of the D76 once it appears), or HC-110. For a fixer I've used both plain and rapid fix.

Most of the replies have just discussed film processing but presumably you'll then want to print your work so then there is some more to learn and more stuff needed. I believe your best bet is to go on a course, yes you can learn all the stuff from a book but this is a practical skill, the most efficient way will be a course.

Thanks again folks. All good advice for sure.

Meanwhile, I found this very useful user guide for beginners by Ilford titled 'Developing your first Black & White film', should anyone else find this thread in the same shoes as me :

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/applications/download.asp?n=386

And then for the printing side of things, 'Making a B&W Print' :

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/applications/download.asp?n=390

With regard to enlargers :

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/applications/page.asp?n=110

Lastly, you can buy much of the chemicals and other darkroom stuff from either this eBay store :

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Darkroom-and-Digital-Photo-Supplies

or from this Retailer :

http://www.dalephotographic.co.uk/m...nline/_142509/1/Ilford%20Darkroom%20Materials

I don't know whether the prices are realistic or not though? I'd be interested to find an actual shop that I can drive to buy all these things. Does anyone know of one in the Derby(shire) area?

Ted

dfoo said:

I've never used stop, other than plain water.
Rinse for 30 seconds, dump and then add fix.

Click to expand...

Skip the rinse but dump the fix. Using just about any
rapid fix an amount of 20ml will do. Allow a few minutes
more with some regular agitation. Fresh fix each roll
and no need to test or worry. Dan

ted_smith said:

Thanks again folks. All good advice for sure.

<snip>

I don't know whether the prices are realistic or not though? I'd be interested to find an actual shop that I can drive to buy all these things. Does anyone know of one in the Derby(shire) area?

Ted

Click to expand...

There are a number of on-line stores you can buy from: Silverprint, Nova, RK, Process Supplies, Speedgraphic to name a few I have used but none are close to you (Nova is closest but is in Warwick/Coventry).

You could try your local Jessops if all else fails - most largish towns have (or at least had) one but they will only have very restricted options on chemicals and papers (if any at all) though you can order on-line for delivery to your nearest shop for most items.

Have fun, Bob.

Ted. I was tempted to say: " Follow the old Nike advert's sentiments and "Just do it" but then I wondered whether I would have done it all on my own even if I had been a member here but for the fact that I joined an evening class course several months before. I don't know. I now know that I had nothing to fear but fear itself but that's easy to say now.

If it's at all possible I'd endorse what another APUGer said: Research whether there are any evening classes in your area and check out clubs with darkrooms or members who have their own and who are likely to be prepared to show you the ropes.

If all else fails, buy the mimimum of equipment, "waste" a film with shots that aren't important and simply have a go. A tank, a changing bag or cupboard under the stairs night, then HP5+ ID11 and fixer are all you need.The Ilford site gives you all the instructions.Even graduates can be dispensed with and kitchen measuring jugs used instead.

At a pinch you might have to be prepared to "waste" two films if you find that loading the first onto a reel in the dark is disastrous and it becomes a practice film for loading purposes. It's unlikely to come to that. I went on two courses at Leamington and out of about 60 students, all of whom had to do it on their own, NONE failed to load the reels after a short practice run with a spent cassette.

A word of warning however. With the first success and this success is almost guaranteed, there is no going back.

pentaxuser

Ted,
don't get too hung up with chemical temperature for the moment. When you are comfortable with getting film onto a reel and all the other steps come automatically (I'm sure I'm not the only person who has fixed the film before developing it), then you can start getting all technical. I've found that, in the summer, the evening ambient temperature in most houses in the UK is around 20 Centigrade, so all you need to do is mix your chemicals and leave them to stand for an hour to so. This gives you time to get everything else ready without rushing.

I found that if I took the same care and attention that I did when mixing up baby milk for my kids all those years ago then everything was fine. Being distracted or rushing things inevitably ended in disappointment. I rarely bother trying to re-use chemicals, and only if I have a series of films to process end-to-end. The hassle of storage and trying to figure out whether the chemicals were fully active, to me, out-weighed any potential savings. B&W chemicals are cheap, save your money to buy something more useful, like yet another lens!

I you decide you want to gain an in depth understanding then get a copy of the Focal Press manual of photography. It is despite its name more of an academic book rather than a how to guide. The later editions cover digital as well but you may be able to pick up an old one that does not.
(one of my tutors at college was one of the authors)