Developing film

Developing film.

(week 3)

Something happened on Wednesday night, February 29 that i have waited a long time to achieve - i developed my very first roll of film. 

The culprit was a roll of 24 exposure 35mm, Kodak (RIP) T-MAX ISO 400 that i purchased probably 11 years ago. It was exposed late last year whilst living in Brisbane, on the OLYMPUS-TRIP camera my father handed down to me two Christmas's ago.


It is a classic retro design, so simple & quiet to use on the street as well as so light to carry around. Love it :)

The Kodak 400 TMAX black & white film i used.

Olympus Trip 35 film camera.

me trippin' at my place in Brisbane one evening during the 2011flood.
The little  thing can operate my 430XE speed light and Elinchrom
lighting kit thanks to the hot-shoe and sync cord outlets - awesome!

Anyway.. 

I was one of the fortunate people in class able to develope their roll of film before time ran out, this was fortunate, but a real shame for those who missed out, because i could see genuine excitement and enthusiasm amongst my fellow class mates as they patiently waited their turn. Alas, next week they will have their chance :)

So after being shown the ropes in class of how to first extract the leading end of the film from its canister (way cool) and then how it is loaded onto the spool which then goes into the light-tight container ready for the actual chemical process - it was up to us to take a few minutes of hands-on practice before doing it for real..  an anxious moment for most i suspect.

Equipment required to develop a roll of photographic film:   - Film extractor tool - Scissors - Clock - Rubber gloves - Rubber apron - Protective eye wear - Thermometer - Light tight container (5 parts to this) - Measuring containers (or large test tubes) and somewhere to hang your film while it dries.


Liquids required to develop a roll of photographic film: D76 developer - Stop Bath - Fixer - Hypo Cleaner - Photo-Flo and clean running water.

Some of the equipment needed to develop a roll of photographic film.

CIT's wet darkroom where negatives are enlarged and processed on
light-sensitive photographic paper to create usable prints.

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As i was loading my film onto the spool in the dark-room, i must admit i wasn't 100% sure it had fed smoothly and was all correct, but i was the last to finish and the spool was now in its light-tight container, Kiki and Heidi were sounding keen to return the the comforts of a room with some light too so i just had to remain positive.

So after a 12 minute development process consisting of rotational inverting and agitation of the D76 chemical within the light-tight container, it was time to dispel the liquid and move on to the Stop Bath solution. This involved the same agitating actions but for only 3 minutes before it was poorer out and the Fixer was added to again go through the same agitation process - i found this process quite enjoyable and remained fully focussed on the task at hand.


After these three processes it was time to begin the washing process. So for a little over 2 minutes, water was flushed through the container. Next step was to add the Hypo Cleaning Agent and return to the rotation and inversion technique before returning to flushing water back through the container for 5 minutes.


The final step involving any liquids, was to then disassemble the developing container and gently submerge the spool of film into a container of Photo-Flo - an agent that allows water to run off the film whilst drying without leaving streaks of residue. The spool spent 30 seconds - 1 minute in this solution. I then removed it and began to unroll the film from the spool. This is when my efforts were rewarded, because i could now see the results of the magic that is photography (drawing with light). An exciting moment for me :)


Now all that was required was to run my fingers down the length of the film like a squeegee to remove as much of the remaining liquid as possible before then transferring it to the drying machine where it is hung vertically for a few minutes.


As the film was drying i took time to ensure everything i had used was rinsed with water and returned to it's spot ready for the next person to use.


Job done!




*
Big thanks to Lindi Heap for continuing to deliver all the information with a bit of good old fashioned enthusiasm for her students. I am enjoying her classes.

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The result !

Here is a photograph taken on my iPhone of the film negatives i came away with from Wednesday night's class. Next step is to process the negatives so that they appear as a positive image which can then be viewed and understood in the way we know and trust i guess you could say.. bring it on :)

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Still to develop..

In addition to the roll of film and camera mentioned above, i shot through another roll of film on another camera - my original SLR from 13 years ago.

The camera is a PENTAX MZ-50 electronic body. I used a variety of SIGMA lenses that i have acquired over the years - two of which are made for a digital camera body, but work perfectly on this film body, awesome!! The roll of film was, Illford HP5 ISO 400 black & white.

The lens collection i used to help capture a variety of interesting images were - SIGMA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6DC, 55-200mm f/4-5.6DC and 28-80mm f/3.5 with macro non digital, as seen in the below image.

My PENTAX MZ-50 and collection of SIGMA lenses.

The film i used - Illford HP5 PLUS 400 black & white.

I expect a far broader range of interest from the photographs on this roll of film and can't wait to see the results this combination of camera and film produce.

D.