First Time

Pumpedupkicks · Mar 6, 2013

Hello this is my first time I will be developing my own black and white film. I bought a Kodak Professional fixer and I wanted to see how long I need to leave it in the developing tank it says on the front 5-10 mins but I didnt know what exact time I will be developing in a large developing tank and also I will be developing at 68f

gsgary · Mar 6, 2013

what film, what iso did you shoot it at, was there contrasty lighting do you need to add contrast ? it all effects your developement time

timor · Mar 6, 2013

Uno momento please. What is going on ? One guy is talking about fixer, the other about developing time. Fixer is not for developing, fixer is for fixing developed film. Maybe first lets talk about developing. As Gary suggests. Will be beneficial to know what film is this and what developer are you planning to use and then lets talk about temperature and agitation. Fixing comes after and with fresh Kodak Professional 1+3 fixer 5-6 min in 68F would be sufficient.

Pumpedupkicks · Mar 6, 2013

I will be shooting Kodak TMax100 I have Ilford stop bath and I have a developer Kodak d-76 and I have a Kodak fixer. How long do they need to be in the tank the temp will be 68f and do I need to dilute the Ilford stop bath I am just very new to this I am 18 so I am young but trying to learn a lot about film

gsgary · Mar 6, 2013

I would try D76 1+1 for 10 minutes, agitate for first minute then 5 every minute, stop bath, it tells you on the bottle how to mix it, add the stop bath as soon as you empty the developer and agitate for 1 minute, fix, agitate constant for 5-6 minutes, just check it is fixed before emptying tank

vintagesnaps · Mar 6, 2013

If you aren't familiar with the Film Photography Project you might be interested in their website or check out their Flickr page discussion.

timor · Mar 6, 2013

^^^^^ That sounds like a plan. 10 min seems a bit long for TMX and I would expect strong and contrasty neg (which in case of that film is no good), but I might be proven wrong. The beauty of film photography is, that everyone has to set own standards. Good luck with your try and let us know the results, maybe even post a scan from the film for us to see how dens the neg will get.

terri · Mar 6, 2013

Great folks here and some basic development info to get you started here.

Don't forget looking at the manufacturer's websites, too, for information. They want you to have success!

Once you've done this a couple of times, it becomes more intuitive. And once you've done it lots of times, you can begin to play around with different times for various films to find combinations that get you the negatives you want. It's not hard; just takes some getting used to and learning to "know" what you actually want.

Go for it!

Rick58 · Mar 6, 2013

This should help you with the D-76 times

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/j78/j78.pdf

Pumpedupkicks · Mar 7, 2013

how long should i leave the stop bath in and the fixer?

ann · Mar 7, 2013

30 sec. in stop bath, five in the fixer if your using Ilford's. and 10 with Kodak.

go to Ilford's website, and they have a great pdf file that goes over everything step by step

gsgary · Mar 7, 2013

timor said:
^^^^^ That sounds like a plan. 10 min seems a bit long for TMX and I would expect strong and contrasty neg (which in case of that film is no good), but I might be proven wrong. The beauty of film photography is, that everyone has to set own standards. Good luck with your try and let us know the results, maybe even post a scan from the film for us to see how dens the neg will get.

Never used Tmax 100 till this last weekend now i'm in love with it developed in Rodinal, massive dev says 9.5 mins for D76 and i always do it a bit longer than they say

Two%20heads%20are%20better%20than%20one%20-XL.jpg

gsgary · Mar 7, 2013

One more thing dont forget to tap the tank on the worktop after each set of agitations to dislodge bubbles

Josh66 · Mar 7, 2013

For fixer the standard is "twice the time to clear"...

Take a bit of the film you will be fixing (the bit of leader you cut off when you loaded it on the reel). Put a single drop of fixer on the film - wait a couple minutes. Now drop that bit of film into a small container of fixer - start the clock now. Time how long it takes for that dot from the single drop takes to disappear. When you can no longer tell where the dot stops and the rest of the film starts. You want to fix for at least double that time.