Developing Your Own Film - Part 1 - Getting Ready

Sadly the baseball season did not end well this year. The good news is that I can get back to what this blog is about. Me and my trusty camera. I think a natural progression from shooting film is to then develop your own film. You spend a lot of time setting up your shot, making sure the composition is set, and ensuring that the lighting is perfect. So why let somebody else develop it? To me its like getting all the ingredients to bake a cake and then asking the neighbor to actually bake it. If you bake it yourself you can watch the entire process and decide if you need to shave off a few minutes, adjust the temperature, or let it bake a little longer. You can do the same with film. So where do you start?

Step 1. Materials Needed

You will need the following:
Developing tank and reels (I had to make sure my reel would fit 120mm film)
Film developer - I use Ilfosol 3
Film fixer - I use Ilford Rapid Fixer
Thermometer - Must be very accurate. Worth a trip to your photo store. (not pictured)
Beakers - I have two. A 600cc and a 50cc (For measuring smaller units).
Storage containers - I have a 1 gallon container to pour the used fixer in.
A sink - Big enough to pour water into the tank. A bathtub also works great.



Optional Materials (In my humble opinion):
Stop Bath - They sell chemicals to stop the developing process. Water works for me.
Water Bath - Once you are done washing the fixer off you can run it through a hypo-clearing agent that will help the film dry faster and have less water spots. I havent had any problems with using plain water.

Step 2. Find a darkroom.


Step 3. Ignore Step 2 and make your own!

This was my first challenge in developing my own film. I always thought that I would need to convert a room in my house into my own private darkroom. A lot of people turn their bathroom into a darkroom but this was not an option in my house. I soon realized that all I really needed was a light proof solution that would allow me to get the negative onto a reel (which then goes into a lightproof tank). Reading other options online I found that they sell special bags where you can put all your materials in, stick your hands in, and voila! Sounds easy enough but that was still outside of my budget. My solution? Hide under the bed covers. I tested this by sitting up in my bed, throwing the comforter over my head, and checking for light leaks.

Once you have your materials ready, and your comfortable darkroom all set, then its time to transfer the film from your exposed roll to the tank reel. I'll cover this process in my next post.