Developed my first B&W film

[Tareq]

Hey all!
Just today i started to develop my B&W film at home, i did 3 rolls, too bad that 1 of them came out nothing or bad, and the other 2 came out fine [not sure until i scan or print], I am so happy i did it at home even i did develop before at workshop i attended, but nothing like when i do it alone myself without someone else with me around.
Honestly for first roll i developed [which was also my first ever B&W film i shoot] i did many mistakes, so even it went bad i will not feel bad as i expect i will ruin it or it is ruined already before i develop., also it was a nightmare to load the roll into the reel, i spent about 1 hour and so to load it for the first roll[which is the bad one], and then took something between 5-15 minutes for the others, the first roll i tried first with Paterson reel, gave up and then tried Jobo one, gave up again and last i tried the stainless steel one and it worked but seems i corrupted so far, also because i was so mad and disappointed i put a water in Jobo tank and then put it in the changing bag [while the film is closed on Paterson tank without reel, and took out the film in the changing back to wash the roll, as when i tried to load it was stuck and not going through so i thought it was like adhesive or not dry or so], i learnt but seeing the other two coming out nicely i forgot all my mistakes, even those two came out were the shots i was looking for, I have one roll remain but i don't know if the fixer is enough.

 

[braver]

Hey!
Looks to me like you need to A. chill out, look back on what went well and congratulate yourself , and B. add some structure. Not just in your post, but in your developing as well.
Take your reels, waste a roll trying them out in daylight. Pick the one you're most comfortable with (I bet it'll be the Jobo, it was for me, even though I moved to 100% steel Kindermann) and stick with that for a couple of months/years/forever. You need to be able to do this without seeing, in fact even without thinking, so you need every step in the process to be as simple as possible.
Then again, as your soon to find out, with black and white film, as long as you didn't totally screw up (forgot one kind of chemical, mixed them up, opened up the tank halfway through), you'll always end up with something usable.
A liter of fixer is ok for about 10 rolls, so it'll be fine. There are ways to check, but I'd sort the rest of the process out first before adding to it
Enjoy!

 

[Tareq]

Hey!
Looks to me like you need to A. chill out, look back on what went well and congratulate yourself , and B. add some structure. Not just in your post, but in your developing as well.
Take your reels, waste a roll trying them out in daylight. Pick the one you're most comfortable with (I bet it'll be the Jobo, it was for me, even though I moved to 100% steel Kindermann) and stick with that for a couple of months/years/forever. You need to be able to do this without seeing, in fact even without thinking, so you need every step in the process to be as simple as possible.
Then again, as your soon to find out, with black and white film, as long as you didn't totally screw up (forgot one kind of chemical, mixed them up, opened up the tank halfway through), you'll always end up with something usable.
A liter of fixer is ok for about 10 rolls, so it'll be fine. There are ways to check, but I'd sort the rest of the process out first before adding to it
Enjoy!

Koen, thank you very much!

First of all, i had one roll damaged got it from one store and i was learning ot it and even though still i couldn't do it good, sometimes by chance i can do it in less than 5 minutes and another time it takes longer than 10 minutes, i was learning at daylight first then in the changing bag, also at workshop first time i did it it took me about 5 minutes and the second time later it took me around 8-9 minutes, so i can't tell i mastered it or even if i practice on it everyday i will do it in short time less than 5 minutes, so in all cases i will keep doing it whatever time i need to do [5 minutes or 3 hours].
I have Ilford RFixer 500ml not 1L, so i think it is for 5 rolls at maximum, but on another forum someone said that fixer is reusable, how come it is reusable if it is diluted? even he said that developer is one shot and the other [fixer, stop bath, PhotoFlo,..] are reusable, how come developer is one shot if diluted and fixer is reusable? i know that some chemicals can be reusable but how can i be sure about that? In all cases again i have another fixer [Kodak Kodafix as liquid working solution and as powder], i may use those if the Ilford fixer will run out for last roll[if i can't reusable it]

 

[braver]

Developer and fixer work differently. Chemicals in the developer react with the silver on the film to develop the film. At some point the solution runs out of active chemicals, and it won't develop anymore. Also, the strenght of the solution determines how long you need to develop, and after using a solution once, you do not know how strong the leftover solution is.
As far as I understand, fixer makes sure the silver that's been developed stays put and the rest washes off. You don't really use up the fixer because nothing in the fixer will end up on your roll: it merely 'washes' it. However, silver ends up in the fixer, and the more has been absorbed, the slower the reaction will go. Until a balance is struck between the silver already in the fixer and the silver still on the film and it won't work at all anymore. At some places they actually remove the silver from the fixer so it can be reused again.

Chris is way more into chemicals than I am, so I bet he can deliver a more scientific story, but that's the gist of it.

 

[Tareq]

Developer and fixer work differently. Chemicals in the developer react with the silver on the film to develop the film. At some point the solution runs out of active chemicals, and it won't develop anymore. Also, the strenght of the solution determines how long you need to develop, and after using a solution once, you do not know how strong the leftover solution is.
As far as I understand, fixer makes sure the silver that's been developed stays put and the rest washes off. You don't really use up the fixer because nothing in the fixer will end up on your roll: it merely 'washes' it. However, silver ends up in the fixer, and the more has been absorbed, the slower the reaction will go. Until a balance is struck between the silver already in the fixer and the silver still on the film and it won't work at all anymore. At some places they actually remove the silver from the fixer so it can be reused again.

Chris is way more into chemicals than I am, so I bet he can deliver a more scientific story, but that's the gist of it.

Not exactly, developer can be reused again if used as a strong concentrated working solution without dilution, even with low dilution such as 1+1 it may work, but each time i need to increase the developing time with certain time as it loses the strength, Ilford or Kodad stated i add about 15-30% time for another use of used once developer, but i just make myself in safe side and dumping the developer and use another one, i have enough developers to develop up to 50 rolls maybe or closer, i can buy more if i want later.
About the fixer i have to read more about it, as i though diluted chemicals losing the strength more than its full working solution, so that i thought i dump any diluted solution even it is still working, as it is my first time i don't want to take a risk or tests when i am not sure, later when i have more rolls for fun i can try to reuse same used chemicals for few times and see, i may try to sacrifice few rolls and try to use one developer solution used for more than once and see the results [with increasing the time ofcourse].

 

[braver]

Oh sure, there are developers you can reuse or replenish it, but I just tried to explain why most are one-shot, without making it even more complex. Unless you're running a pro-lab or are prolific in a Winogrand way, keeping it simple with one-shot developers is the way to go.
With fixer, you can check with a loose end of film how long it takes for the fixer to make it clear. If you then fix your film for 2x that amount of time you should be ok. There are chemicals that you can use to check if it's still ok. And on the package it'll say how many square meters of film it'll fix, so you can calculate how that works out for you. Now sense in wasting film trying to figure out how chemicals that have been in use for over a century work I just stay on the safe side with about 10 rolls a liter.

 

[Tareq]

Oh sure, there are developers you can reuse or replenish it, but I just tried to explain why most are one-shot, without making it even more complex. Unless you're running a pro-lab or are prolific in a Winogrand way, keeping it simple with one-shot developers is the way to go.
With fixer, you can check with a loose end of film how long it takes for the fixer to make it clear. If you then fix your film for 2x that amount of time you should be ok. There are chemicals that you can use to check if it's still ok. And on the package it'll say how many square meters of film it'll fix, so you can calculate how that works out for you. Now sense in wasting film trying to figure out how chemicals that have been in use for over a century work I just stay on the safe side with about 10 rolls a liter.

Oh, i forgot that i bought a hypo checker to check about the fixer, and so funny it is in the same plastic bag of the fixer, i think i should use it now.
Now the problem as i said before that i dumped a lot of the fixer, so now sure if the remain will be enough for another roll, i feel that there is about 1/5 or 1/6 of the bottle, so it may not be enough for 1+4 dilution, i will order another one with 1L and i will try to reuse it to save a bit fixer.

 

[Tareq]

Here are 2 shots out of the 2 rolls i did

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[stealthman_1]

These look very nice Tareq. Failure leads to great accomplishments! I will share with you a hint on the plastic reels...I know this may be hard if you are working in a bag, but when things get really sticky, use MORE water. Yep, and if necessary submerse the reel and work it that way. It's worked for me more than once when it was looking very ugly.

 

[Tareq]

These look very nice Tareq. Failure leads to great accomplishments! I will share with you a hint on the plastic reels...I know this may be hard if you are working in a bag, but when things get really sticky, use MORE water. Yep, and if necessary submerse the reel and work it that way. It's worked for me more than once when it was looking very ugly.

Hi tim,
Thank you very much for your post. Actually, yesterday i tried again to develop 2 more rolls, i used Paterson reels, it was like impossible or very difficult to load on the reel, i gave up so i put the film in Paterson tank and closed with center column and opened my changing bag again and first i tried with stainless steel reel, it worked and i used it with steel tank which i put it in the bag as well, for second reel i said let me try with plastic reel again but with Jobo one, also to my surprise it was easy or say not hard to load, so i took the roll out of the reel and tried again with Paterson but failed again and gave up, so i use Jobo plastic reel again and it loaded in easy, so i think i will not use Paterson plastic reel at all, i developed the 2 rolls and the results were amazing, so happy so far.

 

[stealthman_1]

You are on your way!:smile:

 

[Tareq]

You are on your way!:smile:

Yeaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!! :biggrin: