The Process
Film Prep:
Developing your film is easy. Remember film is light sensitive. You need to keep it in complete darkness until the end. We’ll begin with the changing bag. If this is your first time – you’ll be working in the changing bag so you won’t be able to actually see what you are doing. I recommend you get some used film on eBay and practice without the bag a few times until you can do it with your eyes closed – or in the bag. Its not hard, but get a feel for it.
It might be also important to note that its very possible you’ll mess up the first time. Don’t get discouraged! Practice a bit first then give it a try. Get some cheap film that you can ruin trying to learn. Its okay.
Once you’ve figured out how to get the film on to the reel. You’re ready to go. Put everything you need into the changing bag. Get your film on the reel and get the reel into the developing canister. Then you’re ready to rock.
Finally I’ll go ahead and put either tap water or distilled water into the can to pre-soak the film. This is optional and not critical. I just do it because its part of my process – do it or don’t. Remember though, stay consistent.
Chemical Prep:
Figure out how much chemical you need to develop. In my cans for 35mm and 120 its about 400ml. Fill 3 measuring cups – one for developer, one for stop, and one for fix.
Fill a large bowl or sink with ice. Place your (filled) measuring cups into the ice and put the thermometer into the developer. You’ll want to get the temperature down to 20C. You’ll get a feel for how long this takes – for me its about 10 min.
Once the chemicals are at 20C you are ready to develop.
Take a look at the Massive Dev Chart for the proper time for your film/developer combination. Its not always right, but its usually really close.
Now we are ready to develop.
Development Bath:
Pour out the water we set before. Then pour in your developer. Then start the timer for the determined time.
We’ll now use a process called agitation. Agitation simply involves “turning” the chemicals to keep them fresh. Its very slow. This will keep the grain down. If you have a closed container, just spin it around slowly. This is enough.
I agitate the film slowly for the first minute. Then I agitate for 10 seconds every minute. I know people who do 5 seconds every 30 seconds. They both work – just stick with one. Remember – we’re trying to be consistent.
When you’ve reached the development time, pour out your developer then pour in the stop bath.
I agitate 10 seconds every minute – 3 minutes total. Pour out the stop.
Pour in the fixer. Depending on what fixer – read the directions. For a standard fixer, I agitate 10 seconds every minute for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, pour out your fixer.
Your film is now done! You can go ahead and look at it now – its no longer light sensitive.
You’ll need to rinse your film for 15-30 minutes depending on your fixer type.
Final Rinse and Hang
I always do a final rinse with the distilled water. This is important. Your local tap water quality will vary and down her in Dallas there’s lots of “stuff” in the water that will spot the film. To prevent this I agitate in distilled water for 2-3 minutes constantly agitating. You could add a few drops of LFN to lower the water density and prevent spotting. This is optional, but I ALWAYS do that final rinse.
Hang your film with the clips in a bathroom (you should be working in one already up to this point). Why a bathroom? Because showers give off steam which gets the dust out of the air. Its a great, clean environment to develop your film. I hang my film in the shower. It takes about 45min to 1 hour to dry.
Then – still in the bathroom. Cut your negatives with scissors and put them in plastic sleeves. I sleeve them in the bathroom – if you go walk across your house you’ll get dust on the negatives. Its just easier to keep it all as dust free as you can.
http://www.cleanvideosearch.com/media/action/yt/watch?v=Vu0Ul_wsYO8