Arran Salerno | Photography - Blog » Film Developing

“Instant” 35mm Film

Arran — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:52:40 +0000

Well, not quite “instant”, but pretty damn close.
I didn’t know this (maybe you did), but Polaroid used to make 35mm film that you could process at home without messy chemicals, in a matter of minutes. The system seems to of had some popularity at one stage, but like other Polaroid products, the profit margin must of been pretty small and the product was phased out.Several types of film instant film were made (all slide film) in both colour and black & white.

The system is based around a hand operated Autoprocessor. Into this you place your film and its matching processing unit (single use-comes with each roll of film). You then complete a series of winding actions and hey presto, you’re film is developed in about 2 minutes.
I saw a processing unit and 6 rolls of film going for less than $5 the other day, so thought I’d give it a go. The only thing is, the film had expired in 1984! I was more curious to see if anything would come out at all, and have a bit of fun.

I did get results, but as you’ll see, its pretty rough and insanely contrasty, but surpringly ok for film that coule be over 25 years old! I have a few rolls left, so might shoot them deliberately to bring the most out of the unique aesthetic. I’m kind of thinking of the movie “Metropolis”

Stainless Steel Tanks and Reels

Arran — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 03:33:21 +0000

Got these the other day for a massive $1.35. Two tanks (a double and a single reel tank), and two reels, with one that is brand new. Atleast some photography gear is still cheap.
I got these for when i start my colour developing, as they should hopefully help me keep a more accurate temperature. All i need to do now is figure out how to load them, might have to sacrifice a roll to pactice =/

Uncharted Territory

Arran — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:11:55 +0000

Well, that’s a bit dramatic actually..
The other week i got some Fuji Neopan SS (100iso) as it was super cheap, and i’d never heard too much about it. Felt like trying something different. I decided to shoot a test roll this wee as i couldn’t really wait to use it on something special, i just wanted to see what it’d look like. I was half way through the roll when i noticed something wrong. My camera was set at 400 ISO =/
I initially got annoyed with myself, but then thought it’d be a good opportunity to try and push process the film a little (i’d never tried it before). So i shot the rest of the roll and started looking for some recommended development times. To my astonishment there were hardly any… Well, there were dev times for 100ISO, but nothing for 400.. I started looking at times for other developers but found hardly any info at all.. Thinks weren’t looking good.
After hours of searching i thought i’d just give it a go making an “educated guess”… Actually, it was more of a plain old “guess”.
Somehow, it worked. As you’d imagine i was pretty happy about it all. Actually, it produced some of the nicer results i’d got.
Here they are. Fuji Neopan SS developed in Rodinal at 1+50 @ 21C for 18 minutes, pushed to 400 ISO.

I dont know what happened with this shot, but thought it looked kind of interesting anyway..

Scanned some more shots

Arran — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:37:56 +0000

Scanned some more shots today. APX400 in Rodinal at 1:50 for 28 minutes. Its all a learning experience for me so i’m quite pleased with how they turned out. Also, i couldn’t find any suggested times suitable, so i kind of had to make my own up.
The thing i’ve noticed lately with film is that shallow depth of field shots looks wonderful. Especially with some nice grain, it has such a unique aesthetic that i really love. In the future i’m going to try and take advantage of that more.

b&w film developing

Arran — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 05:51:32 +0000

I’ve started developing my own black and white film recently, so thought i’d post up some info on the process i’ve found.
After doing a bit of research i noticed that there seems to be a huge range of options on what is necessary or not necessary, right way to do things, wrong way to do things, whats better or worse, etc… You know, the usual shit that photographers seem to talk about, such an opinionated bunch
The more i researched, the more i got confused by the multitude of information and options available. I wasnt really getting anywhere so decided to just simplify things and give it a go.

The 3 basic steps to developing negatives are:
Developer
Stop Bath
Fixer

Now there seems to be endless options for each step, all with strengths and weaknesses. I wanted to keep things simple, so thought i’d stick with Rodinal as a developer which is the oldest commercial developer in existence, so i thought there would be alot of info around for it. Next is the stop bath which has another set of options. Many people swear by using a method that doesnt contain any chemicals, i chose to go with an Ilford stop solution instead as it will use less water. Then theres the fixer with another range of options but i kept things simple and went with Ilford again.

After these 3 processes you have a couple more options too. A Hypo-Clearing Agent which cuts down washing time considerably (instead of using 30 minutes you use 7 for example). Then you have other stuff like Photoflo which is the very last step before drying. It will coat the film and help prevent uneven drying and water marks etc. None of these are necessary, but the Hypo bath is a pretty good idea.
After you’ve completed the above steps, all you need to do is hang the film to dry. If you dont have a dedicated dryer, its recommended by many to let the film dry overnight. Its hard waiting that long though, especially when its your first roll!

Here are a few links which give some more info on the development process :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu0Ul_wsYO8
http://www.photogs.com/bwworld/bwfilmdev.html
http://www.darkroomsource.net/tech-bw-film.shtml

Here is a link to a site with a huge amount of specific development times and formulas :
http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.html

Below is a picture of my gear at the moment. In addition to this i have a dust proof folder to store negatives in, plus 3 more measuring jugs.

In the photo you can see the chemicals, the developing tank (with 2 reels inside), the changing bag, thermometer, film clips, measuring syringe, cylinder measuring graduate, and a $2 shop clock.
The chemicals are cheap, and everything else is reused, so after the inital purchase the only things you’re spending money on is the film. At the moment i’m using the Rodinal at 1:50 for 13 minutes for 100ISO film, so at 6ml per roll, the 500ml bottle will last ages.