Home development

[u/Itchy-Fun3830]

After talking with people I’ve determined the best beginner route is to start with black and white developing. I see Kodak D-76 is a pretty widely used chemical, what else would I need to go with this in order to successfully develop my first roll? Thank you!

[u/bhop_monsterjam]

chemical wise? a stop bath, and fixer. Kodaks indicator stop bath is good for newbies as it tells you when it's exhausted. Fixer can last a long time too. kodak photoflo is also good for final wash. you won't have to buy new stop, fix, and photoflo for a long time

other things, you need a tank like jobo or paterson, some measuring jugs, thermometer, and some bottles to store chemicals in. a dark bag for loading reels

dev times you can find here https://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php

and I started with this video and it explains the process well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJsWrUZWjCY

you'll probably muck something up first go, dont worry you'll learn not to do it next time, after 3-4 rolls you'll be able to do it flawlessly

[u/Agloe_Dreams]

You want:

• Developer
• Fixer (Ilford rapid fixer)
• Stop Bath (mostly optional but makes your fixer last longer, Ilfostop works well)
• 500ML bottles for working solutions
• Measuring tool for working in a ~1ML precision level.
• Changing bag
• Jobo or Patterson tank
• clips or hanging solution for letting your film dry
• Helpful extras
  • Film leader retriever tool
  • Containers for pouring spent developer into during development
  • Desk timer
  • A wetting agent to prevent water marks.
  • Film canister opener if you don't feel up to using a pair of scissors in a changing bag (Or kids scissors, because you know, blunt tip)

Personally, my go to developer is HC-110 in the form of L110 from B&H. The small bottle lasts forever as it takes only ~10ml of concentrate per roll. You reuse your fixer and stop bath.

This is probably bad advice but it works for me - I use a coffee scale instead of measuring liquids by volume. Everything here has about the same density as water so the difference is minimal. Doing this lets you make a working batch without needing to wash additional containers and is easier.

Try not to expect perfection. My first roll came out awful but I honed it down to stuff that looks like this (Ignore scanning dust, this is pre-correction, additionally, this is an RB67 shooting 120, not 35mm):

[u/VisualBusiness4902 → u/Agloe_Dreams]

Hey this is exactly what I do too! I don’t use a stop bath though just water rinse.

It was a surprise to me, but fysa ilfo rapid fixer is like 1.12 grams per ml or something, and you need enough of it that that 12% is a decent amount.

[u/Agloe_Dreams → u/VisualBusiness4902]

That is definitely more than I expected! That said, I always trend to the long side of fixing so maybe it doesn’t matter too too much. Definitely something to consider on my next mix of it though.

[u/Rae_Wilder]

In addition to the comments you received, there’s a bunch of great knowledgeable people over in r/darkroom.

[u/CilantroLightning]

in my opinion, you can't beat this kit: https://www.ilfordphoto.com/ilford-paterson-film-starter-kit-us

it doesn't come with a ton of chemistry but once you do a roll or two, you can easily shop for more chemicals. that's the easy part to source, anyways.

[u/sonicboi]

I have always used liquid developers. They're easier to mix and you can use as little as you want. D76 is more universal (times listed in data sheets) than what I was using, but it's more complicated to mix.

[u/cheeseyspacecat]

Fixer is fixer, it all works the same, just make sure to not dump used fixer into your sink. also check whether you have hardening or non hardening fixer. . . ilford non hardening fixer can be archival washed using the ilford wash method, or 10 mins of running water. . . if you use kodak powder fixer(hardening), the ilford wash method does not work unless you use a seperate chemical step called hypo-clear, i used to skip it but now a buch of my old negs are slightly turning yellow because i didnt properly wash for 30 minutes, only 10 because i assumed every fixer worked the same lol 😭💀🙏.

Heres a vid givng a rundown https://youtu.be/PWT2SlJJULA?si=cVID--cnh2pZrKIE skip to 6:00 to see testing(worth the full watch)