At 1:22 PM +0000 2/15/02, olympus-digest wrote:
>Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 00:34:46 -0800
>From: Jim Brokaw <jbrokaw@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: Re: [OM] What's up now with MF?
>
>on 2/14/02 1:02 PM, Barry B. Bean at bbbean@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>
> > On Thu, 14 Feb 2002 13:34:41 -0700, Daniel J. Mitchell wrote:
> >
> >> For one thing, 120 b/w film takes
> >> a week to get processed around here
> >
> > It takes less than 20 minutes in the darkroom. If you're shooting
> > b&w, ESPECIALLY 120 B&W, I encourage you to buy a small tank and
> > develop your own film. Even if you let the local lab handle your
> > printing, those negs are large enough to do a lot of proofing in a
> > small light table.
> > -
> > B.B. Bean bbbean@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Bean & Bean Cotton Co http://www.beancotton.com
> > Peach Orchard, MO
> >
>
>If you get a 'daylight tank' and a changing bag, you can do it without any
>special setup, use the kitchen. I'm remembering doing this 30 years ago,
>with mixed results. Give yourself some time to get the film on the reel the
>first few tries...
I agree that it's far faster to develop B&W film at home. The process isn't
all that fussy, and the chemicals are cheap.
As for the changing bags, I always used them in a relatively dark closet, so I
never had any problem with light leaks while putting the film in the daylight
tank. Or, I did the deed in a dark closet without the changing bag. Do it
after dark, and put a dark towel along the bottom of the door to block light.
Or, set the chosen closet up with a dark curtain over the door.
I tried various developing tanks over the years, and none worked better than
the stainless steel (Nikkor?) tanks. I think they're still sold. The plastic
tanks caused me no end of trouble, and were eventually discarded.
Loading the metal tanks in the dark took some practice with junk film in the
light, but isn't hard.
My agitation protocol is as follows: After the developer (or whatever) is
poured in, I bang the tank down on the table three times. Thereafter, once
every thirty seconds, I turn the tank upside down then right side up three
times, and bang the tank down on the table three times. (The stainless steel
tanks had a cap and would not leak when held upside down, though it's a good
idea to have a finger holding the cap in place.) All this ensures uniform
development, and knocks the air bubbles loose so they cannot cause spots.
I generally developed at room temperature, or perhaps 75 degrees farenheit, so
the development times were say five minutes, and timing and pouring and the
like were not so critical.
The main thing is to have a protocol and follow it consistently.
Joe Gwinn
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