Film developing

Development in Black and White

Development in Black and White is not something excessively complicated, but it requires having a methodology.

Step 1: The development

The first step is to transfer the film from its cartridge into the development vessel. It is necessary to put in the dark for this step, because I remind you that your film is always sensitive to the light! Once the film is wound on the coil and placed in the tank, it's sealed to light by screwing the funnel and lid.

Step 2: The dilution

For mixing, you can turn on the light again. Because dosing in the dark isn't easy. Above all, rinse your equipment well, because it isn't certain that during the last use, it was done during the last use.

A dilution of 1+4 means that for a dose of the product, we will add 4 doses of water.

Example, if one wants to obtain 17 fl oz (US) of total volume, it will be necessary to put 3 fl oz (US) of product and 14 fl oz (US) of water.

Step 3: The baths

We will successively use 3 baths:

1. to reveal the image on the film,
2. to stop the revelation reaction
3. to fix the image on the film.

To realise these 3 baths, we will use 3 products:

1. The developer (the base)
2. Stop bath (acid)
3. The fixer (the product that stinks)

In terms of the time to use for these 3 baths, we must look at:

• the film used,
• development temperature (68° F in general),
• developer used

In general, these times are indicated directly on the bottle of the product.

To properly distribute the product in the tank, I advise you to shake the tank during the first minute, let stand 1 min and shake for 15 seconds every minute. At the end of each agitation, tap the tank to flush the bubbles and bring them to the surface. This will prevent those leaving traces on the film.

Step 4: Wash and dry

The last stages of development are important:

• elimination of hyposulfite
• washing
• drying

Removal of the hyposulphite may be an additional step prior to washing to destroy residual hyposulfite (contained in the fixative) or accelerate its removal.

Wash the film in clean water between 10 and 15 minutes depending on whether the previous step was done or not. It's necessary to renew the water as often as possible. This step makes it possible to remove any trace of fixative on the film and thus to guarantee its good conservation over time. You can do a final wash with wetting agent (or dishwashing liquid). This will break the drop of water and avoid leaving traces during drying.

The last step is drying. If you do not have a dryer at your disposal, this is the case for 99% of us. You can use a clothesline and two clips (one weighted so that the film is taut and the water flows well to the bottom).

Use

1. Create a new development configuration
2. Choose an existing development configuration

The data of your configuration can be edited by clicking on the icons on the right (pencil shape).

1. Set your configuration
2. Set the ambient room temperature
3. Choose the start step
4. Start the countdown (it is possible to define the start step by clicking on the icon to the left of it). It will be necessary to press on the icon of countdown in lower right to launch the next step.