Jonathan's blog

Processing black & white film at home is easy. You just need a changing bag to load the film into a tank in darkness, and the rest can be done in the bathroom with the light turned on. The chemicals for black & white are normally used at 20°C but can be used at room temperature if you compensate for the time. You could even pop the chemicals in the microwave for a few seconds.

Many amateur darkroom enthusiasts (until recently, me included) are wary about developing colour film with the C-41 process, on the assumption that it is difficult, confusing, expensive, or all three.

It is true that colour process has to be more accurately temperature-controlled, and that the development should be done at 38°C. Immediately, this conjures up images of having to buy an expensive electronic water bath, such as the Jobo CPE-2. These machines do help, and they do cost hundreds of pounds. However, they’re not necessary. The development usually takes only 3-4 minutes and the later stages do not have to be quite so accurately controlled. This means it’s possible to use a plain warm water bath.

It’s not too expensive or confusing, either. There are beginner’s kits such as the Rollei Digibase C-41 LT20 which include all of the chemicals you need, with instructions. I paid £25 for a kit that can do about 20 films. There are bigger kits which are better value too, and it’s possible to restock on the individual chemicals in future. I’m no expert on the C-41 process, so you should probably read up on C-41 chemistry yourself.

I bought a wallpaper pasting trough for £2 and made a cardboard lid with holes for my bottles and tank to stand in the water. I filled the trough with water at 50°C and stood the bottles and tank in the water to reach the right temperature. The temperature of the water bath fell rapidly at first, and then slowed down. After about 5 minutes the water bath was at about 40°C so I waited until the temperature fell to 38°C, checked the temperature of the developer as well as the water bath, and set the development process going. The thermometer still read 38°C after the development was up.

By the end of the entire process of developing, stopping, bleaching, fixing and stabilising, the temperature of the water bath had fallen to 35°C, but this is still within tolerances.

My message to photographers who are wary of processing colour film at home: don’t be. You have to be careful, but you don’t need any special equipment other than what you’ve already got for your black & white work.

Have fun!

I have worked with film for some time now. From day one I developed my own black & white film at home. This doesn’t take up too much room, so I was able to do it in the bathroom (which is completely internal, with no window).

More recently, I got into printing my negatives rather than just scanning them. For printing, you need more equipment, larger equipment, and a lot of space. Our tiny bathroom wasn’t big enough, so I converted my loft into a darkroom. Here’s how.

I used the space in my loft for my darkroom. It’s quite large, and partially boarded up. I added some more boards to increase the floorspace. Luckily the loft already had a pull-down ladder, so access was easy. You can also see the extension lead I added.

The ladder

For my main work area, I used a spare dining table with two chairs against one wall. There’s no other furniture up there, although I have some boxes to keep things in.

The darkroom

There’s a standing lamp with a 100W bulb which gives reasonable illumination in the work area. The switch is in easy reach of the chair for easy blackout. I also have a clock which ticks loudly, so I can time things in the dark.

The enlarger and lamp

In a couple of areas, the boards overhang joists without reaching the next joist, and so they are unsupported. I taped these areas, and the thin trapdoor, with hazard tape to remind me not to step on them. Luckily these areas are not in the main floor area.

Hazard tape

I also attached some kitchen cupboard handles to the inside of the trapdoor, to make it easier to open from inside. Don’t want to get trapped in the loft!

The trapdoor

There’s no running water, so I bought a jerry can with a tap. This stands on a higher level than the floor, and I put a large bowl underneath the tap. The jerry can holds ten litres, which is enough to last me for several darkroom sessions. I made sure the bowl holds at least ten litres, so it will never accidentally overflow. The paler tray has some small holes at one end, so I can wash prints under running water, while submerged.

The water tank

Being in the loft, with no insulation against the outside world, the temperature can get quite low if the sun isn’t shining. I don’t personally mind being cold, but the chemicals do. I have a fan heater to boost the temperature to an acceptable working range. There’s a thermometer hanging from one of the roof supports. However, I store the chemicals in the house so they keep close to working temperature.

You can also see the safelight in the background, with a choice of three colours.

My thermometer

Also hanging from the roof supports – a drying line for wet prints. This small one only holds three or four prints, but there’s plenty more room to hang more photos.

The drying line

Of course, I’d love a larger workspace, one without roof supports, and one without fibreglass everywhere. But this will do nicely for now, and it’s all I need to develop films and make prints from my classic camera collection.

As my interest in photography progressed, it was only natural I’d one day end up wanting to develop film. I developed my first roll last night by following this guide. It was extremely helpful – but there were a few points it didn’t cover. I made notes while I was developing, and so here’s a modified version of the guide, including my advice.

If you’re interested in seeing what I was able to achieve, some samples are here.

What you’ll need

These are the items in my inventory. I’ve bought “proper” gear where necessary but most of the kitchen-type items came from a supermarket for pennies. I bought the developing tank from eBay, and the same seller was also offering a kit with all the chemicals, listed as Ilford Black & White Film Developer’s pack

• Developer
• Stop bath
• Fixer
• Wetting agent (cheap washing up liquid will do)
• A developing tank
• 3 water bottles – preferably one litre
• 3 plastic jugs – at least one litre
• Funnel
• Kitchen timer (get one with a mechanical knob rather than a digital one)
• Clothes pegs
• A place to hang the negatives sufficiently high that they won’t touch the ground
• A dim light. Colour doesn’t matter- perhaps a torch with half-flat batteries.
• Scissors
• Bottle opener
• Something to stir the chemicals with. I used old picnic cutlery!
• A storage box for all of the above, with a lid.
• Room thermometer

Preparation

If this is your first time developing a film, there are some things you should do first. You should probably do them before every time you develop a film, even if you’ve been doing it for years

1. Familiarise yourself with how to mix each of the chemicals – how much concentrate to how much water, how much you want to end up with, etc.
2. Make a note of how much of each chemical your tank requires you to use.
3. Calculate and make a note of how long each of the three phases should take.
4. Label each of your empty bottles and jugs with a permanent pen so you know which chemical belongs in which jug.

Loading the film

5. Take film, bottle opener, scissors, developing tank and reels into a lightproof room.
6. Organize the materials on a table. You’ll need to know where each item is in the darkness.
7. Turn off the light.
8. Open the film canister at either end with the bottle opener.
9. Take the film out of the canister and cut off the leading tab at the end to create a straight edge.
10. Load the film onto your tank’s spool. The method varies depending upon your tank, but I found my Paterson System 4 tank easy to use.
11. Pull or cut the end of the film off the spool and remove the tape.
12. Drop the loaded reel into the developing tank and secure the lid.
13. Turn the light back on.

Developing the Film

14. Mix chemicals according to directions.
15. Put the right amount of each chemical into the three jugs.
16. Put any leftover chemicals into the plastic bottles for storage.
17. Technically with a good tank you should be safe to have the light on, but it never hurts to be cautious, so at this point I switched the main light off and worked by the light of a dim torch, pointing at the ceiling to softly illuminate the whole room. If you wait a minute or two, your eyes will get accustomed to the low light.
18. Take the top off the developing tank.
19. Pour the pre-measured developer into the top of the tank.
20. Tap the tank against the counter to dislodge bubbles.
21. Agitate the tank by slowly inverting it and turning it back over for the first 15 seconds.
22. Repeat every 30 seconds for the recommended time (usually 5 to 10 minutes).
23. Pour the developer back into the jug.
24. Pour stop bath into the now-empty developing tank.
25. Agitate the stop bath and let stand for 1 minute.
26. Pour out the stop bath and replace with fixer.
27. Agitate the fixer for 15 seconds and then for 15 seconds once every minute for the allotted time.
28. Pour the fixer back into its jug.
29. Remove the lid of the tank and run water into the tank for 15 minutes.
30. Add wetting agent to the water to expedite drying. If you are using washing up liquid, add a tiny drop to the water in the tank and let it sit for a minute.
31. Remove the film from the tank.
32. Gently pull the film off the reel.
33. Attach a clip to the top of the film and hang it up. I hung mine from a clothes horse in the bath.
34. Attach another 2 or 3 clips at the bottom, to prevent the film from curling as it dries.
35. Hang the film in a dry, dust-free area.
36. I don’t know how long it really takes them to dry, because I went to bed at this point. When I woke up, the film was dry and straight.
37. Cut the film into appropriate length chunks for your scanner / envelopes / etc.
38. Store dry negatives in plastic negative sleeves.

Afterwards

39. You can usually re-use the developer several times (although it takes longer each time). Store it in a clearly labelled bottle.
40. You can re-use the fixer. Store it in a clearly labelled bottle.
41. Rinse all of the “dirty” components in warm water and dry them thoroughly before putting them away in a clean place.

Tips & warnings

• The optimal temperature for most developers is 20°C. Processing at a significantly higher or lower temperature will result in soft, easily damaged film or flat negatives. Some developers have a chart on the packaging to give the time correction if your room temperature is different from this.
• Do not remove the top of the developing tank to look at the film until after the fixing stage.
• Use storage bottles that are just the right size for the amount of developer you are mixing. Label a chemical with its name, date and dilution.
• Begin timing each step as you pour chemicals into the developing tank, and start draining chemicals 10 seconds before the time is up.