Developing and Scanning 35mm at home

[MindofMel]

For the darkroom kit - I was going to get something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Darkroom-Film...Supplies_SM&hash=item1c1a0c8afc#ht_3472wt_708

Then order the ilford chemicals - as i shoot on ilford XP2 400 BW

Then what i need help with is a cheap, easy to use 35mm scanner, any recommendations?

 

[CT]

The darkroom kit looks OK.

To be honest, the scanner is the crucial part of the process once the developing is done and really cheap scanners are likely to leave you feeling very disappointed. I'd be inclined to go for the best you can afford - have a look on ebay and elsewhere - you can often pick up a bargain.

 

[freecom2]

Isn't XP2 a C41 B&W film? What's your budget - realistically you'll be looking at one of the Epson models - 4490, 4990, V500, V600.

 

[donut]

as freecom2 says ,,you wont get the chemicals from ilford to develope xp2

 

[puggie]

you can develop XP2 in std B&W chemicals (same for all chromogenic(sp) B&W film). you just end up with a silver image not a black one. Or if you want, get a tetenal or fuji-hunt C-41 kit.

 

[freecom2]

Yeah, it just seems a bit silly to use a film designed for C-41 process if you are home developing B&W - especially considering there's a large number of excellent ISO 400 films (Tri-X, T-MAX, Delta, Neopan...) on the market, and relatively little choice of C-41 B&W film.

Someone on APUG did that, they ended up getting a C-41 kit to do C-41 B&W, when they could've saved themselves a lot of effort by just using a real B&W film with B&W chemicals!

 

[s162216]

If you've not developed before then I would not use C-41 process films like XP2 Super or CN400 as the C-41 process requires a lot more attention to chemical temps etc than black and white. Like said above, get something like Ilford HP-5+ or FP-4+ or Kodak Tri-X to shoot.

Which developer were you planning on getting? Something like ID-11 or Ilfosol3 would be fine for general purpose developing. With the stop and the fixer, just get which ever seems like a good price as you don't need all the chemicals to be by Ilford, there are plenty of other manufacturers.

Take a look around AG Photographics B&W chemicals page:

http://www.ag-photographic.co.uk/black--white-chemicals-8-c.asp

 

[EdMoss]

http://www.ag-photographic.co.uk/introduction-to-film-processing-kit-1128-p.asp

This offers much better value for money and in the kit is a true BW film, not a C-41 process version.

 

[puggie]

Sorry, my point was more that you could rather than it was the best option available. If you get into deving your own and you have odd rolls of C-41 B&W you can still use them and dev them as B&W. The Tetenal C-41 kit actually isn;t hard at all, the process is so quick chemicals stay at temp pretty well. I just use a sink as a waterbath and top it up with hot between processes.

 

[ped]

I would recommend a film picker rather than a film cassette opener because it makes the process of putting the film onto the reel more difficult when it all pops out and curls up.

 

[donut]

you can develop XP2 in std B&W chemicals (same for all chromogenic(sp) B&W film). you just end up with a silver image not a black one. Or if you want, get a tetenal or fuji-hunt C-41 kit.

still wont get the chemicals ( to do it properly ) from ilford

and you can develope colour films in b/w chemicals as well