First black and white film is drying!

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stevebuk

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Steve
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Hi all,


I've managed to develop my first film and feel quite smug lol. It's currently hanging to dry but I have realised I have nothing to store them in! Until I get some sleeves, how would you suggest storing after cutting?

One other question I have is all frames seem to look okay but compared to a lab processed film they seem a little thin. The blacks not as dense and the clear film areas a bit darker grey. Is this due to me not developing long enough, or are maybe it's because this is Delta 100 rather than Acros from the lab? Or maybe my developer, Acculux 3? They look okay and hopefully will scan okay, but I would appreciate the thoughts of anyone with more experience.

Many thanks
Steve
 
Ummm, I think if the clear film areas aren't actually clear, I think this may mean its not been fixed long enough, but one of the more experienced filmies will be along soon with more concrete information
 
Storing: Kenro neg pages are good - come in clear acetate and translucent paper types. They go in ring binders but are wider than A4 so get a bigger binder - the Kenro ones tend to be more expensive but can pop up cheap on forums / bidding sites.

Iffy negs: The experts will be answering soon I suspect..
 
When it's completely dry, roll it all up and keep it in the film canister if you don't have an film sleeves :)
 
Thanks all, and good idea on the canister. I've managed to find some old ones that will do for now. Will post a few up later!
 
As for storage. The lady that develops my colour always chucks in a few films worth of storage strips every time I go in! I suppose being a regular customer has its perks!
 
stevebuk said:
One other question I have is all frames seem to look okay but compared to a lab processed film they seem a little thin. The blacks not as dense and the clear film areas a bit darker grey. Is this due to me not developing long enough, or are maybe it's because this is Delta 100 rather than Acros from the lab? Or maybe my developer, Acculux 3? They look okay and hopefully will scan okay, but I would appreciate the thoughts of anyone with more experience.

Many thanks
Steve
Click to expand...

Hi Steve. If your negs are not as dense in the blacks and the clearer areas are greyish as you say. Take a look at the recess areas of the film, if they are not clear and appear to have a milky/foggy appearance apart from the edge markings ie frame numbers etc then they are not properly fixed. This can be rectified by re-soaking the film in water at the correct temperature and then re-fixing at the correct temperature. There is no need to do this in darkness. The guide to fixing films is to fix for twice the time as it takes for the film to clear (when the fogginess has gone).

If the recess areas of the film are perfectly clear then fixing is not the problem. Presuming your exposure was correct it is almost certainly under development. This could have been caused by five things.
(1) The developer was not mixed at the correct dilution.
(2) The Developer was not up to the correct temperature for the whole of the development time.
(3) There was not enough agitation while developing the film.
(4) The film was not developed for long enough.
(5) The developer was stale (if mixed up a day or so before using).

Hope this helps.

George.
 
Thanks all. I don't think it was fixing, they are not at all milky. I used to work with film in the 80's, not photographic, but recognise fix problems. I think you are right that under developed / agitation would be likely. However, I've scanned them and they seem fine. They are not really thin, but I only have one set of black and white negs to compare to and they are a different brand and developed by a lab in xtol. If I didn't have a set to compare to, I'd say they were probably okay if you see what I mean!

Here is a thread with some of them scanned. I guess the scanner can as I can adjust the black point a but when scanning.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=490873

Regards
Steve
 
stevebuk said:
Thanks all. I don't think it was fixing, they are not at all milky. I used to work with film in the 80's, not photographic, but recognise fix problems. I think you are right that under developed / agitation would be likely. However, I've scanned them and they seem fine. They are not really thin, but I only have one set of black and white negs to compare to and they are a different brand and developed by a lab in xtol. If I didn't have a set to compare to, I'd say they were probably okay if you see what I mean!

Here is a thread with some of them scanned. I guess the scanner can as I can adjust the black point a but when scanning.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=490873

Regards
Steve
Click to expand...

Hi Steve. Just had a look at your posted images, they certainly look O.K to me and I can see no processing problems whatsoever. They appear to have a full range of tones from a good black through to a good white. You should be very pleased with your first attempt.

George.
 
Steve they look great, especially for a first effort.

Can I ask what scanner/software you used? I can't seem to get a decent scan from my V500/epson scan combo. All my scans seem seem muddy, low contrast and dull. :(
 
Hi Des,

Thanks. They scanner is a Reflecta Pro Scan 7200. It's a 35mm film scanner I got second hand from ebay. I use VueScan software with it. The results do seem good from it.

Kind Regards,
Steve
 
desf said:
Steve they look great, especially for a first effort.

Can I ask what scanner/software you used? I can't seem to get a decent scan from my V500/epson scan combo. All my scans seem seem muddy, low contrast and dull. :(
Click to expand...


Des, have you read this link clicky?
 
desf said:
Steve they look great, especially for a first effort.

Can I ask what scanner/software you used? I can't seem to get a decent scan from my V500/epson scan combo. All my scans seem seem muddy, low contrast and dull. :(
Click to expand...

Scans need to have some contrast added to them, the scanner just outputs what it sees; a negative is (usually for most films/developers) by nature low contrast (as when optically printed the paper increases the contrast because it has lower dynamic range than the negative) so this is what the scanner outputs. Either in the software or in an image editor you need to increase the contrast to your taste, I find using an S curve in Photoshop Elements is the best way to do it.
 
Thanks guys, very helpful. Off for another try!
 
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