Is a 'film developing kit' from ebay good value?

travellingcello

travellingcello

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That one isn't especially good value to be honest.

I think AG Photographic and Silverprint do more reasonably priced ones
 
not sure how much it would be if you bought it separate I check and youll need trays and tongues and an enlarger

for a darkroom youll need pretty much whats in my pic below some are doubled up

Enlarger
Paterson tanks
Film Squeegee
Film Clip Set
Thermometer
Timer
Red light
Trays x 3
Jugs
bucket
washing lines
Easel
Concertina bottles Lots of

I sold mine on here for £50 and it had loads of papers

4611203669_de83308e18_o.jpg
 
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Wouldn't bother tbh, I use an AP tank (£15 AGP) a digital thermometer (£2, ebay) and a plastic measuring jug (£1 local market), Bulldog clips (£1, local market) and that's it. None of these fancy timers or film weights (a £2 coin in a bulldog clip works the same!) for me!
 
Just Dave said:
not sure how much it would be if you bought it separate I check and youll need trays and tongues and an enlarger

for a darkroom youll need pretty much whats in my pic below some are doubled up

Enlarger
Paterson tanks
Film Squeegee
Film Clip Set
Thermometer
Timer
Red light
Trays x 3
Jugs
bucket
washing lines
Easel
Concertina bottles Lots of

I sold mine on here for £50 and it had loads of papers

4611203669_de83308e18_o.jpg
Click to expand...

Half of that lots not going to be needed unless your interested in printing as well which does require a darkroom. All you need really for home developing is:

  • A tank (e.g Patterson Super System 4)
  • Reels to go with the tank
  • A light tight changing bag for loading the film on the reels
  • Developer
  • Stop (Optional as a water rinse can be used)
  • Fixer
  • Wetting agent (e.g Kodak Photo-flo; again optional)
  • A thermometer can be useful
  • A can opener or leader retriever for 35mm
  • A pair of scissors to cut the film
  • Jugs or similar container for the chemicals
  • A measuring cylinder for dilluting the developer if not using it stock
  • A stopwatch or clock

All of thats pretty much it.
 
s162216 said:
Half of that lots not going to be needed unless your interested in printing as well which does require a darkroom. All you need really for home developing is:

  • A tank (e.g Patterson Super System 4)
  • Reels to go with the tank
  • A light tight changing bag for loading the film on the reels
  • Developer
  • Stop (Optional as a water rinse can be used)
  • Fixer
  • Wetting agent (e.g Kodak Photo-flo; again optional)
  • A thermometer can be useful
  • A can opener or leader retriever for 35mm
  • A pair of scissors to cut the film
  • Jugs or similar container for the chemicals
  • A measuring cylinder for dilluting the developer if not using it stock
  • A stopwatch or clock

All of thats pretty much it.
Click to expand...

When you say a thermometer can be useful, how can you develop without one??
 
Just Dave said:
not sure how much it would be if you bought it separate I check and youll need trays and tongues and an enlarger

QUOTE]

i'd use tongs to pick the prints out the trays personaly :D
Click to expand...
 
travellingcello said:
When you say a thermometer can be useful, how can you develop without one??
Click to expand...

B&W is very resilient stuff, for best results you get the developer to the right temperature but otherwise you can just leave it to warm to room temperature (~21.0 degrees) for a few hours and whilst the results may not be the best they'll probably be usable.
 
Thanks for the input so far everyone, so in terms of processing chemicals I have to buy its just the developer and fixer?

I'm in the UK at the moment but study abroad - I've seen that developer can be bought as a powder which would be much easier for me to take abroad, is there any negative to buying it as a powder?

Could any of you recommend me a powder developer and also which kind of fixer to buy?

Sorry for all the questions, but there seems to be a lot to get one's head around, I feel a bit like I did when I first started reading about shutter speed, ISO and aperture!!!

Oh and one last question (for now!), a film retriever isn't necessary if you open up the canister right?
 
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Bear in mind that the powders normally have to be made into liquid all at once, so it'd only help before its made into the stock solution anyway.
 
Powder developers, there's a few choices but either the classic D76 (which is supposedly what all films are required to perform well under, almost a reference developer) or XTOL, which is an extremely fine grained developer with excellent results.

Fixer, any rapid fixer will do the job really.
 
freecom2 said:
Powder developers, there's a few choices but either the classic D76 (which is supposedly what all films are required to perform well under, almost a reference developer) or XTOL, which is an extremely fine grained developer with excellent results.

Fixer, any rapid fixer will do the job really.
Click to expand...

Great, will get some Kodak D76 then.

Really struggling to find a changing bag for less than about £22, how can they cost so much??
 
Niche product - they are around but it requires patience. I bought a new one, well designed bag, for £10 from West End Cameras.
 
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