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Harlequin565

Harlequin565

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Ian
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Well, I've gone and done it...

Just hung out my first roll of HP5+ to dry.

Still waiting for the stupid grin to fall off my face after taking the film off the reel and seeing my pictures as negs.

To be honest, I wasn't hopeful. I've only developed 1 film before (at college) in a proper darkroom, whereas this was a heath-robinson job at home.

- Film was changed in a closet in the bedroom with the curtains drawn. Very dark, but not what I'd call light proof. Got my grubby mitts all over the fim fumbling around trying to get it onto the spool.

- Developer was sat in a jug from Tuesday. Got called away on "real life" issues, and never got back to it 'till today.

- Thermometer was a jam thermometer the wife uses for baking, with a min temp of 40C. Had to approximate 20 and mark it with a black pen.

- Stop bath was vinegar/water solution because I forgot to pick any up.

I'm really chuffed with the results though. All I need now is a cheap scanner to check the quality and I'm away!

Quite excited, hence the post. :)

Ian.
 
I think i'll bookmark this posting - it'd be the perfect thing to show to people who think it's too hard or too precise a thing to develop B&W at home. Truth is if you can mix a cocktail from a list of instructions processing black and white is a piece of cake. And gives you a similar cheerful glow.
 
Welcome to the light side, look forward to seeing your scans when you get them sorted.

I load my film spirals in the cupboard under the stairs, it's successful as long as I don't kick the door open like I did the other day and the flashbacks from my childhood don't freak me out too much :eek:
 
TheBigYin said:
I think i'll bookmark this posting - it'd be the perfect thing to show to people who think it's too hard or too precise a thing to develop B&W at home. Truth is if you can mix a cocktail from a list of instructions processing black and white is a piece of cake. And gives you a similar cheerful glow.
Click to expand...

I think HP5+ is quite a forgiving film from what I've read. So much so that the next film in the camera has been pushed to ISO 800. Will be interesting to see how that works out.

I was thinking about writing a guide for this. Not sure if there is one already, but that Ilford "Developing your first black & white film" pdf seems to have everything covered.

RaglanSurf said:
Welcome to the light side, look forward to seeing your scans when you get them sorted.

I load my film spirals in the cupboard under the stairs, it's successful as long as I don't kick the door open like I did the other day and the flashbacks from my childhood don't freak me out too much :eek:
Click to expand...

I am haunted by my wife's shoes. A heel in the eye is not fun when you're scrabbling around on the floor for the bottle opener you just dropped.

Ian.
 
I used to do developing / printing in my loft bedroom at my parents. This post just reminded me of the thrill of doing so. Makes me sad to think I gave all the kit away. Having said that, I'm now recalling the battle to subdue dust- the bane of the process. As a teenager at the time that battle didn't extend to regular vacuuming / dusting however. :D
 
Well done Ian. I've got 22 b&w films here that need developing, can I drop them of tomorrow? :lol:

Seriously though it is something I need to try for myself at some point, probably the winter when I can't go out as much. :thumbs:

Andy
 
So here's the results...

This whole experience has been an exercise in "do-it-as-cheap-as-you-can". Must be something to do with the 70-200 recently purchased.

Anyway, I built myself a scanner this afternoon in about 20 minutes. For some reason, a 20mm extension tube on my nifty is perfect for working with toilet rolls. Also, the 52mm filter diameter is the same size as a toilet roll tube. Go me!

4913712132_9081b5e9e3.jpg


Now, more excuses... The first neg I "scanned" was HP5+ pushed to ISO 800 and developed in Ilfosol, which apparently is not recommended.

4913106445_7681082d84_z.jpg


Issues:
Dust.
Terrible light leak in my scanner.
Scanning shot was 1/50sec into a light bulb.

And the second, was a properly developed HP5+ at ISO400.

4913106669_e481590350_z.jpg


Both shots had some serious Levels required in CS3 and I'm wondering whether I've done something bad in the developing, or whether my scanner is just pants.

Anyway. The results of my first couple of home developed and home scanned photographs. This film lark is really quite fun!

Ian.
 
Nice - I would say your scanner is pants, you have plenty of tonal range there to confirm the negs are just fine.
 
I agree with Arthur, the neg does look fine so it's likely your scanner is pants :lol:

But I admire your ingenuity :thumbs:
 
Third for the scanner being pants, I'm afraid - I think it's just one step too Pikey :shrug:
 
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