Some Beginner Questions

[fmonkey]

Hi

I've just started developing B&W and i have the following kit TMAX Developer, ILFORD Rapid Fixer and wetting agent. I've developed my first roll with lots of excitement and I think came out fine. However I have got a couple of questions to ask before I try my next roll.

1) My TMAX developer came out pink after developing a roll of TMAX100: Is this normal and if the chemical is still safe (reasonably - student budget haha) to reuse?

2) How much does the style of agitation affect the outcome or rather how does it even affect.

3) Do you guys wear gloves when handling film? I'm afraid of getting scratches and fingerprints on them.

Thanks in advance! This is so cool and exciting!

[Rangefinder_fan]

Hi,
My comments:
1) Certain films cause the developer to change colour during development but I cant remember if Tmax turns it pink. As for reusing, I'd recommend against it since TMAX developer is not designed to be reused. If you want a cheap developer that lasts and lasts, try tracking down a pack of Diafine. Me and a friend made up a batch sometime back and it just does not seem to reduce with use.

2) Agitation introduces 'fresh' developer to come into contact with your film, which in turn allows further development, especially if you run long development times with low developer dilution. Also, I've run into bromide drag during development, which was addressed with a more frequent agitation routine. Gentle is good, there isnt a good reason to shake the tank violently.

3) I dont, but a friend developed a rash on hands, likely due to contact with the chemicals. So gloves help - not so much the concern over scratching the negs, but a reaction against the chemicals.

HTH

rf

Originally Posted by fmonkey Hi I've just started developing B&W and i have the following kit TMAX Developer, ILFORD Rapid Fixer and wetting agent. I've developed my first roll with lots of excitement and I think came out fine. However I have got a couple of questions to ask before I try my next roll. 1) My TMAX developer came out pink after developing a roll of TMAX100: Is this normal and if the chemical is still safe (reasonably - student budget haha) to reuse? 2) How much does the style of agitation affect the outcome or rather how does it even affect. 3) Do you guys wear gloves when handling film? I'm afraid of getting scratches and fingerprints on them. Thanks in advance! This is so cool and exciting!

[enivre]

1. Don't worry about the colour too much, some brands of film stain the developer. What's more important is that at the end your negative shouldn't have a pinkish tinge to it, it can mean that you didn't fix the negative enough. If this happens, just refix it and wash it thoroughly.

2. If you use a rotary developing system (automatically rotates the drum), then the developing time is cut short I believe. If you are hand agitating, the more vigorous and frequent the agitation, the more grainy it gets. Correct me if I'm wrong about this as I have never actually done vigorous agitation before. I usually do continuous inversions the first 30secs then 3 inversions per minute, meaning just flip the drum upside down and back 3 times.

Some people also advocate pre-soaking your negs with water to help make sure the developer flows smoothly over the entire surface of the negs. This should also gets rid of some of that colouration you see. Not sure if this is true but this is what I practice as well.

3. Nope, unless your hands have some dead or dried skin flaking off, handling them gently shouldn't be a problem. Just keep your finger nails away from the wet emulsion as much as possible. In fact the only time I have scratched negatives is when I used a sugee (spelling) to push water off the neg, I've never had that problem when just using my fingers.

Other than allergies, another reason you might want to wear gloves is so that your fingers don't smell like vinegar after. If you want to wear gloves, I recommend you go to guardian or watsons and purchase a box of latex gloves. Put them on, then wash them before you handle the negs as they tend to be powdered.

Have fun!

[Rangefinder_fan]

@ Enivre. How long do you pre-soak for? I've always wondered about this, but it seems to be an advantage only for shorter development times, ie, less than 5 mins.

Originally Posted by enivre Some people also advocate pre-soaking your negs with water to help make sure the developer flows smoothly over the entire surface of the negs. This should also gets rid of some of that colouration you see. Not sure if this is true but this is what I practice as well.

[fmonkey]

Thanks for all the response guys! I'll keep trying! Next up is to purchase a scanner! Any idea if the Canon 8800F is any good? Or should i get an epson?

[Rangefinder_fan]

You planning to stick with 35mm for a while?
Try getting a used film scanner. Most of them would produce better results than a flatbed.
Just keep your eyes out for one.

Originally Posted by fmonkey Thanks for all the response guys! I'll keep trying! Next up is to purchase a scanner! Any idea if the Canon 8800F is any good? Or should i get an epson?

[fmonkey]

Actually I'm shooting with 120mm. But dedicated film scanners are expensive right?

[Celebring]

Originally Posted by Rangefinder_fan You planning to stick with 35mm for a while? Try getting a used film scanner. Most of them would produce better results than a flatbed. Just keep your eyes out for one.

While film scanners are probably superior to flatbed scanners (Internet consensus, no personal experience), I feel that one of the main issues about getting a film scanner is the price. I don't track prices, but the recent listings in Buy & Sell had Coolscans for $500-800. Don't know about other brands.

If your main purpose is to scan and display on the web, I suspect the cheapest models should be sufficient, though with the attendant restrictions like not being able to handle higher contrast negatives? Those with more experience should correct me here.

Having said that, I bought an Epson V500 but don't know if it's that much better than cheaper models. Check my Flickr account to see what I managed to do with it.

[azzurri]

Originally Posted by fmonkey 3) Do you guys wear gloves when handling film? I'm afraid of getting scratches and fingerprints on them.

I use gloves all the way to the point when I want to take them out to dry. Have seen some of the side effects of the chemicals and would it is not nice