After reading the articles & threads at Offstone and Clubsnap, I finally took the plunge (literally) and tried my hands at B&W developing. Here are the results:
The photochemicals, materials and timings/temperatures used are as follows:
Film: 400TMAX @400EI
Developer: TMAX Developer 500ml (4+1), 21C, 6.5mins (first 10secs agitation + 5secs agitation every subsequent min)
The rest of the procedures are as per SS's HOWTO posted in this forum (albeit with a few changes and adaptations from lessons learnt at Offstone's threads e.g. 5mins running water after HCA + mama lemon wetting agent etc ... )
The negs look okay to me ... apart from the dust and scratches due to my neophyte handling of the film and dust-prone environment. I am quite pleased with the results given that this is my first attempt. I would be grateful if the experts here (Streetshooter, plsoong, Ansel ... and the regulars here!) could give me pointers so I can do better next round.
There are a few questions I would like to ask though.
1. I am using the reel of the ball-bearing type, and had trouble getting the film out of the reel after developing. What is the best way to unreel? Pull it through the bearings or curve it a little inside and lift it out from the reel?
2. Which of the photochemicals (i.e. developer, fixer, HCA) are reusable? I funneled the fixer and HCA back to the pet bottles, but threw the developer away. Somehow I think it can be reused ... then it would've been such a waste...
3. How many minutes should I do the final wash (straight after the HCA)? 5 or 10 mins? (the HCA specs says 5 mins, but that's at 21C ... hmm)
Whew, thanks for reading until here. Hope you guys can help answer my questions.
And thanks again to StreetShooter (for his tutorial) and Ansel (for his advice during SEED) ... :thumbsup:
cheers,
sfhuang
The photochemicals, materials and timings/temperatures used are as follows:
Film: 400TMAX @400EI
Developer: TMAX Developer 500ml (4+1), 21C, 6.5mins (first 10secs agitation + 5secs agitation every subsequent min)
The rest of the procedures are as per SS's HOWTO posted in this forum (albeit with a few changes and adaptations from lessons learnt at Offstone's threads e.g. 5mins running water after HCA + mama lemon wetting agent etc ... )
The negs look okay to me ... apart from the dust and scratches due to my neophyte handling of the film and dust-prone environment. I am quite pleased with the results given that this is my first attempt. I would be grateful if the experts here (Streetshooter, plsoong, Ansel ... and the regulars here!) could give me pointers so I can do better next round.
There are a few questions I would like to ask though.
1. I am using the reel of the ball-bearing type, and had trouble getting the film out of the reel after developing. What is the best way to unreel? Pull it through the bearings or curve it a little inside and lift it out from the reel?
2. Which of the photochemicals (i.e. developer, fixer, HCA) are reusable? I funneled the fixer and HCA back to the pet bottles, but threw the developer away. Somehow I think it can be reused ... then it would've been such a waste...
3. How many minutes should I do the final wash (straight after the HCA)? 5 or 10 mins? (the HCA specs says 5 mins, but that's at 21C ... hmm)
Whew, thanks for reading until here. Hope you guys can help answer my questions.
And thanks again to StreetShooter (for his tutorial) and Ansel (for his advice during SEED) ... :thumbsup:
cheers,
sfhuang