[200 points] How to develop film yourself

One you need to buy a developer canister. The black one, however, buy a packet of each of the developer and fixer chemicals. Generally larger photographic equipment stores have to buy, in addition to the need for a thermometer.

1, first in the bright room in the film from the dark box to pull out a section of about 8 centimeters long, use scissors to cut off the narrower section of the head, it is best at this time and then cut the film flush with the two sharp corners into a rounded shape, so that you can in the final washing process to reduce the chances of scratches on the film. When you roll the film back to the dark box after shooting, please make sure you leave the end of the film on the outside of the dark box, which will save you a lot of trouble when developing the film.

2, cut the film in the bright room, along with the dark box, developer, developer canister, developer canister core, developer canister cover together in the darkroom bag inside, the left hand holding counterclockwise to the right of the developer canister core, the right hand gently pinched the film into the outward arch of the shape, and then the left hand slowly rotated to the left of the canister core, so that the film will gradually winding in the developer canister core grooves inside the. This process is not complicated, but not a little sloppy! If it is not done properly, the film will stick together, and then this section of film will no longer be able to develop an image. As this process is carried out in the darkroom bag or a sealed darkroom, the operation is all based on feeling, it is recommended that you "officially" before the operation of a scrap of film in the bright room to practice a few times, until you feel in the darkroom bag or darkroom operation will not be a problem until the end of the darkroom.

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4, it seems that I do not need to explain too much of this procedure, that is, you in the darkroom bag or the darkroom after the film is wrapped into the core of the canister, the canister core into the canister, the canister lid and make sure that it is correct, and then you can take the canister with the film to the bright room.

5. Adjust the temperature of the developer to 20° Celsius, then pour the developer into the canister as quickly as possible, and start counting from the time the developer is poured in. After the developer is full, use your hand to pat the bottom of the developer tank, so as to avoid the formation of bubbles in the tank to affect the film localization of the development process. At this time, the development of the temperature should pay special attention to, from the liquid poured until the end of the development, the development of the temperature in the tank should always be consistent, otherwise it will be difficult to calculate the time of development. Effective way is to pour into the developer before the developer, the first 20 ° Celsius warm water into the developer tank for a few minutes, and then pour out this warm water, and then start pouring into the developer. An easy way to maintain the temperature is to place the developer tank full of developer into a basin of warm water at 20° Celsius, with the water level always higher than the film in the tank.

6, if you are using this type of plastic canister, you can insert a thermometer into its shaft like this, to monitor the temperature of the liquid in the canister at any time. If you really can not control the temperature of the liquid in the development process, such as in the hot summer without effective cooling measures, by inserting the thermometer in the development tank shows the temperature of the liquid changes in the development time can be adjusted appropriately, but the corresponding shortening of the development time generally need to be based on experience.

7, after the developer is filled, quickly put the developer tank on the small lid cover, rely on your flexible wrist shake the developer tank for 1 minute, and then make it stand still, constant temperature. The next step is to shake the canister for 10 seconds during each minute of development. In the case of plastic canisters, the exposed canister mandrel should be turned. The reason for shaking the development tank is: to make the film evenly developed; so that the negative has the appropriate contrast; so that the efficacy of the developer solution to maintain consistency. Since the film is hand developed, treat this one procedure must show great patience and remain in the development of the whole process.

8. Watching an accurate clock, you should pour the developer back into the glass bottle used for storage as soon as it reaches the point about 15 seconds before the end of development. This action must be fast, otherwise it will inadvertently extend the development time. The developed film should be kept in a safe place, and the amount of film developed should be recorded on a label, so that it can be used again as a reference for adjusting the development time. After a period of standing time, the used developer should be filtered to prevent any sediment from contaminating the new film when it is next processed. If properly stored, a bottle of 1000 ml of your own D-76 or D-23 developer will develop about 8-10 rolls of film, but in order to add some development time, the last roll to be developed may take 20 to 30 percent longer to develop than the first roll.

9, this is to stop the development of a process. After confirming that all the developer has been poured out of the developer tank, immediately move the developer tank to the faucet below, fill with water, and then immediately poured out, the role is to clean the residual developer on the film, and not to neutralize the acidic fixing solution. If the fixer is poured in directly without such a water wash, it may cause uneven development of the film. This is because the developer remaining on the film will continue to develop, and the amount of time the fixer is in contact with various parts of the film varies.

The standard stopping solution should be a 4% acetic acid solution, but I thought it would be easier to use tap water for stopping, and it would have less chance of causing uneven development on the film.

10, stopping the process (washing) once the end of the process, it should be immediately to the development tank into the fixing solution. Due to the role of acid and alkali neutralization, the film may appear some air bubbles, so after filling the fixing solution should be shaken vigorously developer tank, in order to eliminate the air bubbles may bring adverse effects on the film. The temperature of the fixing solution may not be as strict as that of the developing solution, but it must be between 18° and 25° Celsius. Too low a temperature will affect the speed of fixation, while too high a temperature will risk damaging the film emulsion film.

The function of fixing is to remove unsensitized emulsions from the film, so it is important to make sure that these emulsions are all removed. The fixing process takes about 10-15 minutes with a fresh, normal acidic fixer. If you use a fast fixer formula, read the instructions carefully, because too long a fixer will thin the image that has already appeared.

11, in the specified fixing time is up, you can pour out the fixing solution. At this time to develop the lid of the tank open, pull out a section of film with transmitted light to watch, if there is no exposure of the place transparent, that is, to prove that the fixing requirements; if there is a layer of mist on the top of the like, along the light to see the gray color, that is, it is not yet the excess of the emulsion cleaned up. There are two reasons for this situation: one is not enough time to fixing, the solution is to pour the fixing solution again into the developing tank to continue to fixing; two is the use of fixing solution to lose effectiveness, the solution is to immediately replace the fresh fixing solution to continue to fixing.

12, after checking the fixing process qualified, from the developing tank to take out the core of the developing tank, together with the film wrapped around the top (which can now be called the negative) into a larger container, with flowing water on the negative for rinsing, the time should be at least 20 minutes or more, the purpose is to stay in the film on the sodium thiosulphate thoroughly cleaned up, or else the negative will be with the continuation of the time! Otherwise, the negative will turn yellow with time. Of course, if you feel that long periods of running water are too wasteful of valuable fresh water resources, you can also turn to the use of static water immersion method, the specific practice is to soak the film in a static water basin, every 10 minutes to change the water thoroughly, about 20 times a continuous replacement.

13, the dry environment of the film to be free of dust, too dry environment may appear this phenomenon. Close the doors and windows, and then sprinkle some water on the ground, the problem will be solved. It is also a good idea to use thin plastic film to make a cylinder about 20 centimeters in diameter and 180 centimeters in length, with a round hanger on top to cover the outside of the film. The lower end of the film should also be dropped on a heavy object to keep the film flat and not interfere with drying due to curling.

14, after the film is thoroughly dry, it is necessary to transfer it to a clean desktop, cut and then put into a negative bag, labeled with the contents or numbered, in order to enlarge the photographs of the time to find convenient. At this point, a 135 black and white film all the development process is all over.