I have the Calumet changing tent and it works great. Maybe a tad expensive, but first rate. It is big enough to load 8x10 holders, or even the big Paterson tanks. I like it better than any changing bag/tent I've used. Also, it folds away with a storage bag quite nicely.
Tom Baker
Bob Michaels <bob@...> wrote:
First, I must say that Ken's guidance is the best way. However, when
starting you can get very satisfactory results by a bit cruder methods.
A plain changing bag and pouring the developer in the tanks works fine.
You can follow the excellent instructions on the Ilford web site and
not buy any books.
Temp stabilization is not required if the various fluids are within 5
degrees or so of each other.
Filtered or distilled water is not necessary in most cases.
You can hang your film to dry in the shower, just run it before if
it's dusty in your bathroom.
You can be somewhat of a hacker and still get pretty decent negatives.
Even if you expose your film by the manufacturers recomendations.
it's not rocket science at all. Remember how Ansel Adams developed
film and consider his prints.
And, never lose sight of the fact that your skill as a photographer is
WAY more important than how you develop film.
Just go buy a tank, a changing bag, chemistry and give it a try. Very
quickly you'll have better b&w negs than you get from 99% of the labs.
Bob Michaels
ps: if you're in the UK, consider HP5 and the other excellent Ilford
products
--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Ken Carney"
<kcarney1@c...> wrote:
> Hello, Steve. I am very fond of Kodak Portra b&w film. It scans very
> nicely, and scanner features such as digital ice work with it. I
take mine
> to a pro lab, they develop and burn a CD instead of prints, which I
use for
> a "contact sheet" to find the images I want to scan. But...it is not
> archival. Developing silver b&w film is not difficult, just boring.
Here
> is what I would recommend: 1. Get a table-top film-changing "tent"
such as
> the one offered by Calumet Photo. You can load the reels in the
tent, and
> also dunk them in the developer all at once, before putting the lid on,
> which is preferable to pouring developer into the tank, usually. 2.
Buy a
> copy of "The Negative" by Ansel Adams. 3. Get a Jobo chemistry holder,
> which will keep your chemistry at a constant temperature. 4. Get the
> developing tank and reels of your choice. The important thing here
is to
> avoid cheap stainless ones. I would get either professional stainless
> reels, or the Patterson plastic tank and reels. 5. Get a Jobo hanging
> dryer. This is very important as you do not want dust contamination
on the
> film. 6. In that regard you will want a filter for your tap water for
> rinsing the film. For developing, stop and fixing you may want to use
> distilled. Distilled water does not give as sharp a grain as
filtered water
> with minerals, although I think the difference is over-rated.
>
> As you can see, none of this requires a darkroom or much space, and
will let
> you experiment with exposure ratings and development times
accurately, to
> find what you like for scanning. Having said all of that, I must
say that
> for inkjet b&w printing I prefer the Portra. It has a tonal range
that I
> like, much like Plus-X. Plus, for my own part, I would rather spend
my time
> making images and printing instead of developing film. To each his
or her
> own. In answer to your question about Tmax, it is a very linear
(exacting)
> film. What you might want to do is pick one film and developer and work
> with it until you understand its quirks. A good start would be TriX and
> either D-76 1:1 or Ilford DDX. A rough start would be to cut the
exposure
> one stop, reduce the recommended developing time by 20% and go from
there.
> As I recall, Calumet has a UK outlet for all this stuff. Hope this
helps a
> little.
>
> Regards,
>
> --Ken Carney
> www.kencarney.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve Kale [mailto:stevekale@b...]
> Sent: Friday, December 05, 2003 9:46 AM
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Digital BW] B&W Film, ISO settings and Development
>
>
> Hi all
>
> I have read with interest the recent posts about Tri-X 400 and would
like to
> ask for
> guidance on a few things. I have next to no wet darkroom experience (no
> space for
> the equipment) and have simply taken my film to a lab for development
> without ever
> asking them how they develop it. Perhaps partially as a result of
this, I
> have always
> been very unimpressed with my contact sheets from the lab and until
moving
> to the
> _digital darkroom_ have not even bothered to pursue many of the captures
> further,
> instead focusing on my colour slide film captures and, more recently,
> converting them
> to B&W with PS and some of the various techniques discussed here.
>
> And so I would like to ask for guidance so that I can explore once again
> shooting with
> B&W negative film. In the past I have used T-Max 100 and 400, Tri-X 400
> Pro.
> Neopan Acros 100 and, recently as a result of this forum, Technical
Pan ISO
> 25. I use
> both 35mm and medium format.
>
> My questions:
>
> Is this a good selection to start with or should I, say, abandon
T-Max 400
> and just use
> the Tri-X? Are there others that should be _top of list_ ? (I
would like
> to keep the
> number small at least at first.)
>
> How should each ideally be exposed? (I think I have read enough on
Tri-X
> 400 - rate
> it at 320 - but what of the others?)
>
> What direction should I give to a lab for processing? (Is this even
> possible/practible?)
>
> I hope this doesn't start a spurious debate on any issue - I am just
looking
> for a few
> pointers to get restarted here. FYI, I intend to scan the film with my
> Epson 2450
> initially but would then rescan my favs on an Imacon which I can rent
> hourly at a local
> lab (later I hope to purchase the new Nikon MF scanner).
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> Steve
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