Ferrania P30

Tags

ferrania, film, p30, pigeoneyes

Developer: Hydrofen Bellini

• Mix: 1+39 (8ml + 292ml)
• Time: 10′ 00”
• Agitation: continuous for the first minute then 15 seconds every minute

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How to determine if film developing chemical is still good

Some days ago I totally destroyed a 135 film developing it with a dead chemical (it was a solution of R09 done from an already opened bottle. See here). It is not a nice experience, for sure. So I started to search for a practical method to check if the developer is still good or not. This is what I found and I tested it by myself.

You can do the whole stuff in full light.

STEP #1: Put a small piece of the film on a toothpick (part of the film leader that usually you cut away before putting the film in the tank roll) and put it into the developing solution. This film has been exposed to full light so it should become totally black. Keep it in the developer for 1/5 the time you need to develope the film.

On the left, the working developing chemical. On the right, just water.

STEP #2: wash the film under water

Washing the film after developing it for half the time needed

STEP #3: put the film in the fixing solution and wait for 1/3 time of usual fixing time

Now, if the developing chemical is still good, you’ll get a total black film. If the developing chemical is gone, you’ll get a totally transparent film (fixing solution took away all undeveloped silver).

Comparison between working dev solution (right) and water (left)

R09

Tags

r09

This is one of my two beloved film developer (the other one is the Bellini’s Hydrofen).

Yesterday I had a new experience with it, and it’s worth to be told. I developed a Fomapan 100 using a 1+50 solution from a bottle opened more or less 6 months ago.

The result was a totally blank film without anything (neither brand or frame numbers). So the developer was totally dead and, when I emptied the bottle, I found that in it there was an hard, brown crust, as if the active part of the developer became a precipitare leaving only a useless brown liquid.

Searching on the net I found another case like mine: it’s here.

So, lesson learnt: when you open a R09 bottle, after 4 months throw it away. And, in case of doubts, try to develop a small film leader to check if it is still working or not.

Ferrania P30 alpha

Tags

ferrania, p30

Finally arrived !

 

Reciprocity

Tags

film, recirpcity

(found on twitter)

Fomapan 100

Bugiardino del Fomapan 100

Come sviluppo il bianco e nero

Tags

development, diy, film, guida, how to, pigeoneyes, sviluppo, sviluppo negativo, tutorial

My own “How to develope b/w films” guide: only in italian, sorry !

In giro è pieno di tutorial su come sviluppare le pellicole in casa. Quindi non posso esimermi dal pubblicare anche la mia miniguida.
Così è come faccio io.

Stand development

Tags

development, film, pigeoneyes, r09, stand

Stand development is a nice way to develep more or less everything with stunning results.

The rules are simple: high developer diluition and one hour developing time in a motionless tank.

You can mix in the same tank different films with different speeds and everything will be developed well in the same time.

For several reasons, too scientific to be understood by me, this technique works great with films up to ISO 200. You can read a more scientific explaination here.

I tried several times this development process with Ilford FP4 and Fomapan 100 and I always got perfect results.

1. Developer: 1+100 with Rodinal (R09). The best thing is to mix not less than 10ml of R09 with water, so the final solution will be 1 liter. It’s enough for 3 x 135 films or 2 x 120 films. R09 is very cheap and if you do not use the whole solution it’s not a tragedy. Due to the long exposure to the solution, for this kind of development I use demineralized water (where I live tap water is very hard)
2. Put the developing solution in the tank (better if you perform a film washing before); one minute of agitation, bang the tank to remove air bubbles and then…
3. Put the tank into a basin with water at 20° celsius and forget it for 59 minutes. The only thing to do is to check the temperature of the water in the basin keeping it at 20° by adding cold/hot water if needed. Do not move the tank and let chemistry do its work

Give this procedure a chance: you’ll be surprised

Developing films

Tags

bellilni, developing, film, ilford, pigeoneyes

Here are my developing tools. One basin, one thermometer and five plastic bottles.
The water in the basin is kept on 20° celsius (I put some cold/hot water if the temperature rises or lowers) and it keeps at the same temperature all the bottles.

The bottles, to be used in the numeric order, contain:

1. Water: it’s used for the pre-bath to wash away the anti-halation layer
2. Developer: this is the only critical one for temperature so, before using it, I double check the inner liquid temperature with a more precise thermometer. My preferred developers are Agfa R09 (Rodinal) or Bellini Hydrofen.
   You can find my recipes here
3. Stop: it’s usually a solution of acetic acid and it stops the developing action
4. Fixer: I use Ilford Rapid Fixer or Bellini FX100
5. Distilled water with some drops of wetting agent. This is the last bath. Between 4 and 5 there is the washing process with standard water

Ilford PAN 100

Developer: R09 One Shot

• Mix: 1+50 (6ml + 294ml)
• Time: 15′
• Agitation: continuous for the first minute then 15 seconds every minute