Back to photostream

Developing paraphernalia

All you need to develop black and white or color film, from 135 to 120/220 or 4x5 sheet film. What you need apart from this is a dark room (as in "you shouldn't be able to see your hand in front of your face if you hold it a few centimeters away" – a windowless toilet will do), a working surface that is easy to clean (stainless steel will do it, I use the kitchen surfaces for this), and a kitchen sink for the color developing in order to keep the chemicals at an even temperature. You will also need a timer – a watch with a seconds hand will do the trick too.

 

Lots of notes in this shot, if you're interested. Make sure to check them out if you're curious about the various things on display (you need to click on the image in order to see the notes).

 

The equipment is not that expensive either. The prize here is the Paterson Orbital for 4x5 sheet film developing; if you find one (try eBay, you can't buy them new any longer: more info here – pig.sty.nu/wiqi/paterson_orbital.html – a good introduction, though you can use a lot less developer in reality) it will set you back anything from 40 dollars to a 100 – but then, if you're into large format photography this is not a large expenditure compared to the costs of cameras and lenses and film … the bottles, the jugs, the thermometers, the Paterson film tank – all these are affordable items easy to find second hand.

 

And it's much, much easier to develop C-41 film at home than people say. And cheap! I'm estimating a cost of SEK 10 per roll (SEK 5 per 135 roll, even), which compares to the minilab's price of SEK 59 per roll (SEK 118 for 220 film). This would sound more expensive translated to dollars, as the exchange rate is not flattering the dollar at the moment: but SEK 10 will buy you $1.50, give or take. It's that cheap.

 

 

14,373 views
12 faves
20 comments
Uploaded on August 31, 2008
Taken on August 25, 2008