Samy, I know - I really have the itch for doing it again - old school. I went to get some fresh film and chemistry at the photo store yesterday to use in the FM I recently purchased. Thought I could use the expired Tri-X to work the rust out, and they had no film developer at all! Have you got any advice on souping film now-a-days? Some on Fred's new film forum use "Cinestill DF 96 Monobath" - assuming I will have to order that online.
I know I read somewhere here on FM about someone using different developers on film - like Dektol. Wouldn't you know I have a bit of old chemistry - I'd love your advice on processing Tri-X in whatever it is you are using. Temperature, times, agitation etc. Here is a list of the old developer/chemistry I currently have. Do you have anything on developing color film in non C41 chemistry, Kodachrome II, & Technical Pan, etc?
Currently have expired - Dektol, Rodinal, Acutol, Selectol - they are all sealed powders except the Acutol which is a liquid and hasn't precipitated. There may be a couple cans of Acufine in my darkroom, but it is like that parking cars game with all the stuff stored in there now.
"Oops I did it again"
saph wrote:
Yes sure Jim, but the fun can be in fiddling around with film rolls or even worse, sheets, and then the long long wait for development
Speaking of "old school". I was going through old pics and found this one of Samy going old school at the farmers' market in 2019 when he and George visited.
Rafael, the pictures you shared with the 8.5cm definitely whets the appetite for the next photographic journey in the group. Thanks for your generosity.
Serge, appreciate and enjoy the shots of the Forum. Still amazes me.
Jim, as long as there's a long lens to go with each of the gimbals you can't have too many? If not, then you need to go hunting for some Nikkor superteles to match up the those gimbals.
Three B&W river shots, I thought the light and clouds were good that day. 85mm f1.8H.
Massive Dev chart database on digitaltruth dot com has basic times/temps/development settings for all chems and films. I'm still shooting 8x10/5x7/4x5 sheet film and favor pyrocat in glycol as it has a long shelf life and I can develop the negs for both silver and platinum/palladium prints. Very few brick stores carry the chems anymore, B&H, Freestyle, Photo Formulary or breakout the triplebeam and start mixing your own. Welcome back to the dark slide.
James Markus wrote:
Samy, I know - I really have the itch for doing it again - old school. I went to get some fresh film and chemistry at the photo store yesterday to use in the FM I recently purchased. Thought I could use the expired Tri-X to work the rust out, and they had no film developer at all! Have you got any advice on souping film now-a-days? Some on Fred's new film forum use "Cinestill DF 96 Monobath" - assuming I will have to order that online.
I know I read somewhere here on FM about someone using different developers on film - like Dektol. Wouldn't you know I have a bit of old chemistry - I'd love your advice on processing Tri-X in whatever it is you are using. Temperature, times, agitation etc. Here is a list of the old developer/chemistry I currently have. Do you have anything on developing color film in non C41 chemistry, Kodachrome II, & Technical Pan, etc?
Currently have expired - Dektol, Rodinal, Acutol, Selectol - they are all sealed powders except the Acutol which is a liquid and hasn't precipitated. There may be a couple cans of Acufine in my darkroom, but it is like that parking cars game with all the stuff stored in there now.
Jim, the Cinestill Df monobath is the quickest scratch for your renewed itch. Its really all in one and is fairly forgiving with a good temperature range to work with. The development time is usually 4ish minutes, I think I add 30s for every subsequent reuse of the solution. The wash under running water is about 10min, and then a quick 1min dip in Kodak Photo Flo before drying.
One of the guys from California (Desmolicious) is the absolute master of that monobath and gets way better results with it than I do. He posts on this thread off and on.
I have also used Kodak HC-110 which for me gets better quality for Tri-X (and other b&w films) than the monobath. But then you need the fixer (I use Kodafix), and a stop bath (Kodak indicator stop bath), along with the Photo Flo. There's more work involved doing the correct dilutions for the chemicals this way, and a couple more steps, but the resolution is noticeably better on scans. For Tri-X rolls I do dil.B, 7.5 min at 20C, and for Tri-X 320 sheets the time is shorter - 5.5 min. Check out the massive development web page though, its a got a ton of options for all kinds of combinations.
For colour, which I haven't done recently, I have used the Arista E6 and C41 kits, as well as the Rollei C41 kit. My results with colour film have been spotty. I think whenever I have been less than paranoid about thoroughly washing every part of the Ars-Imago daylight tank after a previous run, the next roll gets messed up. I don't think I have used colour in non- C41 or non-E6 at all.
Sheets (both 4X5 and 8X10) I find are most convenient with the Stearman SP 810 daylight tray. I have their SP445 tank also, but that sometimes leaves streaks.
Thank you David. I probably would not have looked at digitaltruth - thinking it was political, but I can see it is a tremendous resource. I just dug out a wet sink I pumbed under my stairs, and in it are four 4x5 tanks I built with frames. Unfortunately, I sold my 4x5 Graphicview monorail camera, and all the lenses. I could still use the tanks for 35mm with a stick/lift to agitate. It would be more convenient than the cylindrical tanks and reels.
Jim
David Antilley wrote:
Massive Dev chart database on digitaltruth dot com has basic times/temps/development settings for all chems and films. I'm still shooting 8x10/5x7/4x5 sheet film and favor pyrocat in glycol as it has a long shelf life and I can develop the negs for both silver and platinum/palladium prints. Very few brick stores carry the chems anymore, B&H, Freestyle, Photo Formulary or breakout the triplebeam and start mixing your own. Welcome back to the dark slide.
Thank you, Samy. I asked Huss the same question yesterday, and that is where I heard about the monobath film developer. I am tempted to get the HC-110 - it stinks, but works well + is still available. I have no problem using stop bath, or fixer. Apparently, I have a multi-lifetime supply of Photo-Flo Plus, I found two film dryers (one home made) and a ton of weighted clips for that ram-rod straight & flat final drying. As for color (E6 or C41) - I was just interested in getting any latent image off of a handful of 35mm, and 6cm unprocessed, but exposed film I found. I built (from two broken processors) and used a Wing-Lynch E6/C41 film processor for about 12 years. The decommissioning and disposal of that chemistry, and equipment took a long time + the chemistry made me nervous. So I am not interested in doing that again. Gotta say kudos to you still shooting 4x5 and 8x10 - that is a commitment.
Jim
saph wrote:
Jim, the Cinestill Df monobath is the quickest scratch for your renewed itch. Its really all in one and is fairly forgiving with a good temperature range to work with. The development time is usually 4ish minutes, I think I add 30s for every subsequent reuse of the solution. The wash under running water is about 10min, and then a quick 1min dip in Kodak Photo Flo before drying.
One of the guys from California (Desmolicious) is the absolute master of that monobath and gets way better results with it than I do. He posts on this thread off and on.
I have also used Kodak HC-110 which for me gets better quality for Tri-X (and other b&w films) than the monobath. But then you need the fixer (I use Kodafix), and a stop bath (Kodak indicator stop bath), along with the Photo Flo. There's more work involved doing the correct dilutions for the chemicals this way, and a couple more steps, but the resolution is noticeably better on scans. For Tri-X rolls I do dil.B, 7.5 min at 20C, and for Tri-X 320 sheets the time is shorter - 5.5 min. Check out the massive development web page though, its a got a ton of options for all kinds of combinations.
For colour, which I haven't done recently, I have used the Arista E6 and C41 kits, as well as the Rollei C41 kit. My results with colour film have been spotty. I think whenever I have been less than paranoid about thoroughly washing every part of the Ars-Imago daylight tank after a previous run, the next roll gets messed up. I don't think I have used colour in non- C41 or non-E6 at all.
Sheets (both 4X5 and 8X10) I find are most convenient with the Stearman SP 810 daylight tray. I have their SP445 tank also, but that sometimes leaves streaks.
All the best and I do hope you get back into it!...Show more →
I have nothing to add to the discussion of film processing. Despite having completed a high school course on "Photo and Graphic Reproduction"---in which I did a couple of projects in the B&W darkroom and created a business card that was printed on the offset press---I have little idea what you fine folks are even talking about . So I'll stick with posting digital images. The set below shows some bedrooms at Fort William, the restored fur trading post near Thunder Bay, taken with the Fuji X-E2 and the 16 f/3.5 AI fisheye.
James Markus wrote:
Sorry about going off topic everyone
Jim, I hope you did not take my post as meaning that I did not approve of the discussion of film and darkroom chemistry. My actual view is that that subject is well within the purview of this thread, where we primarily discuss MFN lenses, but also the other gear that enables these lenses to produce images. When I look back at my words, I can see how they could easily be interpreted as an admonition, but I want you to know that they were not meant in that way.
I echo Samy on the DF 96 Monobath. I have had good results (*for me) with it.
Freestyle Photo is a place I buy my film supplies when I cannot find them locally and recommend them.
saph wrote:
Jim, the Cinestill Df monobath is the quickest scratch for your renewed itch. Its really all in one and is fairly forgiving with a good temperature range to work with. The development time is usually 4ish minutes, I think I add 30s for every subsequent reuse of the solution. The wash under running water is about 10min, and then a quick 1min dip in Kodak Photo Flo before drying.
One of the guys from California (Desmolicious) is the absolute master of that monobath and gets way better results with it than I do. He posts on this thread off and on.
I have also used Kodak HC-110 which for me gets better quality for Tri-X (and other b&w films) than the monobath. But then you need the fixer (I use Kodafix), and a stop bath (Kodak indicator stop bath), along with the Photo Flo. There's more work involved doing the correct dilutions for the chemicals this way, and a couple more steps, but the resolution is noticeably better on scans. For Tri-X rolls I do dil.B, 7.5 min at 20C, and for Tri-X 320 sheets the time is shorter - 5.5 min. Check out the massive development web page though, its a got a ton of options for all kinds of combinations.
For colour, which I haven't done recently, I have used the Arista E6 and C41 kits, as well as the Rollei C41 kit. My results with colour film have been spotty. I think whenever I have been less than paranoid about thoroughly washing every part of the Ars-Imago daylight tank after a previous run, the next roll gets messed up. I don't think I have used colour in non- C41 or non-E6 at all.
Sheets (both 4X5 and 8X10) I find are most convenient with the Stearman SP 810 daylight tray. I have their SP445 tank also, but that sometimes leaves streaks.
All the best and I do hope you get back into it!...Show more →
Glen,
You are fine, and what you wrote I appreciated. Barb said to me (as two more packages showed up yesterday) - "this is all because you didn't have enough toys as a kid." I think she might be right. Start feeling a bit better - way less responsibility since 6-7 kids have moved out, and the ole guy goes a bit haywire. It's been fun the last few days.
Jim
GroWeb wrote:
Jim, I hope you did not take my post as meaning that I did not approve of the discussion of film and darkroom chemistry. My actual view is that that subject is well within the purview of this thread, where we primarily discuss MFN lenses, but also the other gear that enables these lenses to produce images. When I look back at my words, I can see how they could easily be interpreted as an admonition, but I want you to know that they were not meant in that way.
Thanks Jim. It’s Adobe ACR, I know it’s the Abobe Orange filter profile, then just some level edits to get a tone I like! Tried to pop the pier a bit and leave it dim otherwise.
James Markus wrote:
I love the palette in this - how'd you do that?
Now that sounds logical! Explains my collection at home, too!!
James Markus wrote:
Glen,
You are fine, and what you wrote I appreciated. Barb said to me (as two more packages showed up yesterday) - "this is all because you didn't have enough toys as a kid." I think she might be right. Start feeling a bit better - way less responsibility since 6-7 kids have moved out, and the ole guy goes a bit haywire. It's been fun the last few days.
Jim
James Markus wrote:
Sorry about going off topic everyone
Definitely no apologies needed. Discussions like this is part of what makes this thread a special place. Good grief, look how many times I've gone "off topic"!
Plus, I found two film dryers (one home made) and a ton of weighted clips for that ram-rod straight & flat final drying. As for color (E6 or C41) - I was just interested in getting any latent image off of a handful of 35mm, and 6cm unprocessed, but exposed film I found. I built (from two broken processors) and used a Wing-Lynch E6/C41 film processor for about 12 years. The decommissioning and disposal of that chemistry, and equipment took a long time + the chemistry made me nervous. So I am not interested in doing that again. Gotta say kudos to you still shooting 4x5 and 8x10 - that is a commitment.
. So I'll stick with posting digital images. The set below shows some bedrooms at Fort William, the restored fur trading post near Thunder Bay, taken with the Fuji X-E2 and the 16 f/3.5 AI fisheye.
