how do i process my own b&w film at home?

Question

i really don't know the details on how to process my films at home.. from the equipment to the whole process leaves me clueless... is an enlarger essential? temperature? huh? can anyone help me? just wanted to know all the details.. thanks

Answer 1

its a pain. you have to have a room somewhere in your house that is completely dark, i mean no light leaks at all, where you can roll your film onto spools and place them into a light tight tank. rolling the film is a trick, best learned over time. if you don't do it right, you can ruin your negatives. you have to have the right chemicals...developer and fixer. developer is easy to mix and you can pour it down the drain. Fixer however, is very toxic to the environment because it contains silver halides. you have to find a commercial disposer of the stuff and take it to them.
temp of your developer needs to be anywhere from 68-70 degrees. for it to work properly, by the way. may need to put it in a cooling bath to get it to the right temperature if it's too warm. then after your done with processing, you have to dry it. they sell fancy contraptions for that, or you can just suspend the film from an indoor clothesline with a clothespin on bottom to keep it from curling up.

Answer 2

Your best bet to do right is look at your local high school or community college. they will offer basic class in photography at night It's a lot cheaper to take a class then to buy all the stuff and realize its not for you.
You can also go to your local library. Kodak put out a whole series of books that show everything form taking picture to setting up your own dark room. Trust me I have a masters in photography and it is a expensive hobby

Answer 3

We can't really train on this over the net. I recommend taking a class in B&W photography--that's how I learned.
Btw, the enlarger is only necessary for making prints.
Also, this is a very expensive hobby. You might be better off farming the development out.

Answer 4

Why would you want to? It's not easy and requires special equipement & chemicals............I've got all this stuff in my basement from when my Daughter was a Photography major in COLLEGE. You need training! Get a PT job in a camera store or other photo processing venue. OR, just go to WalMart and save some $$$

Answer 5

attempt google. Or a e book place. definite, you could advance negatives. shade demands greater care than monochrome. as quickly as the destructive is stepped forward and glued, you could test it. you additionally can use an enlarger and photograph paper to get effective prints. Or deliver the negatives to be revealed. it may desire to be accessible to test undeveloped action picture, in a gloomy field using an infrared laser previous considered one of those the action picture, or at a low intensity that would not show the action picture. Impractical, i might think of.

Answer 6

this might help:
http://usfphoto.arts.usf.edu/lab_manual/lab/filmhome.htm