Tag: developing

#1 – Adventures with Lab-Box and 35mm Film

Retirement means I have time. So, I have decided to try my hand at developing my own film once again. My low level of patience and tolerance for frustration makes a film bag, reels, and a Paterson tank something I don’t really like. When the Lab-Box came out, I thought it looked pretty good, and bought myself one with both the 35mm and 120 film modules.Image result for lab-box

Do you know what the Lab-Box is? Well, it is a day-light loading and processing box system for 35mm and 120 film. Learn about it in this video below.  What is good about this particular video is that it links to “how to” videos on how to assemble the bits and pieces of the critter.  There are a lot of other videos out there, too, so if you are curious, head over to YouTube.

Right up front, I got a bunch of crappy pictures. I had hoped for better using the Lab-Box and black and white 35mm film (Tri-X 400). However, I also really did not expect much as film processing and I have a history of disliking each other it seems.  I had a problem rolling the film onto the reel. If the reel is not properly put together, there are problems, which may be why I had the issues I did.  As a result, I plan to check my rolling of film with a canister of 35mm play film

The developing itself went okay. The images that did develop were at the beginning and at the end of the roll, but the ones in between must have gotten squashed together as I rolled the film in the box.  I also did not attach the crank properly at the beginning of the processing development, and probably had a light leak along with a loss of some chemistry.  The reel may also be improperly assembled.

I am going to continue using the Lab-Box.  Practice is necessary for this kind of stuff.  I will re-check how I assembled it.  For processing the film, I used a monobath, an archival rinse, and PhotoFlo 500 before hanging the roll up to dry.  The steps I used to process the film seem to be okay, but the light leak, chemistry leak, and so on all need to be sorted out.  Others have gotten great results with their Lab-Boxes, in both 35 and 120, and I see no reason I shouldn’t either!

Catastrophe in the Dark Room

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Well, in the film-changing bag.

I have the Paterson set-up, with adjustable reels, for home developing of film.  My first round of developing was smooth and easy, using 35mm black and white film.  This time, though, was awful.  The Paterson reels are plastic and adjustable, and I like them for the 35mm – but did not like them at all for the 120 film.

The reels are harder to load than I realized for 120, and as soon as I got the film in the bag (without any practicing), I knew I was in for trouble.  I couldn’t do it.  Neither could my husband.  The film was bent, spindled, and mutilated.  As I had already poured out my chemicals, I just went ahead and jammed the film in, figuring the practice in developing wouldn’t hurt, and since things were already a mess, what the hell.

The film here is Ilford HP5+ used with the Holga GCFN 120 camera I got for my birthday last month.  I kind of like what happened, but don’t want this experience to be my usual for 120.

The funny thing is, there are some pictures in here I actually like, but will need to do some work on to get them where I find them acceptable.  Contrast adjustments, cropping, whatever.  In particular, out of this sea of mistakes, I like the leaves – I’ve never thought about deliberately doing double exposures, but the double exposure of the leaves are pretty cool.  (I also have some Kodak Ektar 100 I double exposed in another camera that I also like.)  So, even though there was catastrophe, Pandora’s box is not all dark.