I’ve been on a personal journey the last month or so to learn how to develop my own film. I started with b&w and just recently tried out color c41 and I’m happy to say I’m really pleased with the results! I’ve yet to find a lab that I really like (not to mention one that’s particularly close to me), so I figured what the heck, nothing a cobbled together crash course of random YouTube videos couldn’t fix.
For b&w I went with Kodak HC-110, which by accounts seemed to have a good amount of the sharpness and contrast I was looking for. Also, they’re not kidding with the “HC” (highly concentrated I think) name…only need like 9ml of the stuff to develop a roll. For times and concentrations etc I used the massive dev chart app (it’s great). Here’s some example shots on Tri-X (box speed and 1 stop push) and HP5 (pushed 1 stop):
At that point I figured, ok I think I can manage the b&w, but color seemed pretty daunting, guess I’ll still have to rely on labs for like half my work. On a bit of a whim I ordered this liquid c41 kit from CineStill and at least give it a shot with this undeveloped roll of Portra 400 I had sitting in my bag for a while. I have to say, other than the added wrinkle of having to keep the chemistry at 104F (I used a water bath, just a big pot and sous vide circulator (which was very happy to finally have a purpose again after sitting in a drawer for years)), it was a really simple process. I’ve heard people say that color is not nearly as tough as b&w and I finally get it…this kit is only two baths (bleach and fix are combined) and it’s a totally set process for every c41 stock (for box speed at least). I’ve had some mixed results shooting portra in the past, but I feel like these negatives came out just about as good as lab processed stuff. Here’s some shots from the roll, scanned and processed with LR and negative lab pro:
I figured I would draw the line here, but now I’ve got my eye on the CineStill E6 kit, so maybe I’ll get up to some slide film shenanigans. Also have some respooled Vision 3 250D I haven’t touched yet, so I could see myself trying out the remjet removal pre bath.
It hasn’t been all perfect, but any issues so far I can definitely trace back to specific mistakes I’ve made. I toasted like 1/4 of the shots on one roll because I removed my arms from the dark bag in the middle of loading a paterson reel and clearly left it sitting right next to the arm-hole opening too long. I cracked the leading edge of one roll by yanking it a bit too hard off the reel at the end (turns out you can just, like, turn the paterson reel clockwise and the whole thing pops apart). I’ve also found that (at least for me) film squeegees kind of suck, so I instead run a microfiber cloth across it after attaching the clips and before hanging it up to dry. Anyway, my continued journey to make photography as complicated of a process as possible has been really fun!
Came here to also say how much I love the color on the last two. I really need to learn how to develop my own film (and find a space to do it at, haha)
Re: the color images, thx @DaveedNoo@Slink and @thecianrice ! I’m still getting the hang of converting color negatives, always feels like a lot of work to get it right. I kind of loathe excessive editing, but I inevitably find myself obsessing over lightroom sliders with most of my photos. Whether it’s a negative or RAW file, I feel like the colors are really under there, I’m just helping them come out! The crane shot was one of my first with a new lens to me, a Tele-Elmarit 90 f/2.8, and I’m still getting the hang of it. I had some daytime shots on that roll that were totally cooked by lens flare (I’ve since ordered a lens hood), but I was able to salvage this shot by massaging it in post and I’m pretty pleased with it:
Like I said, I’m still pretty hit or miss with Portra, at least in 35mm, and tend to have better luck with CineStill 400D and 800T for whatever reason. I recently spent a day at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and took some of my favorite shots ever there. Other than the red one, these were all CS 400D (didn’t dev these, but all scanned by me):
@nickfourtimes thanks re: the b&w shots! Those were from this nearly abandoned mall in Chinatown in Manhattan, super dim inside even shooting iso 800. I’ve developed this kinda dumb approach to low-light shooting that’s mostly been working out for me…basically just open up the lens as much as I can (these were f/2.8), set the shutter speed to whatever I think I can hand hold (I can manage 1/30 ok, esp at a wide focal length like these 28mm shots) and let 'er rip. Negative film handles overexposure really well, so I’m not too concerned about letting in too much light. I just picked up a flash unit, though, so I’ll probably be trying that out soon too.
@thecianrice re: home development–you’d be surprised with how little room the whole operation takes up. As long as you’re not printing, you dont need an actual darkroom (or even a dark room tbh). The only part that’s light sensitive is going to be loading the reels and dropping them in the tank, which you can do in a dark bag or pop up dark box. The rest I do just standing next to the kitchen sink. If there’s enough interest among yall dirtbags I can put together a more detailed post with the equipment and process I used : )
just got my mamiya 7 back from being repaired and I’ve had the 35mm pano kit sitting on my shelf…seeing this is really getting me pumped to finally get out there and try it. Excited to try composing in this format, I feel like you can make every shot look like a film still.
tbh i still don’t think i have the total hang of composing for xpan/cinescope pretend time… it was a friend’s camera on loan. these are basically throwaway snaps. but it sure does feel cool shooting such wide images.
I think these look pretty good! It’s great you got a chance to borrow it. I looked it up and they sure are pricey to get your hands on. Very cool overall.
