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Film Developing

How I turned my bedroom closet into a darkroom for $20

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A few years ago I had a great darkroom setup in my basement that I converted from a (mostly) unused bathroom. It had a wet side and a dry side, built-in exhaust, and plenty of space.

That came to an end when I sold that house and moved into an old Victorian-style home where bathrooms are a sparse thing and any plumbing in the home was an afterthought.

Not long after relocating, I started to ponder how I could possibly create a darkroom space at the new house. Of course, I had grandiose dreams of a new build that was even better than my previous space.

Can you develop 35mm film with energy drinks?

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Most film photographers know that they can use certain household items to develop black and white 35mm film. Hardcore film aficionados have even tried it themselves using stuff like beer, tea, or even red wine.

If you’ve ever wondered if you could do it with energy drinks, Sweet Lou Photography has tried it so you don’t have to. In his recent video, he experiments with two energy drinks in an attempt to develop two rolls of film. Can it be done? Well, sort of – so let’s jump straight into it and see where the catch is.

Watch: How film and developing actually work – It’s both magic and science

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This is one of the deepest dives into film photography and the developing process I’ve seen. Not surprisingly, it’s from Destin at Smarter Every Day. He says that he went looking to find a definitive video that explained it all and he couldn’t find one. So, he made one.

Destin begins by talking of the “magic” of film and the unique look and character it has that’s impossible to reproduce digitally. He also mentions film’s resurgence of late (I guess it’s mainstream now – the hipsters will be disappointed). But it’s not magic. There’s actual science behind it and Destin takes us to visit Indie Film Lab to see how the process works.

Here’s how to make your own paper developer from scratch

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The George Eastman Museum has already shared some darkroom magic with us. For example, they taught us how to make a 35mm daguerreotype and guided us through the salt printing process. In this video, historic process specialist Nick Brandreth teaches you how to make your own paper developer from scratch in the comfort of your home.

Ilford’s Darkroom Guide teaches you all you need to know about developing your own film

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Getting started with something completely new can be overwhelming, and film developing is no exception. Film and paper manufacturer Ilford has published a series of videos that will help you to get started. From loading film to producing your very first print, this series will teach you all the basic darkroom techniques that you need to know.

TETENAL is back in business as it launches a brand new online store

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TETENAL’s been in the film developing business since 1847 and almost all of the world’s other developing companies have relied on them during that time.  They’d been having trouble (at least publicly) since the end of 2018 when they were desperately seeking help to avoid bankruptcy. The following month, they declared that they would be shutting down.

It looked like they might disappear forever, but by November, things were looking up. The company was rescued by a management buyout and now they’re back, they are focused, and they have visions – so their website says. They also have a shiny new online store.

This is why black & white film is more expensive to have developed than colour

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Since I started shooting film again, I’ve only shot black and white film. Usually either Ilford FP4+, Kodak Tri-X or Kodak TMAX. But when I first started to enquire about having it developed, I was confronted with some pretty ridiculous prices. £12 they wanted, just to develop a £4 roll of film. That’s when I decided to develop for myself and got my cost down to £0.25 per roll.

But why is it so expensive to have black and white film developed in a store when colour film is arguably more expensive for us to develop at home? That’s what’s discussed in this video from Nicolas Llasera as he talks about some of the reasons behind this seemingly strange price discrepancy.

Here’s how to make your own film developing “stock cubes”

In the last couple of months, the whole world it seems was on hold due to the rampages of COVID-19/ Corona Virus. In the Facebook groups I’m in many users were seeing shortages in supply. Some online stores stopped shipping Rodinal (caustic liquid) and other stuff was just not to be found.

Adding to this was the fact that a lot of users were not consuming chemistry as quickly and were looking at spoilage/oxidation of partially consumed jugs of developer turning brown on the shelf.

How to make your own developer and fixer from the stuff you have in the kitchen

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Last week, photographer Brendan Barry showed you how to turn your room into a camera obscura using only the stuff you can find at home. And if any of you decides to take analog photos with your “room camera,” you’ll need developer and fixer for the photographic film. Here’s some good news – you can also make these without leaving your home. In the video below, Brendan will show you how.

How I made alternative film developers from peppermint and green tea extract

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By now most everyone dabbling in analog photography has seen articles on the use of “Caffenol”, “Beerinol”, “Redwineol” where people have developed film in mixtures of coffee, beer, red wine. While these can be fun experiments with show-able results they are somewhat pricey developers. Aside from the coffee-beer-wine you also need fairly consumptive amounts of sodium carbonate (wash soda) and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to make it work. We are going to pare that down a bit.

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