Gast
HI! :)
Tell me, is there really much of a downside to taking my black-and-white film to the photo shop to have the negatives developed... ? I much prefer spending my time at the enlarger and I’m not particularly good at developing film. What’s the worst that could happen? Or how badly could they mess up my film at the shop?
Thanks a lot!
And here’s to lots more lovely photos...
Anja
hambo
Hi Anja,
Well, they probably won’t ruin the film outright. There are two possibilities: either the retailer sends it to a large-scale lab (greetings to CeWe Color), where the film is usually developed in a batch processor using a fine-grain compensating developer, such as D76 or ID11, and sorted by development time. As black-and-white customers are a demanding lot, you can expect fairly good quality; push processing is also offered.
Or you’ve got a long-established photo shop with a tank system in the basement, where new developer is prepared once a year (really, they still exist). Until Easter, the lab technician needs ‘soft’ and ‘extra soft’, and around Christmas ‘extra hard’ for printing :D .
Even minilab operators sometimes still have a black-and-white continuous-feed machine standing around, but due to lack of usage and monitoring, the quality tends to be rather poor. :)
Only with exotic films like Kodak Recording or similar is the large-scale lab overwhelmed by the standard developer; in that case, you’ll have no choice but to develop them at home.
Regards, Jürgen
Gast
Hi Anja,
As Jürgen wrote, Radio Yerevan says, “In principle, yes.”
My reasons for developing my own film were:
-Time (By the time the film has finished drying, I won’t even make it to the shop.) If you sit down for a quiet coffee with your model, you can at least get the film wet-processed in the meantime. (Works great whilst watching TV too – just pop it in the bath during the adverts.)
-Control over the development process. You can usually forget about any requests beyond push/pull.
-Cost. Even with incredibly expensive developers like Neofin Blaue, the cost of the developer is quickly recouped.
-If something goes wrong, I don’t have to argue with anyone.
Best regards
Martin
MirkoBoeddecker
Well, I’m afraid I have to disagree with Jürgen’s horror stories and praise.
I don’t know if he has a cousin working at a large lab, but the myth that they develop black-and-white films particularly thoroughly there—or even in D76—contradicts everything and everyone who has ever used such a lab and compared the results.
And you can safely forget about the ‘fine’ before the grain.
They just run everything through a super-balancing bath at three universal speeds.
Whatever the case, the main thing is that all the films are developed with good balance so that they can be printed onto colour or universal paper afterwards with as little hassle as possible.
After all, more than three development times are simply impossible to organise, and for a price of 50 cents, you can’t expect any more.
The value for money is excellent, and if you’re not going larger than 13x18 cm, you won’t notice a thing.
For an HP5 or FP4, the whole thing might still be acceptable, but you simply cannot hand over any unusual black-and-white films there, no matter how hard you try.
If a specialist lab with a Hüger tank machine in the basement regenerates the chemicals properly and has a good filter, it is entirely possible to keep the chemistry consistent for over a year.
If the throughput is too low and the regeneration volume is therefore insufficient, you naturally have to start the process afresh.
We prepare a fresh batch every month.
If you don’t do this for reasons of economy, the negatives will become harder rather than softer (which also contradicts Jürgen’s statement), unless the lab technician is incapable of regenerating the chemicals AND incapable of controlling his processing times.
In that case, of course, all is lost and the large-scale lab is actually preferable.
In any case, however, a development from a proper specialist B&W lab should always be far superior to that of a large-scale lab. Better adapted to the film type and with finer grain.
Admittedly, we don’t always get everything right either – where craftsmanship is involved, people are at work and they can have an off day and mess up films, but at least there are no structural problems that would lead to certain films always being developed incorrectly or every ISO 400 film looking as though the silver grains had been placed individually by hand onto the emulsion.
We also, of course, offer basic contrast adjustment (pushing/pulling) and develop a TMZ 3200 or efke KB 25 with the correct processing time.
Of course, you can’t do this yourself either. Various specialist labs offer this service, working entirely by hand on individual customer orders. However, they charge 10 EUR per development for their time.
Best regards,
Mirko
Gast
If you’re “not particularly good at developing”, then you’re probably just as good as a pretty decent lab, for the simple reason that you’re developing *your* own films. I’d stick to developing myself — I’ve done both, and used to often take films away (to specialist labs) in Berlin, with bad experiences (the forum host needn’t feel this is directed at them, it’s not meant that way ;-) )
Best regards
unadodox
Gast
Hi Anja,
You shouldn’t be put off developing your own film;
it’s really easy with the Jobo daylight tank:
just pop the film cartridge in the middle, turn it, pour in the chemicals,
and you’re done. You can get one for about 10–15 euros on eBay – unfortunately, they’re no longer available new.
The instructions are foolproof too.
If you absolutely must use a large-format film, I’d recommend the Ilford XP2 Super
(very easy to use, but personally I don’t like it as much
as the FP4+)
Good luck with the developing!
Gast
Hi Anja!
So, I sent my first black-and-white film to a photo shop for a bulk development. The result was – to put it bluntly – unacceptable. Then, for about a year, I was motivated enough to shoot and expose a few black-and-white films with the intention of developing them myself. However, I usually lacked the necessary motivation to do so. I eventually sent the collection of films to Impex, and the result was very acceptable. Nowadays, I usually develop my own films and have been thrilled with the results ever since the very first roll. Without being related to the managing director of FOTOIMPEX in any way, I can recommend this alternative to you from a neutral source, especially as you’ll be paying roughly the same price as the bulk order. (+postage, perhaps?) As I said, however, I’ve also come to enjoy the development process itself.
Regards, Phil
Gast
Hi Anja,
If your film consists mainly of low-key shots or has a lot of dark areas, I’d advise you – unless you’re developing it yourself – not to have it processed under any circumstances. Otherwise, you might be in for some unpleasant surprises.
Best regards
Holger
Wolfgg
Well, I’ve only really loved photography as a hobby since the day I developed my first roll of film myself. And I can even remember exactly how excited I was when I opened the can after the fixer to see ‘if there was anything on it’. Thanks to Rodinal, everything turned out perfectly. Since then, I’ve been doing everything myself (apart from film casting, but who knows), and even mixing developers from raw chemicals is fun, e.g. the Pota developer for softening line films.
Gast
I agree with Mirko on this. With black-and-white films, you should always check beforehand whether and how they will be developed. Generally speaking, black-and-white film – even all-rounders like FP and HP5 – should be left to the experts. It’s a great sense of achievement when you take the film you’ve developed yourself out of the canister, but not everyone who wants to take black-and-white photos needs to get involved in processing the film themselves.
If you look around a bit, you’ll often find the right option for you.
Have a look online at www.ehrleprint.de
Gast
Anja?
Anja E.-St., perhaps?
If not, it doesn’t matter.
My advice is also to develop your own film if you don’t have a trusted specialist lab nearby. With colour film, I used to be on tenterhooks until recently, wondering what would come back this time, until the whole ‘Großabor’ business came to an end.
With B&W, nothing beats developing it yourself, not least to ensure the exposure and development are properly matched.
What’s more, this way I know my films are properly fixed and rinsed. With some subjects, I might well regret it in 10 years’ time if the film doesn’t hold up. And let’s not forget the option of using different developers for different purposes.
In the worst-case scenario, you get the film back in four-frame strips – shudder...
Especially with black and white, it would be a shame to hand over a manageable process. For a single film (shorter for more films), it takes about half an hour, including setting up, clearing away, cleaning, etc. – that’s not much considering how many hours you can then spend printing images from that one film.
Happy shooting!
Roman
If you shoot more than, say, one roll of film a month, and – as is advisable anyway – stick to one or two types of film, you can streamline the development process simply by getting a larger tank, e.g. one that holds four rolls, and then developing several rolls together.
...but I’m usually too curious to wait that long, and I always develop my films as quickly as possible! :unsure:
Roman
mattes
In principle, everything has already been said. If you don’t want to carry out the development yourself and you live in Berlin, you can have your film developed at Impex. That’s a very reasonable offer.
I don’t live there, so getting to a specialist lab is a bit of a faff, or I’d have to send it by post. Consequently, I carry out the development myself.
With black-and-white film, developing it yourself is often described as the only option, but it has its pitfalls, which many writers forget to mention. KB negatives are enlarged very significantly, with the unpleasant side effect that even the tiniest contaminants are clearly visible. Particles can get onto the film surface via the water or during drying. Not everyone who wants to has the means to arrange for the necessary treatments.
It is true that you can develop a film using a tin, Nescafé, soda and fixer. The actual effort involved is considerably greater. Particle filters are available for the water; you should keep the wet process as short as necessary and, where possible, use films with well-hardened emulsions. Particularly important: a dust-free room for drying.
Gast
Why torture yourself when you’ve already admitted to yourself that it’s never going to work out? :) I’d get it done in a lab and spend my time on something better. :)
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