Processing Black & White Film

Tuesday 26th September 2017

Processing Film


I went out and shot a series of images on a 35mm film based on the topic of order and chaos. I then took the:

  • film
  • scissors
  • dry spiral
  • centre tube
  • funnel lid
  • liquid seal lid
  • tank body 

into the developing tank. Where in complete darkness I had to open the cassette to remove the film spool. I then trimmed the end off the film to load it onto the dry spiral. The centre tube has to then be put into the middle of the spiral and it all has to placed into the tank body. The lid has to be fitted to the top of the tank making sure it has clicked and is straight. Only then can you leave the darkness.

In the developing area one part of 20 degrees water has to be mixed with one part of X-Tol developer.  This means 300ml of mixed solution is needed for the 35mm film. The developer has to be poured into the take and fit the sealing lid, the timer must be set at 9 minutes for film at 100/125 ISO or 11 minutes for film at 400 ISO. I set the timer for 9 minutes as it was at 100/125 ISO. Tap the tank on the side to release film from bubbles. For the first 30 seconds the tank must be inverted continuously, after that you can just invert the tank twice every 30 second.

Prepare the same amount of stop and fix in the measuring cylinders as 15 seconds before the developing time has finished the developer has to be poured into the waste tank. Now the tank has to be filled with stop bath, then inverted twice and the stop can be put back into the bottle.

The tank has to be filled with Fixer, inverted continuously for 30 seconds and left for 4 minutes and inverted every 30 second during this time and then it can be returned to the fix bottle.

Fill the tank with 20 degree water invert the film 5 times and empty it completely, fill the tank up again invert the film 10 times and empty it completely. The fill the tank up for a final time but invert the film 20 times and empty the tank completely.

Remove the tank lid, remove the spiral and the centre from it, immersing the spiral into the wetting agent bath for a few minutes. Carefully remove the film from the spiral as the film is fragile and wipe it once, then hang it in the drying cabinet till it is dry.

When the film is dry cut it into rows of 6 to insert it into a protective, plastic wallet.

Now that the film has been developed it can be used to produce a contact sheet and enlarged images.

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