Film Development

Developing film is an essential part of the analog photography workflow. Whether you're an experienced enthusiast or a beginner, being aware of film development techniques is critical to achieving beautiful prints. In this post, I'll walk you through how I develop my 35mm Black and White film.

For more on cameras see camera-setup

Film I shoot

Tri-X 400
Ilford HP5 400
JCH Streetpan 400
Random color film that crosses my path that I never develop

B&W 35mm Film Development Setup

#setup

Two rolls must be developed at a time. One time I developed what I thought was 1 roll and it was 2 rolls and I lost a roll of film. RIP. Now developing one roll is forbidden.

Once you've accumulated 2 matching rolls (no mixing!), the fun can begin:

Loading rolls onto film holder

Get all materials set up step-zero and arranged
Put everything inside dark bag
Open up 35mm rolls of film
Cut the ends off and load them onto the plastic film holders
Put the film holders in the development cannister thing
Close everything up so it is light proof
Remove everything (including garbage) from the dark bag

Developing rolls of film

It's important to double-check the film and developer you are using - make sure they are consistent with each other. After you have verified the proper temperature and time of development, slowly pour your developer into the cannister, develop, and dry.

Double check the film you are using and the developer to make sure you are developing at the right temperature for the right amount of time
Get your developer to the right temperature
Pour developer into cannister, follow agitation procedure for your specific film/developer
Pour our developer
Pour in stop bath
Pour out stop bath
Pour in detergent
Leave to wash for a while under the tap
Pour out all water, lightly shake water off rolls
Pull rolls out of film holders
Gently squeegee the rolls to pull drops of water off
Clip film to hang and dry
Try to find a cool picture on the roll while it dries even though you can't see anything

Cutting roll into contact sheet

Once the roll is completely dry, put on some dust or rubber gloves to prevent smudging your negatives
Trim off any excess film, then cut into strips of five photos each
Slip the strips into archival plastic - I recommend rounding the corners of the strips if you want to avoid them getting caught This is where you can start getting excited - anticipation for processing your photos is always the best.

Printing contact sheets

Pick archival sheet of photos
Put in contact sheet holder
Add paper at least 8.5 x 11
Remove any filters from the projector
Make test sheet for contact sheet, at 5 or 10-second intervals
Find the correct exposure time for the contact sheet – the perfect contact sheet has full dark blacks with no shadows and fully white whites with clear detail

Darkroom Print Setup