Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/02/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On 2/27/02 at 2:23 PM, TomF@piengr.com (Tom Finnegan) thoughtfully wrote: > The first thing I would suggest is picking up a copy of Anchell and Troop's > "Film Development Cookbook". There's lots of good info there to get you > started. You might want to also pick up a basic darkroom book from Kodak > etc...Luggster Dante Stella worte a little article on getting started > developing your own film, I found this to be an almost overwhelming work for beginners. After working in the darkroom for about a year I've been able to use it's suggestions to good advantage but at the start it can be intimidating. There are some good basic books on B&W that Kodak puts out that are good for beginners. > http://www.dantestella.com/technical/guerilla.html > > My additional comments, > - I personally prefer steel tanks and reels, but if you go steel, be sure to > use Hewes reels and not cheap generic ones. Boy is THIS good advice. I had started using plastic tanks and reels and found that loading was always a pain. I bought a used tank and some reels of a certain auction site and haven't had one lick of trouble since. Cheap stainless steel reels are the pits I guess but the Hewes reels are super. This was probably the single most helpful piece of advice I have gotten on this list since every time I run film it makes a big difference. > - to hang up film I just use a length of kitchen twine and some of those > black spring paper clips along with wooden clothes pins to weight the film. > - I haven't used Diafine, so I can't comment on that. I've primarily used > xtol as a developer, but it is now no longer available in 1 liter packets > only 5 liter. If you aren't shooting alot it may take you awhile to work > through 5 liters. D-76 at 1:1 is a classic developer, as is Rodinal at 1:50 > or 1:100. Rodinal is particularly easy to use since it's a liquid and keeps > a long time > - If you are using any developer besides xtol, you may want to consider > using neoprene rubber gloves as most developers are somewhat caustic and may > cause skin irritation. I really like XTOL. It mixes easily at home. The only problem is that they have discontinued the small size and now you have to make substantial quantities. Still, store it in air-tight bottles (lots of history on this list about that) designed to keep the air out and it works GREAT for a very wide range of film. It's very good for Tri-X and the Delta 100/400 films (in my experience). > - For films I'd start off with something traditional like FP4+, HP5+, Tri-x, > APX400 etc... Traditional films tend to be more tolerant of variations in > temperature, agitation, and development time than the modern t-grain films. I started with Delta but have been shooting more and more Tri-X and just loving it. I was told, and believe, that you should chose one and shoot with it for quite a while before moving to another film. I have a Nikon 4000ES scanner - it's great for color but for black and white it has issues. Others on this list say it's because of the nature of the source light and sensors. 4000 dpi is nice - but the files are immense, esp at 14bits/pixel. I hope you'll get some good advice on a film scanner because at this point I think the 4000 isn't the best choice for B&W. It shows scratches and artifacts in the scans that I don't see even at the highest enlargements when printed optically. Good luck and have fun! Remember to play. Adam - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html