How to: Develop Black and White Film

(15 Minute Read)

Hey Guys! In this post I wanted to show you how to develop a black and white film roll at home or basically anywhere as long as you have a working darkroom, in my case its a 35mm roll but its the same process for a 120 film roll. If you’ve read before I made my own darkroom in my house and I’m now developing everything here, unless I’m back at the university dorms in which case I develop on the campus lab. Either way its the same process for every place just make sure you have everything that you need, and if you are not sure you have it you can read all about that Here.

Divide everything into 3 sections beforehand:

• Darkroom Section: In a light sealed space (darkroom or changing bag) you’ll get the film out of the cartridge and into the developing tank.
  
• Developing Section: You get the developing tank out of the light sealed space and you start developing the roll by pouring the chemicals in their specified temperatures and time.
  
• Washing & Drying Section: After you finish the developing you get the film out of the tank. Wash it and Dry it. Also throw away all the used chemicals and cleaning the items used while developing.
  
• Scan & Storage Section: Here you will cut the film roll in strips, scan it and store it into a binder.

Darkroom Section (Must be done in complete Darkness):

Now, arrange everything the best way you think possible to find in the darkness (basically blinded). I usually put everything as follows: Film Roll, Can opener, Scissors, Film Reel, Reel Mounting Tube, Developing Tank, Light Tight Funnel and Lid. It is the best way for me to do everything since you will use it in the same order and get the hang of it really fast.

After Arranging everything, sealed the place from any source of light and start. (Follow the slideshow above to identify each step, click on the image to scroll)

• Take the roll of film and the can opener an open the back part of it.
• Take the film out of its canister by pushing the small tube on the other end.
• Now cut the leader of the film
• After cutting the leader start feeding it to the film reel, until you get about one or two inches into it.
• Advance the film into the reel by turning the reel wheel back and forward.
• When you reach the end of the roll, cut out the film tube. (if necessary advance was left of the film into the reel)
• Now, put the reel mounting tube into the reel. (If your Developing tank hold two 35mm reels put the empty one up top)
• After that, find the tank and put the reel(s) inside it.
• Now lock the light tight funnel into the tank. (Remember to lock it in place by turning it until you hear it click into place, if not, the funnel would not be light sealed) 
  
• Lastly put the lid in the tank and go to the next section. (You can now be in places where there’s light, just remember that you cannot unseal the funnel until the developing section is finished).

Developing Section:

Arrange everything in order as follows: Developing tank, Developer, Stop Bath & Fixer (Follow the slideshow below to identify each step, click on the image to scroll).

Now on to Developing:

• Pour 5oz of Water and 5oz of Developer into one cup for a 1:1 mixture
• Measure the Developers temperature to be between 68° and 75° Fahrenheit
• Pour 10oz of Stop Bath into a second cup
• Pour 10oz of Fixer into the third and last cup
• Find the times specified for your film brand and temperature, for HP5 its 11 minutes at 68° Fahrenheit
• Set the timer up, get the lid out of the tank and pour the developer
• With the lid back on agitate lightly (agitation should be slow turning the tank over and back in each second) for the first 10 seconds of the first minute 
• And then the last 10 seconds of each minute until done
• When done, pour the developer back into its cup and pour the stop bath into the tank
• Agitate lightly for 30 seconds to a minute (I usually just do 30 seconds)
• When done, pour out and pour in the fixer
• The fixer its 10 minutes with the same process as the developer (first 10 seconds of the first minute and then the last 10 seconds of each minute)
• When done pour out the fixer into its cup and move on to the Washing & Drying Section (You can now lift the funnel out of the tank, if done right you would be able to see the frames in the film roll)

Washing & Drying Section: 

• Put the developing tank with film reel on it under running water for 20 to 30 minutes
  
• Once done put a small bit of wetting agent into the tank full of water a couple of drops would be alright
• Agitate slightly for 30 seconds (This will help the film dry up faster)
• Take the film out of the tank and out of the reel and scoop the excess of water of it, with a squeegee or your fingers
• Hang film to dry
• Wash all the measuring cups, developing tank and leave to dry (Be sure it its all dried up before reusing it)

Scanning & Storing Section:

• Here get a pair of scissors and cut the film in strips of 5 frames
  
• Store into your film storage pages
• If you want to scan I suggest storing the film first and then scanning each film strips one by one
• Enjoy your images, post them on social media if you like and have fun.

Some of the Images from the Film Roll Developed:

Well, that is it for today’s post, I hope you enjoyed this post even though it was fairly long. If you have any doubts one the process or want to share some of the images you’ve developed feel free to comment. See you guys next week, for now please Share, comment and subscribe to the mailing list down below if you wish to receive an email every time I post on the Blog. Thanks for reading, see you around and remember…Keep taking frames.