Developing Black and White Film

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds" — Ralph Waldo Emerson

The key to learning to develop film is consistency, but not foolish consistency. So don't be a hobgoblin, but don't be afraid to experiment either. I experimented with digital capture for a year before returning to film.

For a photographer working with black and white film - your film choice, your method of developing same - these are your palette and part of your style.

This article is for those of you who are returning to film, or starting with film for the first time. The purpose is only to give you a starting point. What equipment you need. And what film & developer combination I currently use.

Write down exactly what you are doing in a log.

Any ten-year old kid can develop film. I know - I've taught them to do it in a few hours.

Equipment

The developing tank and reels. You have two choices here: stainless steel with stainless steel reels, or plastic developing tanks and reels.

Stainless steel tanks: advantage is that when you need to cool or heat the temperature of the solutions in the tank with a water bath it's much easier with stainless steel. The developing tanks are easier to clean and keep from getting contaminated.

The downside is that the steel reels that you load the film onto can be tricky for the beginner in the dark.

Guess what? I've been using Paterson plastic tanks and reels for four decades (not the same ones though).

Last time I looked there were two major manufacturers of plastic tanks and reels: Jobo and Paterson. JOBO tanks and reels are the best. But also the most expensive.

Next thing you need is some place dark. Just about everybody has a bathroom that can be made dark enough without going nuts. The loading of the tank is done with the lights out. No safelight.

So here is the exhaustive list of film equipment:

Photography thermometer, developming tank with reels, graduates or larger measuring beakers, can opener for taking the lid off the film canister, clothespins and string (film doesn't dry well unless you hang it up somehow).

Did I miss anything. Oh - I like to cut the end of the film with a scissors.

Now, if you really want to get high-tech, I like the Gravity Works Washer for film washing.

What you say - what about those brown gallon containers for storing the mixed chemicals?

Part 2 - Chemicals

Next choice: one-shot solutions or stock solutions. If you are going to mix powdered fixer or powdered developer, you will need some of those jugs. I use liquid developer, and liquid fixer. I have 4 plastic 1 liter beakers. Each one is marked for the chemical that you mix in it. The 4th one is just for water.

One more thing: Photoflo.

I use Ilford Ilfotec DD-X mixed 1:4, and Ilford Rapid Fixer, also 1:4. and Ilford (odorless) Short Stop. I'm guessing you could buy everything on this list for under $150.

Part 3 - Film processing

You don't want to read that do you? First developer. Then stop bath. Fixer. Wash. I can't bring myself to explain that. An article about film development without going through the process. I'm sorry, but yes.

Here are the points that I think are worth making note of:

1) Temperature of the developer. It really does matter. Most developers suggest either 68F or 75F. If you want to try something interesting - pour your developer at 68F and go through the process. I do 4 inversions in about 10 seconds per minute. About 20 seconds before you are ready to pour the developer out - take it's temperature again. In my experience it is always higher. If it went in at 68F, it comes out at 70F. So to counter-act this, I either put the developer in at say 66F and it comes out at 68F or even better, keep the tank in a cool water bath. Again, you have to experiment with this but with a plastic tank, I'll keep the water in the sink about 6 degrees cooler than what the developer temperature is supposed to be.

With a stainless steel tank - you probably want the water bath about 2 degrees cooler than the developer temperature.

Some film / developer combinations are pickier (react more to temperature changes) than others: t-max film and t-max developer are very sensitive to temperature changes.

DD-X and Tri-X (pretty forgiving combination).

Agitation

They give you this little stick to swirl the reel around for agitation. Don't use that. Put the cover on and use the inversion method. The amount of agitation the film gets is often overlooked by beginners - and is a big factor in determining the appearance of grain and contrast. So the idea is to be able to duplicate your agitation method.

You will read the manufacturers' recommendations and they are a good starting point. They will say things like, 5 inversions in 10 seconds per minute. They aren't going to try and tell you how many times to swirl the little stick around.

When I'm experimenting with a new film / developer combination I will keep notes that look something like this:

Tri-X @ 400, DD-X 1:4, 4 APM, 68F, 8 mins, one-roll and the date.

The negatives have been cut into strips of 6, and are sitting in the clear archival preserver, and I can see that:

This roll of Tri-X was exposed at 400 ASA, developed in Ilfotec DD-X, 1:4 dilution; 4 inversions per minute; 68F for 8 minutes. And that only one roll was developed.

The number of rolls you are trying to do at once has an effect as well. Agitation time for say 5 rolls in the tank is not going to be the same as for 1 roll. See how long it takes to invert a tank with 5 reels in it so that the developer gets to the inverted.

When I say 8 minutes, I also know that I always begin pouring out the developer 10 seconds before the target time.

Another Rule of Thumb

Shadow areas are controlled by exposure and highlights are controlled by development.

If you are just starting out - get yourself an 18 percent gray card and go out on a nice sunny day and compare what your light meter reads for the general scene and what it reads from the gray card. Your meter simply doesn't know what values things are supposed to be. Whether it is a fancy matrix, center-weighted, or bottom-weighted - it doesn't know whether you are shooting a black wall or a white wall. In either case, unless you adjust your exposure you are going to get a gray wall.

So how you expose the film that's as big a deal as how you develop it.

But this is about film development and I want to bring up what film manufacturer's call the Characteristic Film Curve.

So here's the curve for Tri-X developed in a large tank. The vertical axis shows film density. The horizontal axis shows amount of exposure (more as you move to the right).

The curve has three parts: the toe (shadow areas on left), the straight-line section which is where grays tones appear and the shoulder on the upper-end where the highlights appear.

There are a lot of variables that create this curve: the developer (even the developer dilution), the film, agitation, time duration, developer temperature. You do start with a basic film / developer curve but it changes depending on these variables. Look at the difference between the 6 minute line and the 12 minute line. Easiest thing to see is that the maximum density of the 12 minute line is twice the density of the 6 minute line.

If you are looking at a curve that has a shoulder that just keeps going up and up - you are going to be dealing with some dense film highlights if you're not careful, and a narrower range of middle tones.

Where does that shoulder level off? Is it in the printable range? Personally, I like a curve that has a short toe, i.e. it begins to react to light quickly, a long straight line (lots of middle gray tones) and levels off smoothly but not too high.

It's not that one is better or worse than the other. It depends on how your shot was exposed. If you started with a flat scene with a narrow range of tones - you might want to increase the contrast with a longer time. But for general purpose 35mm film shooting - I would prefer the lower 6-minute curve.

Anyway - in Kodak's examples, they tend to chop off the shoulder once it begins to hit it's maximum density.

So, with all that being said, and without getting into an explanation of the Zone system - you know what equipment I use, and here is my general purpose film / developer combination.

Tri-X (rated at 400)
Ilfotec DD-X 1:4

Temp	Time	Agitation
68 F	8 minutes	4 inversions in 10 seconds, per minute.

Conclusion

Think of this little page as a start. Any of the ideas presented here have been expanded into chapters in - gasp - books. This is just to give you a flavor for what my processing technique is like, and give you a starting point if you are thinking about developing your own film.

For more information, see the recommended books page: