# The Omnibus Film Photography Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** photo\ **Created:** [September 16, 2024, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354 "2024-09-16T17:00:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2024, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354/161 "2024-10-05T23:57:42Z")
**Developing** Check me on this. (I’ll watch videos again, but I want to see if I remember.) I will be ordering liquid developer. I think Solution B is ‘1+30’. Am I correct that the solution is 30ml developer in 300ml water? Or is it that you want a total of 300ml, so it’s 30ml developer and 270ml water? Or do I have the numbers completely wrong? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354/162 "2024-10-06T00:14:52Z")
Usually it’s 1:30 (not 1+30), or one part to 30 parts. So, if one part is 30ml, then 30 parts is 900ml, or 30ml + 900ml = 930ml. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354/163 "2024-10-06T00:36:36Z")
So 10ml developer to 300ml water? ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354/164 "2024-10-06T01:30:15Z")
The HC-110 datasheet has a ton of helpful info about how to dilute to get various volumes. > **[j24.pdf](https://business.kodakmoments.com/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/pro/chemistry/j24.pdf)** > > 311.38 KB For 300ml working solution… 9ml concentrate 291ml water ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354/165 "2024-10-06T01:42:32Z")
This is a good video, and concise as well. I don’t know what there is to talk about basic B&W developing that could possibly take 30 minutes to say. [https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/buying-guide/develop-film-at-home-a-step-by-step-guide](https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/buying-guide/develop-film-at-home-a-step-by-step-guide) The only part that should be challenging at all for someone that’s ever poured a beer into a glass is loading the film on the reel in the changing bag. That’s where I recommend burning a roll doing it in the daylight so you can see why you’ll eventually only be able to feel. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354/166 "2024-10-06T01:45:56Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > For 300ml working solution… > > 9ml concentrate > 291ml water Thanks for that. (Can you tell I’ve had some wine tonight?) > [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > [https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/buying-guide/develop-film-at-home-a-step-by-step-guide](https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/buying-guide/develop-film-at-home-a-step-by-step-guide) I have that video bookmarked. I’ve watched twice so far. I _kind of_ remember loading film onto a spool from the class I took 40 years ago. I do have experience loading 400-foot 16mm film rolls into magazines (and removing them) in the changing bag and changing tent. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354/167 "2024-10-06T02:23:49Z")
The tricky part is figuring out in the dark how to find the end of your roll, getting the reel set to the start position (where both sides are aligned or even with each other) and feeding that first couple of inches in. After that, it’s about developing the feel of your thumb juuust riding on the film so the ratcheting action only sucks the film inward on the reel and doesn’t spit it back out. Once you’ve done it a couple times, the feeling is unmistakeable. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354/168 "2024-10-06T19:38:33Z")
I received the cassette opener yesterday. (Yes, I have a church key, but why not?) Today I received the graduated cylinders. They’re much smaller than I expected. I suppose that will make it easier to get exact measurements. And I received the Paterson tank. It contained a tube that I don’t remember from my college class. Apparently, it’s an [agitator](https://www.emsdiasum.com/docs/technical/datasheet/74342). I didn’t see one in the two videos I’ve watched. Is it necessary to use it? The storage bottles should arrive Wednesday. The chemicals are on their way from B&H. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354/169 "2024-10-06T19:58:36Z")
I always used metal tanks with tight-fitting caps, and just shook them. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354/170 "2024-10-06T20:22:11Z")
@Johnny_L.A , the video is ready, and it will hopefully provide some answers. I’ll post it after dinner–I just want to give it a quick view as I munch so I don’t post something with a terrible gaffe in it. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354/171 "2024-10-06T22:18:22Z")
@Johnny_L.A , the video is up. And, with apologies to @Pork_Rind , I apparently blathered on way too long because I seem to have spent 30m 15s in the video 🙂! It turns out to be really hard to make it more concise than that without accidentally dropping some explanation that might seem obvious to one, but isn’t obvious to another. Johnny, my goal was to take the chemicals I suggested and go through the full process one time. Once you have done that you’ll confidently start experimenting with all of the variables. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/PqvsjoC2wUE/maxresdefault.jpg "Developing one roll of black-and-white film, from soup to nuts!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqvsjoC2wUE) ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354/172 "2024-10-06T22:37:39Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > And, with apologies to @Pork_Rind , I apparently blathered on way too long because I seem to have spent 30m 15s in the video 🙂! Aw, don’t take any crap from me and my ADD tendencies. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354/173 "2024-10-06T23:08:40Z")
Excellent video! After all these years, I was shocked, SHOCKED - to learnthat the volumes needed are stamped onto the bottom of the Patterson tanks. I NEVER THOUGHT TO LOOK. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354/174 "2024-10-06T23:31:07Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > @Johnny_L.A , the video is up. Thank you! > [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > After all these years, I was shocked, SHOCKED - to learnthat the volumes needed are stamped onto the bottom of the Patterson tanks. Strangely, that sounded familiar – and not from 40years ago. One thing that threw me on the video was the pre-soak. I hadn’t seen that before. The other thing was: Do you not save your developer for re-use? ETA: I’ve ordered a 500ml graduated ‘pitcher’ that should arrive mañana. Graduations are in 50ml increments, and I’d rather have a finer scale; but I really just wanted a container that would hold at least 300ml. (The beaker set I ordered tops out at 250ml.) ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354/175 "2024-10-06T23:48:29Z")
The pre-soak is important. Most films have any number of coatings on them that need to removed. Black and white film has an anti-halation layer that rinses off pretty quickly. It often makes the first rinse look gray or even purplish. I’ve seen people say that you don’t have to rinse it off first, that it’ll just come off into the developer, but I think that’s lazy. Until you start cranking many rolls of film a day on a consistent basis and have a real production line going, developer is one shot - use it and it’s done. Schemes where you reuse the developer and replenish it a small amount every roll are really using processes meant for automated machine processing. I used to set up commercial size machines for doing imagesetter film processing and it’s a hassle of continuous testing and monitoring. You’d only do it because you can’t afford to throw away gallons of developer a day. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354/176 "2024-10-06T23:59:52Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > developer is one shot - use it and it’s done. If only there was a way to recover the silver! 😛 Incidentally, there’s a shot of clothespins weighing down the tail of the film. In filmmaking, clothespins are called C-47s. The story I heard was that ‘C-47’ was a catalogue number for clothespins, and the term entered the lexicon. Maybe that story isn’t true. (Or maybe it is. Who knows?) But whenever I see a wooden clothespin, my mind always says, ‘C-47.’ ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2024, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354/177 "2024-10-07T00:02:08Z")
The silver is in the Fixer. I used to save mine, and even precipitated it out one time, and got a few grams of silver, which was pretty worthless. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2024, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354/178 "2024-10-07T00:16:37Z")
Way back in the day, when I ran in the dark room at the printing facility I worked at, I had a storage area full of huge tanks of used fixer. I had an agreement with management that I could have whatever we got in value when we turned that in as long as I managed it and took care of the transportation. One morning I came in and it was all gone. Pretty sure one of the managers got tired of looking at all of the tanks and dumped it all down the drain the evening before I lost out on a good $50 out of that. Dumping fixer down the drain is illegal at any scale, let alone what a commercial print operation would produce. But that may have been one of the _less_ illegal acts that happened with a wink and a nod a a number of places I worked. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2024, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354/179 "2024-10-07T00:31:50Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > After all these years, I was shocked, SHOCKED - to learnthat the volumes needed are stamped onto the bottom of the Patterson tanks. Dude, you have forgotten more about film and photography than I will ever know! I got a laugh out of this though because for some reason I remembered that old phrase about “couldn’t pour p\*\*\* out off a boot with the instructions written on the heel”, though it in no way applies here. Anyway, thanks for the kind words. Just trying to help a friend out, and the need of a “end-to-end thin path” resonates with me–I struggle with people at work who just don’t know how to explain something. > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > One thing that threw me on the video was the pre-soak. I hadn’t seen that before. The other thing was: Do you not save your developer for re-use? Like Pork\_Rind said, there is stuff that rinses off of the film–I think Tri-X always turns the pre-soak water purple on me. That’s one reason why I mentioned not needing to worry about getting fingerprints on the film as you do the “black bag” work. And yes, it’s one-shot development, intended to be tossed. It works great for hobbyists. That 1000ml container of concentrate will be enough to develop 100 rolls using one-shot if you are using 10ml per roll. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2024, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354/180 "2024-10-07T00:36:27Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > That 1000ml container of concentrate will be enough to develop 100 rolls using one-shot if you are using 10ml per roll. But… But that means the developer will cost 50¢ per roll! 😲🤡 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-film-photography-thread/1007354.md?page=10)