I've been loading film for 45 years, and I never thought of starting the leader outside the bag and then loading it directly from the canister. Very smart. I've always pried the canister apart in the dark and the fumbled around trying to load it. You've just made my life much easier.
Haha, that's exactly what I was doing for a looong time! Glad this idea helped to make your workflow a bit more efficient. :) If you do not have a film retriever there is also a method where you only need another roll of film to retrieve the beginning of the film!
I haven't developed film in many, many years. Seeing your video almost makes me want to try it again. I still remember the excitement the first time I developed a roll of film. It was like magic, seeing the negatives images appear after the process was completed. Thanks for reminding me of that experience.
Comments like these make me so happy, thanks for sharing! :) Sometimes developing can be a pain and take a lot of time, but most of the time it’s so giving and such a fun step in the whole journey. I also remember the first time I developed a roll and it was indeed pure magic! ⚡️
Hi Karin! It might be a bit weird to write a comment in a two years old videoblog, but well.. I'm interested in analogic photography (meaning -> I've just bought a Canon AE1 and a couple of BW rolls and I've expended days watching videos and reading a lot of info about 35mm and Medium Format photo). I find the process to develop films not quite complicated, at least to begin with it, but the point where doubts and questions rise is at the scanning moment. Scanners like Epson are expensive. Is there any cheaper option to begin with? Thanks in advance. Greetings from sunny southern Spain. Love your videos -> you got me expending hours looking for Bronica info. Enric.
More great content. I am planning to shoot some very expired 4x5 film (39 and 53 years) and hoping for some grainy, moody results. Need to pic the right scenes to make the most of the look. I really like how your images came out
@@KarinMajoka I won't know for a few days, my new Intrepid 4x5 camera is a birthday present and I must wait till Friday to open it. Been 20 years since I shot large format so will need to learn all over again. Like you I got large format film before I had the camera (just watched your film inventory video lol)
@@anthonymiller8979 It's a waiting game then, I would be so so excited if I were you! By the way, I shot 4x5 for the first time a week ago and it's super addictive. I NEED to get a 4x5 camera at some point in the future. Would love to hear your impressions on the Intrepid once you got to take some birthday shots and try it out for a bit. :)
@@KarinMajoka The expired film was not so hot. The1979 film, Tr-X Pro has significant fog and little contrast, might experiment with it a bit more though. The older stuff from the late 60s was extremely fogged and dark and I could barely make out an image, even the film borders were nearly black so I know it was base fog from age, not an exposure issue. Loved my HP5 images though. The Intrepid is fun but not perfect. certainly worth the asking price as far as being functional so far but too early for a real verdict on whether it is better to just save for something better at 2x to 3x the price.
nice one! ... oh and have fun with C41 developing.... it is a bit tricky at 1st but in the end iIdid like it even more ;) have to be quick tho' ;) sadly i kinda don't do developing myself anymore ..... time issue and I don''t like scanning film ... takes too long , getting the negatives nice and clean into the scanner and waiting around and stuff ... rather spend the money and send it to meinfilmlab ;)
Thanks for your comment! I developed a couple of rolls of C41 by now and it was surprisingly easy and fast, even though I had plenty of "respect" before. And I can totally understand why some people do not want to go through the whole process from developing to scanning all by oneself. Luckily I enjoy the process a lot, because I don't have the money to send all my film to a lab anyway haha
Nice video. I have similar problem with the greyish film base. Do you know if this is under-develop or under-fix? Or how to produce a clear film base per say? Thx
In this case it has a grey base fog due to the age of the film - the film I developed in the video was almost 20 years old and probably not stored well. with a fresh film there should not be any base fog. However, you can use something like potassium bromide to reduce fog in older films.
Fog can be less severe or even avoid using Benzotriazole, it needs to be diluted in the stock developer, but I think it could be used in the one shot solution adding really little grains of it.
That’s some really really good advice, thanks so much for sharing! I have read something about benzotriazole but did not get to trying it out yet. A one-roll-solution would be interesting indeed!
So, what you are telling us in this video is to shoot at box speed but over develop by 2 stops and give it a couple of minutes more, just to be sure. You need to read "Elements" by the late Barry Thornton.
No, I did not shoot them at box speed but iso 800 and overdeveloped them by a tiny bit to compensate for the years of expiration. With expired film you cannot get all that mathematical and precise anyway. Thanks for the recommendation!
Hi Karin, curious why you waited a day for part a to dissolve? Ive used xtol for awhile and never had problems mixing part a and b in the same day (probably gave 20 minutes slowly pouring and stirring the chemicals for each part). I know it reccomends to fully dissolve part A, but I dont see why that would take longer than a couple of hours with good mixing. Either way, great photos!
This video is about 4 years old so to be completely honest: I don't know 😂 I think I remember reading in forums that it's not necessary but recommended to let part A ideally rest over night. I was not in a rush for developing, if I needed fresh developer earlier, I probably would just continue with part B quickly after.
I've been loading film for 45 years, and I never thought of starting the leader outside the bag and then loading it directly from the canister. Very smart. I've always pried the canister apart in the dark and the fumbled around trying to load it. You've just made my life much easier.
Haha, that's exactly what I was doing for a looong time! Glad this idea helped to make your workflow a bit more efficient. :) If you do not have a film retriever there is also a method where you only need another roll of film to retrieve the beginning of the film!
@@KarinMajoka Yes! I know that trick.
I haven't developed film in many, many years. Seeing your video almost makes me want to try it again. I still remember the excitement the first time I developed a roll of film. It was like magic, seeing the negatives images appear after the process was completed. Thanks for reminding me of that experience.
Comments like these make me so happy, thanks for sharing! :) Sometimes developing can be a pain and take a lot of time, but most of the time it’s so giving and such a fun step in the whole journey. I also remember the first time I developed a roll and it was indeed pure magic! ⚡️
Hi Karin!
It might be a bit weird to write a comment in a two years old videoblog, but well..
I'm interested in analogic photography (meaning -> I've just bought a Canon AE1 and a couple of BW rolls and I've expended days watching videos and reading a lot of info about 35mm and Medium Format photo). I find the process to develop films not quite complicated, at least to begin with it, but the point where doubts and questions rise is at the scanning moment. Scanners like Epson are expensive. Is there any cheaper option to begin with?
Thanks in advance. Greetings from sunny southern Spain. Love your videos -> you got me expending hours looking for Bronica info.
Enric.
Great, informative video. Good job!
Glad to hear that, thanks!
More great content. I am planning to shoot some very expired 4x5 film (39 and 53 years) and hoping for some grainy, moody results. Need to pic the right scenes to make the most of the look. I really like how your images came out
So, how did your 30+ years old sheet film turn out? Fingers crossed you were able to achieve the look you were going for. :)
@@KarinMajoka I won't know for a few days, my new Intrepid 4x5 camera is a birthday present and I must wait till Friday to open it. Been 20 years since I shot large format so will need to learn all over again. Like you I got large format film before I had the camera (just watched your film inventory video lol)
@@anthonymiller8979 It's a waiting game then, I would be so so excited if I were you! By the way, I shot 4x5 for the first time a week ago and it's super addictive. I NEED to get a 4x5 camera at some point in the future. Would love to hear your impressions on the Intrepid once you got to take some birthday shots and try it out for a bit. :)
@@KarinMajoka The expired film was not so hot. The1979 film, Tr-X Pro has significant fog and little contrast, might experiment with it a bit more though. The older stuff from the late 60s was extremely fogged and dark and I could barely make out an image, even the film borders were nearly black so I know it was base fog from age, not an exposure issue. Loved my HP5 images though. The Intrepid is fun but not perfect. certainly worth the asking price as far as being functional so far but too early for a real verdict on whether it is better to just save for something better at 2x to 3x the price.
nice one! ... oh and have fun with C41 developing.... it is a bit tricky at 1st but in the end iIdid like it even more ;) have to be quick tho' ;) sadly i kinda don't do developing myself anymore ..... time issue and I don''t like scanning film ... takes too long , getting the negatives nice and clean into the scanner and waiting around and stuff ... rather spend the money and send it to meinfilmlab ;)
Thanks for your comment! I developed a couple of rolls of C41 by now and it was surprisingly easy and fast, even though I had plenty of "respect" before. And I can totally understand why some people do not want to go through the whole process from developing to scanning all by oneself. Luckily I enjoy the process a lot, because I don't have the money to send all my film to a lab anyway haha
Nice video. I have similar problem with the greyish film base. Do you know if this is under-develop or under-fix? Or how to produce a clear film base per say? Thx
In this case it has a grey base fog due to the age of the film - the film I developed in the video was almost 20 years old and probably not stored well. with a fresh film there should not be any base fog. However, you can use something like potassium bromide to reduce fog in older films.
Fog can be less severe or even avoid using Benzotriazole, it needs to be diluted in the stock developer, but I think it could be used in the one shot solution adding really little grains of it.
That’s some really really good advice, thanks so much for sharing! I have read something about benzotriazole but did not get to trying it out yet. A one-roll-solution would be interesting indeed!
So, what you are telling us in this video is to shoot at box speed but over develop by 2 stops and give it a couple of minutes more, just to be sure. You need to read "Elements" by the late Barry Thornton.
No, I did not shoot them at box speed but iso 800 and overdeveloped them by a tiny bit to compensate for the years of expiration. With expired film you cannot get all that mathematical and precise anyway. Thanks for the recommendation!
What film retriever do you use?
Hi Karin, curious why you waited a day for part a to dissolve? Ive used xtol for awhile and never had problems mixing part a and b in the same day (probably gave 20 minutes slowly pouring and stirring the chemicals for each part). I know it reccomends to fully dissolve part A, but I dont see why that would take longer than a couple of hours with good mixing. Either way, great photos!
This video is about 4 years old so to be completely honest: I don't know 😂 I think I remember reading in forums that it's not necessary but recommended to let part A ideally rest over night. I was not in a rush for developing, if I needed fresh developer earlier, I probably would just continue with part B quickly after.
About those sweaty hands in the changing bag, I always use nitrile gloves to load films, much easier :-)
thanks, I will give it a try next time! :)
Hi Karin!
What is the film lead retriever you have?
Mine is from Hama, I got mine used. :)
was für ein scanner benutzt du?
I benutze einen Epson Perfection V500
@@KarinMajoka danke =)