Processing black and white film at home is easy and very budget-friendly.
You can teach yourself in one evening.
You don't need a darkroom.
With nothing more than a portable dark-bag, a film processing tank, a thermometer, and a standard kitchen-style measuring cup
from the dollar store, you have all the equipment you need (and the total cost should be less than about $50).
The chemistry you need is readily available in most cities (call your local camera store and ask), or easy to find online.
You need (a) developer, (b) stop bath, and (c) fixer.
In fact, you don't really need to buy developer. You can make a perfectly acceptable developer for black and white film
with instant coffee, ascorbic acid (vitamin C in granular or powder form), and washing soda (Arm and Hammer brand washing soda
is widely available and very inexpensive). Washing soda is sodium carbonate, also known as soda ash. Most health-food stores offer granular ascorbic acid. You can find the Frugal Photographer coffee developer formula here: Coffee Developer
You can probably find all of these at one of the larger supermarkets near you.
Also, you don't really need stop bath. A plain water rinse works just fine. The reason to use stop bath is to extend
the useful life of your fixer. If you decide to do that, you can make your own stop bath from ordinary household vinegar,
or powdered citric acid from the health-food store.
But you do need fixer. The only chemical that will fix photographic film and paper is sodium thiosulfate. There are no supermarket
substitutes for sodium thiosulfate. Fortunately, it's very inexpensive. You will also need sodium sulfite, which supermarkets
are unlikely to stock, but which is sold by many winemaking supply stores, and by all online stores that sell raw photo chemicals.
A bit of history...
People have been developing their own photographs since the 1850s. The hobby took off spectacularly in the 1890s.
By the 1940s home darkroom work was a huge industry, with millions of avid participants in every country on the globe. A dozen monthly
magazines competed for readers and for advertising dollars in the English-speaking world alone. A huge, multinational industry, from Japan to Germany, Italy, France, the UK,
and the USA, catered to a worldwide community of amateur photographers who invested countless hours and a large fraction of
their disposable incomes in their hobby.
At the time of George Eastman's death in 1932 (he was the founder of Kodak), he was worth more than
two billion dollars in today's money (an interesting read:
Eastman's wealth).
After about 1950, color photography became less expensive, and by about 1975, snapshot photographers had almost completely moved
away from black and white to color. Color processing labs were everywhere, and color processing had finally become affordable.
Color processing is difficult to do at home because of its strict temperature-control requirements, and the long decline of the
home darkroom was well under way.
Here we are now, in the second decade of the 21st century, and the once-common home darkroom is a rarity. The gigantic worldwide
industry that supported millions of hobbyists in 1940 has shrunk to a tiny cohort of small, highly-specialized suppliers serving
a small, worldwide community of experimentally-minded, adventurous visionaries who are keeping a valuable antique craft alive
and securing its place as a valid, 21st-century art form.
Beware the Internet
Because so much attention and money was being lavished on amateur darkroom work during the century between 1870 and 1970, and so
little in recent decades, there is a lot of outdated information out there about film processing, in particular about
chemical formulas. Old formularies (books of formulae) are plentiful, and many formulae have been lifted uncritically from them
into web pages or online forums.
In general, any collection of 19th or 20th century formulae will not be useful except for its historical interest.
Many films and papers available today
are significantly different from those available in the early 20th century, and many of the chemicals used in those old formulae are
less than ideal for modern materials. Some are now recognized as toxic, and must be used with care (or, better, avoided). Some are
no longer legal for environmental reasons (lead and mercury compounds, for example). Most have limited shelf lives once mixed
and are wasteful if you aren't processing a lot of film.
There are exceptions, of course. The classic MQ/PQ formulation like D76 (a Kodak formula from the 1930s), and ID-11 (Ilford's version
of the same formula, but with Phenidone instead of Metol) are still highly useful developers, and are very popular. The thiosulfate fixers
available today have not changed significantly since Sir William Herschel taught Henry Fox Talbot how to make silver-halide images
permanent in 1819.
Mixing your own developer from raw chemicals is a rewarding and engrossing pastime. If you process much film,
it can save you quite a bit of money. Safe and effective modern formulae make use of phenidone or dimezone, ascorbic
acid, and sometimes hydroquione. All of these are inexpensive and not particularly difficult to source.
Older formulae use metol (which can irritate some people's skin), PPD (paraphenylene diamine), which is a dangerous allergen and
makes persistent stains, or glycin (a good, safe developer that is very difficult to source). Unless you have some training
in handling toxic chemicals in a laboratory setting, you should probably avoid pyrogallol and pyrocatechol. Some formulae use
sodium hydroxide, which is highly corrosive. Sodium hydroxide is also known as lye, a common household drain
cleaner. You can use it if you are careful, but it makes more sense to choose a formula that uses sodium carbonate,
which is a common laundry ingredient and not corrosive.
You don't have to mix chemicals at home. Both Kodak and Ilford make pre-mixed developers
that are modern, safe, and have long shelf lives. They easily found online and are stocked by many larger camera stores.
Foma Bohemia, an under-appreciated manufacturer in the charming old town of Hradec Kralove
in Czechia (the former Czech Republic), has a long history of making quality products that are sold by major North American and
European mail-order houses, and by some camera stores. Their films, papers, and darkroom chemicals are excellent in every way
and very economical. Adox in Berlin
is an often-overlooked smaller manufacturer with excellent products that are easily sourced by mail and are stocked by some camera stores.
Some important tips
Every standard film can be developed in any standard developer, but every specific film-developer combination gives markedly different
images. The same film can turn out low-contrast, or high-contrast, or soft, or harsh, depending on the developer you choose
and the time, temperature, and agitation technique you use. Always start with the film manufacturer's recommendations, and
then you have a baseline for more experimentation.
Modern tabular grain films (like Kodak T-Max and Ilford Delta) are significantly different from cubic-grain films like Kodak Tri-X
and Ilford HP-5. Some developers work best with tabular grain films, and some with cubic. Be sure to consult the manufacturer's instructions
before you choose your film-developer combination. You will be happier.
Film processing is a series of chemical reactions that are sensitive to temperature. Always use developer, stop bath, and
fixer that are at the recommended temperature (plus or minus no more than a degree or two). Some developer ingredients, like hydroquinone,
are extremely sensitive to temperature variations. Your thermometer is your most important darkroom tool.
Timing matters. Some developers give you good negatives in just a few minutes; others take as a quarter of an hour or more. Your best
guide is always to start with the manufacturer's recommendations before you start making changes. Use a timer so you can be consistent
from one batch of film to the next. Your timer is your second-most important darkroom tool.
It doesn't matter whether you use a plastic or metal developing tank. We are decades past the time when some plastics were
adversely affected by some chemicals. It's true that metal tanks can be warmed or cooled more quickly than plastic. But it's also
true that plastic film reels are a lot easier to use than metal spiral reels. Use whichever you happen to have and don't worry
about changing to something else.
Agitation matters. Shaking, turning, rolling, or rotating the processing tank during processing is what keeps a constant
flow of fresh chemical circulating across the surface of the film. Without good agitation films can develop unevenly — heavily-exposed
image areas become blotchy and lightly-exposed shadows are underdeveloped. Constant
agitation usually results in seriously over-developed film. The best general rule is to roll, shake, or invert the tank for a few seconds
every half-minute. Use your timer so you can agitate consistently from batch to batch.
You should not overlook the serious problem of water spots on film. They are anything but harmless. If drops of water dry on the
gelatin surface of the film you just developed, they actually deform the surface of the film and become an ineradicable blemish. The
solution is to always finish your processing with a rinse in water (distilled or deionized, preferably) that contains a wetting agent.
The non-foaming wetting agent we make and sell under the name Spotstat™ is highly concentrated, requiring only a drop
or two per roll of film. It has
antistatic properties and, when used correctly, reduces the chance of water spots to almost zero.
