King Island Project

At around $10,000 the Linhof Master Technika is the Rolls Royce of large format 4 x 5 cameras. But given a wish list (and a kindly benefactor) the King Island Project would certainly be shot almost entirely on that German engineered platform.

Ideally, I’d also do my own processing from negative to enlarged prints. Such are photographer’s dreams made in the dark hours before dawn. The more I think about the relevance of any outcomes a number of visits to the island and an ongoing series of photographs would be out to achieve the more I can see that large format is the ideal way to move ahead.

At this point, I’m shooting medium format 120 roll film. While it’s nice, don’t get me wrong, the work would be hugely enhanced with the 4 x 5.

While that idea is currently a pie in the sky and may never eventuate let’s just put it out there. Maybe Linhof would like to sponsor a grandson seeking to revisit his grandfather’s historically significant large format photographs (1900-1910)?

And maybe, with a population of around 2000 residents, somebody on King Island would be open to discussing skill-swap that could help with accommodation, food, transport or consumables. After all, I have an MBA, post graduate studies in Journalism, Media and Communications, a Bachelor of Computing and TAFE Certificate 4s in both Website Design and Website Administration.

I have skills to sell back into the melting pot of opportunity. Anyway, like I said… just putting it out there.

Note: This article is reprinted from today’s post on my weblog at StevenClark.com.au.

Following on from the previous article titled Processing Film in a Developing Tank it seems useful to supply a short list of random tips that should make the process more understandable to anybody wanting to give it a try. Hopefully, my mistakes can save others from repeating them.

1. After each developing session I tend to wash the spool in soap and water then dry it in a fresh breeze because any residual chemical or miniscule dampness causes the film to stick when feeding onto the spool.
2. A handy place to develop film is in the bathroom. Before a developing session run a hot shower for five minutes to capture dust. Then wipe down surfaces & quick damp mop the floor to collect the dust.
3. When loading the spool: use your fingers to drag the first part of 120 film into the spool for about 4 centimetres… the first part of the film has no images.
4. Consult a developing chart from the chemical manufacturer for mix ratios and corresponding times (ie. Ilford’s Film Processing Chart). Note also, these are starting points not fixed and fast rules.
5. Exact chemical ratios: buy a medicine measuring cup or a purpose designed photographic measuring cup for preparing your chemicals.
6. Measure the temperature of your chemicals with an oven thermometer (sit the jugs in a baking dish so you can add ice or boiling water to the dish to attain the exact chemical temperature – I place the thermometer in the developer).
7. Be precise: the three ways you can affect film development are time, temperature and strength of the developer. Precision is your control.
8. Consistency is also key to control: the more consistent you can make the developing process the more you will be able to predict the resulting negatives.
9. There is ‘good enough’ developer and there is ‘the best’ developer. Choice of chemical can be as important as choice of film – economically and for the quality of the negatives.
10. You can pull process over-exposed film and push process under-exposed film so understand your options while shooting (ie. 100 ASA film shot inside a building can be pushed 1 or 2 stops to either 200 or 400). The effect of pulling film in development is lower contrast and the effect of pushing film in development is higher contrast and grain.
11. The developer stage of processing film negatives is a lot more sensitive & unforgiving than the stop bath or fixer stages.
12. A portable film drying cabinet prevents a large amount of dust from reaching wet negatives.

Once you have a strip of dry film negatives (usually the next day I open the film drying cabinet) there are several choices. The most romantic is to create prints in a darkroom. However, you could purchase a high quality photo scanner to enable the creation of digital files from your analogue negatives. It means you can take those files into an image editing program and treat them as any other digital product.

Most of all, I hope people read these tips and give shooting and processing black and white film a first attempt. It’s neither hard, nor overly expensive. And the satisfaction of creating analogue photographs is another world entirely to the easy graft of contemporary digital photography.

I’m finding the closer I can get to creating ink on paper the more challenging and satisfying photography becomes. My next step is to create a darkroom.

Note: This article is reprinted from today’s post on my weblog at StevenClark.com.au.

If you are paying through your nose to develop analogue film, or are put off shooting analogue due to the processing expenses, you should consider buying a Paterson Super System 4 Developing Tank.

The Kit to get you Processing 35mm and 120 roll film

The Paterson Super System 4 will set you back around AUD$50 – mine cost $35 second-hand. The tank can process 35mm, 120 and 127 film rolls. You will need a reasonably large darkroom bag that will cost around $55 (mine is 27 inch by 30 inch). You will need a developer solution, a stop-bath solution and a fixer solution. They are used in that order – developer, stop bath and fixer. You will also need a few drops of wetting agent.

I use Ilford chemicals for black and white printing. Colour is a little harder and a lot more toxic so I suggest you stick to black and white; a good photo lab can still process any colour rolls you want to shoot.

Ilfotec LC29 (500ml) is a basic and stable developer… I use it at 1+19 (one part in 20) and at a cost of $38 it makes 10 Litres. This will process around 20 rolls of 120 medium format film, 27 rolls of 127 medium format film or 30 rolls of 35mm film. However, if you’re looking for the best Ilford developer the cost is approximately double – Ilfotec DD-X. This was developed for the Delta series of film but is recommended across the Ilford film range for best results.

Ilfotec Ilfostop (500ml) cost $20… it’s also used at 1+19 and makes 10 litres. However, I re-use this a second time so the value is doubled.

Ilford Hypam (5 litres) cost $55 and is used at 1+5 so it makes 25 litres. If you buy this in 5 litres it will cost about half per volume of the smaller bottles.

At the end of your processing you are going to need 2 small drops of a wetting agent before hanging the film to dry. Ilford Ilfotol 1 litre cost $31 but it’s a lifetime supply. If you can acquire it in a smaller and cheaper bottle then all the better.

You’ll also need (something similar to) three 500ml Pyrex jugs, a ceramic baking dish, an oven thermometer, a small measuring cup and a small medicine measuring cup, an eye dropper and a clock with a second hand. Finally, chemical resistant latex gloves.

The Process in Easy Steps

Assuming you have 120 film to process, you need to put the pieces of the developing tank inside the darkroom bag so your film won’t be exposed to light. Alternatively, you could do this in a pitch dark room. Feed back the paper until you reach the film and feed it onto the spool using the back-and-forth feeding motion.

Once in the film is on the spool and safely in the light-tight environment of the developing tank you can head to the bathroom.

Measure out the correct quantities and fill the three pyrex jugs to appropriate levels of chemical for the type film being developed (35mm, 127 or 120). Place the three jugs, in order, into your ceramic baking dish and submerge the end of the oven thermometer into the developer. The temperature needs to be approximately 20 degrees celsius (68 degrees farenheit).

You should consult the Ilford Film Processing Chart to see how long your specific film variety and speed need to be developed in the specific developer you are utilising. If your quantities, temperature and time are controlled the results are more predictable.

The process of using the developing tank is simple (Google will offer up a number of instructional videos).

Pour the jug of developer into the top of the developer tank and slowly rotate end over end for half a minute then tap the bottom of the developing tank three times on the sink to release bubbles from the film surface. Every 30 seconds slowly rotate the tank one more time and tap three times on the sink. For example, if you shot Ilford Delta Professional 400 then your development time as indicated on the Ilford Film Processing Chart will be 7 and a half minutes.

Then remove the top cap to pour out the developer. Pour in the stop bath solution and continually but slowly rotate the developing tank for two minutes.

Again, pour out the stop bath solution and pour in the jug of fixer. Rotate the developing tank for the first 30 seconds and tap three times then continue to rotate the tank once every 30 seconds for the next 9 minutes. Don’t forget to tap the bottom of the tank three times onto the sink after each rotation. At the end of the 9 minutes, pour out the fixer solution.

At this point the film is processed. Unscrew the top off the developing tank and, under running water, agitate the roll of film inside the open tank for 15-20 minutes to remove any traces of chemical.

Finally, fill the open tank with water (you may use distilled water if necessary) and add two drops of the wetting agent to stop the film drying with unsightly water marks. And hang your film overnight… or until dry. I use a home-made film drying cabinet to prevent unnecessary dust on my negatives.

The next day I use an Epson Perfection V600 scanner to bring the images into software for minor editing & dust removal. Voila.

Developing Film is Easy & Affordable

The big take-away from this article should be that processing black and white analogue film is easy and affordable. It costs somewhere between $3-$5 to process a roll of film into negatives… a little bit more if you want to use the best developer Ilford offer. I have a small jar and every time I process somebody’s film I just drop in $5 to help replace the chemicals.

Yes, there are initial outlays for kit including the tank, the darkroom bag and ongoing consumables. But compare that to the cost of going to the processing lab with every roll of film you want to shoot. And factor in the benefits of owning the kit – just like you own and control your own camera equipment.

All I can do is encourage you to give shooting analogue film a go… the worst that can happen is you get a few flat photographs and give up. The best? You discover the tactile experience of analogue photography. Also, if we shoot film they’ll continue to make film… if we shoot only digital then we’ll lose the choice.

My next article will be a number of small tips on getting the best out of your experience at processing your own film in the developing tank. Small things that can save you from bumps and bruises along the way.