I spoke to Jamie Macdonald about my project and asked if I may use the college dark room for some test processing and pick the brains of their technicians at the same time, which he was happy for me to do.
I arranged with Steven and Tim the photography technicians a convenient time to have access to the dark room, when I wouldn’t interfere with any scheduled activities. Later that week, on Friday afternoon, I called over to photography with my equipment and films as prearranged.
Tim came up stairs to the dark room with me to show me the
facilities, their working practices and help me to get set up. He was very
helpful telling me a basic procedure and mixing the chemicals. The developer
was mixed at 1:1 (Ilford ID11) and whilst the Developer was cooling to 20°C he
left me alone to get on with it. The liquid took a shocking amount of time to
cool easily 2 hours. However this time allowed me to snip ends off the test
footage shot on expired Kodachrome 25 film with a Kodak Brownie 8mm camera Mk2
and also a Meopta Admica 8F, also an 8mm camera, load them into the tank and mix
up a ltr solution of Borax (with approximately 2 teaspoons). Then I waited and
waited whilst the temperature of the developer dropped…then after a long wait, I
went for lunch.
Processing the film
When I came back and after more waiting, eventually the temperature was correct. This only left me an hour or so before college shut for the weekend to run through the process. I put my Borax solution into the tank to soak for ten minutes.
I drained the tank of the Borax (which came out darkly stained) and re-filled it with fresh water to rinse the film of the previous chemical before again draining it.
I filled the tank with the developer which was to be in for 10mins. The film was agitated, constantly for the first minute and then 30secs every minute thereafter for the duration.
The tank was drained of developer and again rinsed with water, twice, before being drained again.
Next, I filled the tank with the fixative for 10mins, once the time was up the tank was drained and again rinsed twice (wetting agent was added to the second wash, which aids film drying).
When I came back and after more waiting, eventually the temperature was correct. This only left me an hour or so before college shut for the weekend to run through the process. I put my Borax solution into the tank to soak for ten minutes.
I drained the tank of the Borax (which came out darkly stained) and re-filled it with fresh water to rinse the film of the previous chemical before again draining it.
I filled the tank with the developer which was to be in for 10mins. The film was agitated, constantly for the first minute and then 30secs every minute thereafter for the duration.
The tank was drained of developer and again rinsed with water, twice, before being drained again.
Next, I filled the tank with the fixative for 10mins, once the time was up the tank was drained and again rinsed twice (wetting agent was added to the second wash, which aids film drying).
The moment of truth
With it being safe to do so, and with anticipation, I opened the tank. Inside was a mucky looking piece of undeveloped film!
With it being safe to do so, and with anticipation, I opened the tank. Inside was a mucky looking piece of undeveloped film!
Along some edged of the film it could be seen that the
developer had touched them and they were partially developed.
With little time left before the college closed, I raced to prepare and develop another test strip. I followed the same procedure as the first time, the only difference being that after test filling the tank with water to find the required volume (empty of film), I filled the tank with 1200ml of liquid during process.
I opened the lid expectantly and saw an amber coloured piece of clear film. No images, perhaps the films were just too old (having expired in 1992)? People on the net had complained bitterly about the problems with remjet, one commenter stating how he had had to scrub it off. I saw the lack of any visible on the film as a bad sign. I wondered if the film emulsions where degrading and if the film was past it, all quite disappointing really.
With little time left before the college closed, I raced to prepare and develop another test strip. I followed the same procedure as the first time, the only difference being that after test filling the tank with water to find the required volume (empty of film), I filled the tank with 1200ml of liquid during process.
I opened the lid expectantly and saw an amber coloured piece of clear film. No images, perhaps the films were just too old (having expired in 1992)? People on the net had complained bitterly about the problems with remjet, one commenter stating how he had had to scrub it off. I saw the lack of any visible on the film as a bad sign. I wondered if the film emulsions where degrading and if the film was past it, all quite disappointing really.
 |
| test strips |
Despite the unsatisfactory outcome the dark room experiments
were a good learning experience as to the equipment and practices normally used
and made me reconsider some aspects of how I intended to approach development
in the home. Better liquid control would be needed and I decided that a large
sealed under bed storage box may be a good alternative to not having a huge
sink to work in. access to ice to cool the chemicals to temperature would also
help. A decent timer would also be a great help as the timer on my phone was
unsatisfactory
NOTE – on the volume of working chemicals in the tank
When I first got my tank and worked out the various setups dependant on film gauge I included the plastic threaded ring to the bottom reel to minimise the gap between the lid and the rotating funnel. I have since revised my tank set up and volume of fluid is as stated in the tank specification (1ltr). I still don’t know what the other ring is for though, and the bottom half of the reel which is designed to fit the bottom of the tank still has a corresponding screw thread on it?
When I first got my tank and worked out the various setups dependant on film gauge I included the plastic threaded ring to the bottom reel to minimise the gap between the lid and the rotating funnel. I have since revised my tank set up and volume of fluid is as stated in the tank specification (1ltr). I still don’t know what the other ring is for though, and the bottom half of the reel which is designed to fit the bottom of the tank still has a corresponding screw thread on it?
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