Reddit reviews HIKA Black Photography Cameras Film Changing Darkroom Bag Dark Room Developing Tank
We found 6 Reddit comments about HIKA Black Photography Cameras Film Changing Darkroom Bag Dark Room Developing Tank. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Open Size: 65 x 55cm (23.6 x 21.6"), enough room for Bulk Loading FilmDense grain and high-quality lining cloth fabric,with inside and outside the two elastic cuffs ports, high-quality zipper bag end and nylon gluingLayer sealed to ensure the operation is not leaked, shading performance absolute guaranteedPortable and high quality. easy to use.100% Brand new.
I've developed around 200 rolls of film and have never set foot in a dark room. You only need darkrooms if you want to make prints. To go from undeveloped to developed negatives you only need a "daylight" tank (Paterson is a popular brand) and a Dark bag.
Here is everything you need to get started with black and white stand development:
1 reel tank
Dark bag
Church key bottle opener
Scissors with long-ish blades
Adox Rodinal
Fixer
10ml syringe - you will need this to measure rodinal and fixer accurately
generic measuring cups
Optional but nice:
Film clips - you can also substitute laundry clips or use the clips on pants hangers.
Film Squeegee - you can also just use your fingers coated in a bit of water with a drop of soap in it.
Negative Holders
The process is pretty easy.
1) shoot film and rewind entirely into cartridge
2) put tank, reel, lid, cartridge, bottle opener and scissors into bag. Shut off lights - it doesn't need to be perfectly dark, just no intense light.
3) open cartridge with bottle opener, remove film, cut off leader, spool onto reel, put reel into tank, close lid, remove everything from dark bag.
4) mix up a 1:100 solution of rodinal to water making ~300ml (3ml rodinal, 300ml of water)
5) add mixture to tank (do not remove the inner lid), agitate a few times and set a timer for 1 hour
6) during that 1 hour you should mix up a 1:9 solution of fixer (30ml fixer, 270ml water)
7) after an hour, pour out developer, fill and empty the tank with water a few times. Then fill and agitate 5 times, empty, fill and agitate 10 times, empty, fill and agitate 20 times, empty
8) add fixer solution. Agitate for 30 seconds. Then for 6 minutes agitate for 5 seconds every 30 seconds. While you do this, run your shower on its hottest setting until done (this will eliminate most airborn dust in your bathroom)
9) pour the fixer in a air tight container and store it in a dark place (you can use the same mix of fixer about 3 times, adding 2 minutes each time) and repeat the rinsing procedure from step 7
10) open the tank, hang the film somewhere in your bathroom (I usually hang mind from the shower curtain rod using coat hangers), squeegee the film off in 2-3 passes and leave it to dry
11) after 1 hour you should cut the film into strips of 6 exposures each and store in your negative holders
And there you have it, you have developed black and white film! The process is very easy and gets easier every time you do it. Stand development is also VERY economically efficient as you barely use any rodinal per roll and you can reuse the fixer. It massively raises your films apparent sharpness and contrast and can correct for missed exposures to a ridiculous degree. Also, if you want to develop multiple film speeds in one tank, it can do that!
I am happy to answer any questions ANYONE has about home film developing.
You buy reusable cartridges that allow you to reload them. Then, in a darkroom, or a dark room, or a dark bag, you unspool the length you want from the main roll, and load it onto the spool in the cartridge, and then seal it up and take it out, and then you use it just like a normal roll of film.
You don't actually need a dark room, it's a common misconception. You only need that if you plan to use an enlarger and make your own prints. I don't, but only due to lack of space in my apartment - I scan them in and order prints at Costco or Bartells like any normal digital scan.
If you get one of the Paterson Reel tanks like I have in that photo, you just need a changing bag. Put your 1-2 rolls of film, a bottle opener, a pair of scissors, and all the tank pieces in the bag. Seal it up, pop open the film canister with the bottle opener, then spool the film onto the reels. Put both reels back in the tank and seal it up. Everything else can be done in daylight. (you can skip the bag and do this in a pitch black room like your bathroom or a closet if you want. I prefer the bag- I can sit on the couch and watch TV while I spool rolls).
Then you're just dumping in chemicals on a timed schedule and then unspooling and hanging them to dry when complete. B&W is roughly 13 minutes a batch at diluted 1+1, or 6 minutes at stock (full strength) solution. Stock just uses it up twice as fast, but saves time.
B&W = developer (12-15 minutes for most films at 1+1 - check the massive dev chart -> stop bath (1 minute) -> fixer (1 minute) -> rinse (2-3 minutes) -> hang to dry (2ish hours or until totally dry).
Color = developer (6ish minutes) -> blix (2-3 minutes) -> rinse (2-3 minutes) -> stabilizer (1 minute) -> hang to dry (2ish hours).
I'm pulling those numbers from memory, but the unicolor kit has a good guide with it.
Stuff you need
For B&W film - you use the 1+1 developer one time (150ml per roll of film) and dump it when you finish. Which means that 1L D-76 pouch gives you 6 rolls of film. I buy mine in the 1G bags to mix up as they're cheaper, but you need a 1G plastic bottle to store it. For color film that kit does 8-9 rolls of film. The bigger 1G kits are more expensive and you can also buy the chemicals separately. Color is picky because you need to keep it at a constant 103F the whole time or risk ruining them, hence the bucket (or a bathtub). Color developer and all other chemicals you dump back into bottles and re-use until it's used up.
The color film process is actually really well documented in the booklet that comes with the unicolor kit.
If you ever want a hands on trial, I can do a video of the process or a demo at my apartment (my fiance thinks it looks like I'm doing crazy mad science stuff every time)
Check out /r/analog for weekly advice threads or some of these helpful links:
I've found a changing bag like this to be really helpful when diagnosing problems. You can't see but you can feel around to see if the takeup reel has film or not.
You're gonna need chemicals
Other materials:
I was able to obtain most of these except the developing tank, dark, bag, and chemicals cheaply. But the FPP does offer a full kit for sale through their store.
They also have a pretty helpful video, and there are a bunch of walkthroughs online. I'll list a couple.
The first guide has you warming your chemicals in a bath, I use a home depot bucket.
It's a different avenue, but you can buy darkroom bag linke this one on Amazon and then transfer to another cartridge. That's what I do when a battery pack dies on me.