Developing Film 4b – Process

This is the second installment of a two-part update of an earlier post describing my 35mm film developing process.

It takes me about half an hour to develop a roll of 35mm black and white film. Here’s how I do it. 

I set up four color coded 300ml graduates. I put 5ml of Rodinal in the developer graduate, add distilled water to make 250ml and mix thoroughly. I put 250ml of working fixer in the fixer graduate. I put 250ml of plain distilled water in the stop bath graduate and in the wash water graduate. 

CAUTION! I wear nitrile gloves and eye protection when handling the undiluted Rodinal. It is highly caustic, like drain cleaner, and can cause injury if mishandled. 

I put the thermometer in the developer graduate and enter the reading into the Massive Dev Chart app on my iPhone. 

I pour the developer into the developing tank, put on the cap, start the Massive Dev Chart timer, and invert the tank ten times. I then invert the tank four times at one minute intervals until the timer sounds. 

I remove the cap, pour the used developer down the drain, pour in the plain distilled water stop bath, replace the cap and invert the tank four times.

I remove the cap, pour the water stop bath down the drain, pour in the fixer, replace the cap and invert the tank four times. I then invert the tank four times at one minute intervals until a total of three minutes had elapsed.

I remove the cap, pour the fixer back into the glass jar, and make a mark on the blue tape to indicate another roll processed. When there are ten marks on the tape I set the bottle aside to mix another batch of fixer.

I pour 250ml of distilled water into the developing tank, replace the cap and invert the tank five times. 

I remove the cap, pour the water down the drain, pour in 250ml of distilled water, replace the cap and invert the tank ten times. 

I remove the cap, pour the water down the drain, pour in 250ml of distilled water, replace the cap and invert the tank twenty times. 

I open the tank, remove the film, firmly hold the two ends and snap it straight several times to remove excess water, attach the film clips, and hang the film up to dry in the most dust free place in the house – the shower stall. 

Done!