Developing Black and White Film at Home For COMPLETE BEGINNERS 

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Hey there, chemist here, for your stop step you can probably just use white distilled vinegar you buy at the grocery store. You just need something mildly acidic to quickly neutralize the developer.

i am an old dude, that developed many rolls and sheets of film. i just watched this as a lark. you did a pretty good job. i am impressed...keep it up.

I love that, makes a mockery of just digital photography & shows you how to think about your images & doing it properly ❤

I received a Darkroom Development kit for Christmas from my parents when I was 10. I did this for several decades until digital cameras came along. Now I want to get back to old school and go back to film and paper developing. I came here just to refresh my memory. It is time to set up a new Darkroom and go back to Old School.

As an OG film developer, I have to say this is a very, very well done video. Would love to see you do a video about stand developing. I feel it’s one of the easiest ways to develop b and w. But this method is the way one should first learn.

Excellent video! OG Photographer here. I've been watching a bunch of these to refresh my memory of Photography Class in H.S.. This is a better explanation than my teacher gave. He confused most of the students. One of the other students and I were in Chemistry together, so it wasn't so bad for us, but we come from a farming community, and his explanations threw a good third of us for a loop. Your explanation would've been better for them, and wouldn't have left out us Chem students and the ones who were already shutter bugs. Also, that "Knowledge is Power!" clip really took me back. Thank you.

As a cash-strapped college student in the late 1960's, I learned how to "twist away" on the agitation rod (thermometer included!) of a Yankee plastic tank. It was a simplified (non-invertible) version of the JOBO and Paterson plastic tanks seen these days. I got a tad impatient at having to completely dry the 120/135/16mm collapsible plastic reel, and soon graduated to Nikor and Kindermann plastic/stainless steel tanks and reels. I used a Film Changing Bag, and Kodak HC-110, but graduated to D-76. Diluting the HC-110 concentrate to 1:15 resulted in a "hotter than 68 degrees Fahrenheit" liquid. Endothermic reaction not helped by local "room temperature" starting at 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Indicator Stop Bath and powdered Fixer were next, the latter replaced by Rapid Fixer. Why D-76? I was using a variety of films found at Freestyle Sales, which marketed ORWO, Ilford, and Adox film. As a "Classic" film developer, one could find a starting point to develop these films in the same tank, which is/was another money saver.;)

Great video!!! I have been developing film since the 70s and it was so nice to see a clear video of how to do it. I am sure you helped some people who are afraid of doing it ... I still have trouble with 35mm on plastic reels, but am a boss with 120!!!

I had a dream last night that I was processing film that was in my cabinet over 15 years. I watch your video as a refresher, great video. After so many years let’s see what developers.

there is literally only one developing studio (one guy) in the whole country where i live lmao, thank you for the in-depth video! genuinely.

I only wished you put this video out a month ago when I first started home developing. So much wisdom here and thank you so much for making this video!!

Pro Tip. Don't mix up developer and Fixer. Happend to me recentely

the easiest way to load Patterson reels is to get the leader started in light before putting it in the bag. if you forget to leave the leader out when rewinding or your camera can't, it's easy to pull it out with the leader of another roll.

about 15 20 years ago someone gave me a 500ml of HC-110 and then I stopped playing with film. recently got back into it dug it out of a box mixed it up to try using it and it worked. it had not been stored well. pretty amazing. I will probably use it primarily. used d76 in college.

Thank you for this . I used to develop B/W , Colour Neg and Reversal all size 120 stock nearly sixty years ago using identical tank you demonstrate to us . Great fun thinking back on those days now I am in my mid seventies . You gave me a great start to my Saturday . Thank you for a great channel . I also worked on 16mm 35 and also 70mm motion picture films for Cinema and Preview Theatre Projection . Lovely memories . Keep at it .

Such perfect timing, I was just about to develop my first roll this weekend. You've taught me everything I know about film photography and it means a lot! :)

I'd say "you don't need a darkroom" is the most important message to get across. A developing bag can do a lot of work. Just make sure you have *really* clean and dry hands.

The blind folded loading was good stuff, have never seen that in all the tutorial vids I've looked at. 😄 And yes, I use the AP tank and love the big flange reels, easy to slide film in. ALSO thanks for using HC-110, that's my go to for shelf life and versatility.

14:27 HOMEBREW STOP BATH SOLUTION: 1 part 5% vinegar to 10 parts water. Vinegar is essentially dilute acetic acid, which is the base chemical for most stop baths, that's why they smell like strong vinegar when you open the bottle.

What an outstanding video! 👏 In a short period of time, you managed to cover all the basics of black and white film development. Thank you so much!

I saw only two videos of you, but I like it. You are calm, good pronunciation and speed. No drama like others!!!

A really great video. Very clear and easy to understand. Thank you!

When I took a photo class in middle school, a bunch of kids didn't want to use the changing bag for some reason. They wanted to load their film onto the reels in the darkroom. The teacher said no at first, but then relented to one student who wouldn't quit. We all heard him drop him film after he opened the cassette and freak out because he couldn't find it on the floor. So, changing bag is a good idea unless you're really careful. We learned on metal ones, but the plastic ones are MUCH easier. I'll never go back.

I absolutely like this very informative video! I developed my own film in school back in the 80’s and I forgot a few things, you have totally reminded me! I am actually purchasing my 1st developing equipment and I will keep referring to this video, CHEERS!

Really nicely put together and informative video. Thank you for taking the time. I'm just about to start doing my own developing and have been reading, watching and researching loads. This like so many other resources on the internet this was highly valuable.

Great refresher video for me to jump start at developing b&w films again at home.

The most complete and useful for beginner! Thank you so much!

Well done video, I done film photography back at college in 2010 miss it, so I’m getting back into it, we always used ilford chemicals liquid I’d be unsure on powders, can’t wait to start shooting again, there’s just something about film what digital will never beat.

“no reel experience” when talking about reels, “won’t be completely in the dark” when talking about film developer… the amount of thought that goes into the script, and the self restraint to not say badum tsss after all of these is impressive

This is actually insane Noah!!! So cool

😂 What a great intro!! 🤣 You've gone into sooooo much detail here and still made it entertaining! The thing I learned when I started ANALOGUE photography was, what an abyss of a subject this is! It seemed like the more I learned... the less I knew! And I’ve come to accept this. Awesome video 😊

I just developed my first roll with the help of this guide. Thanks so much Noah!

Wow. Thank you for such an in-depth tutorial!

Probably the best video on this theme in the entire Internet! Thank you! Wish you well :)

Loving the new intro! Miss the old one too though. Thanks for this video. It was super helpful. :)

Thank you so much for this guide! I just developed my first roll and it went really well!

Just ordered everything I need to develop my B&W rolls at home (since my lab outsources B&W developing), I'm really excited to begin and thanks to this video, I think it'll be less difficult!

One drop of liquid detergent per pint of water will function perfectly well as Fotoflo, if you don't have any or don't want to spend any more.

This is GOLD!!

Amazing tutorial! I feel way more confident

OK, now I'm inspired to learn more. Thank you.

At one time I was a newspaper photographer/darkroom tech. One thing I had to use from time to time was a special chemical from Kodak. It seems that another photographer would change the ASA/ISO of the film in the middle of the roll. This chemical was to desensitize the film to light. When mixed up the liquid was purple in color. When you were half way through the development time on a roll, you could examine the film under a special light filter (dark green). Using this process would not fog or screwup the images. The only thing was in viewing the film you had to make sure the images seemed much darker than what they should be. You could end up with some thin images if you were not careful.

the sample negatives at the end are quite useful.

Hey, thank you so much for this very detailed and helpful video :) I just started out with analog photography and the next step is developing...So this video was perfect! ;-)

the video we needed

fav channel! U inspires me boi thx so much

Excellent video. I feel you did a great job for an intro. I used Caffenol at home, cause I would never ask a lab to pour strong coffee over my negatives. This was a lot of information in this video, but like Noah said, you don't need much to get started and honestly, it is a heck of a lot easier to develop your film than it is to explain it to someone.

Greetings from Istanbul! Seeing that bottle opener made me smile :) and I got my Paterson tank a while ago but i don't have a courage to try it yet. however the video is so helpful, thanks for it.

Shaking the developer and water solution in the jug is introducing a lot of bubbles into the Developer solution. Such violent shaking is unnecessary. Swirling the mixture in a large graduate thecway you did before you poured it into the jug is sufficient. The solution will further blend if you use the agitator stick supplied with your tank. This method of agitation is preferred to inversion with plastics tanks. Inversion is only necessary with stainless steel tanks.

Great video. Thank you

Thanks for this video!

I like the metal reels for the medium format. And plastic for the 35mm film.

I just got a bunch of Ilford dev, stop, and fix in the mail last night. I've been using Cinestill Df96. It works. But now I see the real good stuff at work. Not too bad. Just the mixing made me nervous. Thanks for this video.

I love the way you did this. Thorough. Funny as heck. Good work mate! I planned on doing a similar video. But mine will look more like a codger in his kitchen. Love your video.

thank you for this!

Wonderfull example, thank you

rodinal is always be my go-to developer. it's the oldest commercial BW developer, first introduced in 1891 by agfa. it's easy to make one at home just mixed Paracetamol or Tylenol in US, sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfite with water. and rodinal also have very long shelf life, i known someone found a bottle of 100 years old rodinal and it's still working. rodinal nowdays come with different name like R09, blazinal, adonal, parodinal, etc but basically it's same rodinal from 1891

also, using the agitator rod will remove any air bubbles on the film that are introduced when you add the Developer or fixer. you don't have to tap or bang the tank on the counter to dislodge bubbles

Thanks!

Thank you! The only thing is .... there are no super cheap rolls for practice any more... But you have got me inspired and subscribed.

You said “I have no ‘reel’ experience….” When speaking of other brands of reels. That tickled me. Thanks for the informative video.

I hope this good man gets more views

That was incredibly interesting and was a bit nostalgic for me. I processed my FP4 (mainly) in the later 60s and 70s and because I can see some stuff over in he corner mid 80s/90s. I (mostly) made my own chemicals from Metol or Phenidome and experimented a little. My basic information came from the British Journal Of Photography Year Book, possibly Annual which had formulae in the rear developed by GW Crawley which I think the Patterson Chemicals of the time where based on particularly their high accutance ones. I never liked the adjust time for number of times developed so I made one-shot concentrated developers in my experiments. I even made a Beam Balanced to weigh Phendome to the tenth of a gram for this. You have re-ignighted an interest for me. I should say "damn you" by rights but that would be unkind. :-) Time to get out the Nikon F again. I have only developed Colour Reversal (Ektacrome) and not so often using the E4 process. I cannot recall any particular difficulty just the things you highlighted. I have also done B/W Reversal of FP4 which I have very good results from but again, not often. The only thing I did not see from your video was after hanging the wet film. Wiping. (I used a couple of fingers as a sort of squeegie). Many thanks for a wonderfully interesting video. Sorry about some of the spelling.

There are also daylight loading developing tanks, like the ones made by Agfa half a century ago. Those are much easier in field developing or when you can't use dark bag or hog the bathroom for an hour. Also, I often use syringes for measurements.

0:42 One of the reasons why I chose a AP developing tank over a Paterson one. (AP in my country, but sold under so many brand names, it has two reels inside and a red cover to agitate it, also the light tight funnel screws onto the tank instead of being quote unquote held by a flimsy bayonet thing like on todays Paterson tanks.)

I insert the film leader onto the reel until I reached bearings in brightness and then put it into dark bag. Can practice loading with dummy roll before doing it in darkness.

thanks. great.

Awesome👌

Sorry, but I had to smirk, when you said you had no "reel experience" with the other plastic reels... ;-) As always, very nicely done and presented - and this will most likely become my first choice to have people watch, that want an introduction into home developing. Thanks Noah!

With the Patterson reals, you don't need to remove the film from the canister, and you can even start it in light. Just cut the leader off and get the first two or three sprocket holes of the film over the balls, and then do the rest in the dark. Just cut the film at the canister opening at the end. Works fine for me, much easier than trying to get the film out of the canister in the dark.

Best man👍

Thanks :)

I use Rodinal developer diluted to 1:100, semi stand development, 1 hour development time with agitation halfway though development. For me it works every single time and the images on roll looks sharp with good contrast.

Followed these instructions but the film didn't develop. I am wondering if I used the correct blindfold?

Great video but my issue isn't how but where?? As in where can i get chemicals, paper and film??? Just tried to order from Adorama in NYC, didn't have much of anything. Help!!!!!!

So im trying to start this as a hobby, its always interested me and I only seriously considered it until a few weeks ago. I saw that you use digital ways to scan (or print) I don't know the proper terminology yet, do you know any ways I could do it without having to go digital? I don't know if this would be weird or not but i really enjoy old fashioned ways of doing things and i wanted to try.. printing i think its called without having to use my computer or software. any tips or advice?

Excellent video. Strangely, I have never been able to successfully get film onto the easy loading plastic reels. Give me a good old fashioned metal reel and I'm good. I'd love to see you do a video on DF96 monobath. I've heard terrible and great things about it. Would love to hear your take on it.

Hi there, analog resurgence . To be positive seems to be the mode of resurgence then .

I use Rodinal/R09/Adonal/etc. (these are the same thing, the solution is public domain, but tha name Rodinal isn't), beacuse it's pretty sharp, with but with tabular grain (T-Grain) film, it dosent play weary well.

0:42 Wow! That’s a lot of damage!!

you can use dark green for pan chromatic film... they are insensative

Do you have a source where you can purchase raw film developing chemicals in Canada? Like hydroquinone, metol, and the like...

Do you even print your negatives?

16:33 bookmarking

Are there tanks for 30 meter movie film?

Love your channel, you mentioned community dark rooms do you know if there is still in operation in TO? I'd like to try printing before investing in an enlarger :) Post pandemic off course course :)

That was a very thorough video. Thank you for simplifying it, so that an absolute beginner could understand. I do have a question. If I wanted to develop onto photo paper, I would still need a dark room, with photo enlarger, and all of that, right?

How often can fixer be reused?

So all i need to do is blindfold me flim will be perfectly fine right??

You just blew my mine. I've been doing it in the dark, but I thought a dark room would help me. FML

Does it need to be done in total darkness

Patterson tanks use way more chemistry. They are full proof though.

Apologies if this is a silly question with an obvious answer, but I can't seem to find any info about this anywhere and I don't want to ruin my tank accidentally. When you're done developing, how do you care for the tank and reels? Do you wash them or just rinse and let dry? And if the former, what do you use to wash them? Most articles I find just talk about the specific case of when the reels get clogged with residue but I can't find anything about how to care for the tank after developing is over.

your new tirle is great! tho you should have a dissolve between the title and proceeding clip, as its a slightly jarring edit. otherwise immaculate content

Lol loading film onto the reel was such a disaster for me that I onve ended up, some how, slicing one of my finger and was bleeding all over my equipment while in the dark 🤣😅

what about stand development

Tips don't use the reels in video, use the type with large lips that help guide film onto reel. Also, avoid 36 exposure rolls as they can bind up the reel and once that happens it's almost impossible to load on the reel. Also have to be very careful with Paterson tanks when dumping chemicals the top can come loose and expose your film, normally a problem with larger tank. I use plastic tanks made in England that have screw on top, cost more but worth it.

Fun game! Take a shot every time Noah says HC-110

while watching the title intro I was like, "nelog Resurgence?" "hmm his name must be Nelog... unusual name, not bad I guess, but.... ohhhhh that's a A"