Tuesday, August 3, 2010

The science of film development

Do you ever feel like your starting to loose it.

I've become rather anal when it comes to processing my black and white film. There must be some virtue in consistency, my theory goes.

The other day I was processing some Delta 400 120 film. First I mixed out the developer to exactly 750ml water and 250ml ID-11. I was crazy critical with this measurement making sure it was bang on. I use ID-11 1:3 for my roll film to keep the contrast and grain under control.

The developer was too warm so I had it in the fridge for a few minutes to cool down. It's always hard to get it that last half a degree without going too far and having to heat it back up on the stove. Anyway I was cooling the film the final half degree when it hit me.

I had shot the film with a pin-hole camera. Guested at the exposure, then roughly timed the eight-second shot in my head. Who carried how exact the processing was, the results would be un-repeatable anyway.

So I laughed at myself.... then processed the film for exactly 16 minutes with agitation every 30 seconds, bang on. I guess some habits are too hard to break.

This is shot with the Holga Pinhole camera. If you're looking for a wide angle pinhole this might be the camera of your dreams. It shoots 120 film and you don't have to be in the darkroom to load it. You can get it from my store at bigcameraworkshops.com

Rob Skeoch
www.thepicturedesk.ca

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