How Develop Color Film at Home (C-41 Process)

1. Class Intro : Have you ever wanted to develop your own color film at home but have absolutely no idea where to start? Maybe you've heard about color development and want to start getting into that, but don't really know what that entails. Or maybe you have all the things you need but just don't know how to process that film. I've developed an entire course that is comprehensive that goes over the entire developing process of color, also known as C 41. Before I continue, I do want to introduce myself. My name is Eric and I'm a professional photographer that is based out of San Francisco, California. And I have over seven years of film experience. When I first started in film photography, I started shooting color and also developing color, skipping the black and white process, which is something that's a little unusual. Over the last seven years, I've gathered a lot of different types of techniques and this course will show you the ones that I know will give you success. We're going to be breaking down everything that you need, from the items to the chemistry, to the mixing of chemicals. Going over the developing tank, if you've never seen one. Breaking down the entire developing process from start to finish, going over some techniques that you can use to scan that film. At the end of this course, I guarantee that you are going to have the confidence needed to develop your own film at home. With that being said, I will see you in video one to go over the things that are needed for home development. 2. Things You Need : Thank you so much for taking this course. My name is Eric, and I'm a professional photographer that is based out of San Francisco, California. And I have over seven years of film experience. When I first started developing film, I actually started off in color, which is what I'm going to be showing you what to do today. And this process is known as the C 41 Color Development Process. You may notice that when you purchase your film on the box, it will indicate C 41 and that is exactly what this process is. I'm going to be teaching you everything you need to know and this is a comprehensive course on how to develop your own color film At home. I've broken down the things that you will need. The chemicals, mixing the chemicals, going over the developing tanks, development. And then we're going to be talking about ways to convert your negatives into positive working images through some scanning methods that I know. That way you will be fully set on how to do that as well. It will not be a full dive into scanning, but an introductory of how to do that. So with that being said, let's jump into the things that you're going to need to get started with developing your own color film at home. The first item that you are going to need is a dark bag. These dark bags are incredibly useful because you are able to add in your developing tank into this bag along with your film. And work in a lit room like this without exposing your film to light, which is a critical process in the entire developing process. You will have to work in complete darkness to fill your developing tank. And this is going to help do that without damaging your film or without having yourself crammed in a closet or a dark space. It's a really great thing to own, and I promise you will not regret it. Inside of your dark bag, you will need to put in a developing tank, which is the next item that you will need. These developing tanks come in a variety of different sizes. I always encourage to get the Patterson two real developing tank because you're able to purchase the one quart developing kits and not have to buy larger kits which can cost more money. And it's a really great introductory to film photography and also to developing. There are larger ones. Keep in mind if you are planning to get a larger developing tank, this means you will need to get a larger kit that essentially can fill this entire container. So just keep that in mind. I don't recommend this if you're new to film photography because you are going to have to be spending more money on chemicals. And that's not always a good thing. If you've never seen a developing tank before, do not worry. I'm going to be breaking down this entire developing tank and going over how it works, how to put your film onto the reels. And also some tips and tricks as well. So you can get really comfortable with this and not feel overwhelmed or essentially lost in this process. There are also stainless steel ones that you can purchase the stainless steel ones from what I heard have a bit of a learning curve and the way that those essentially roll are very different. But you're more than welcome to buy a stainless steel one and kind of look on Youtube and how to do that as well. Inside of the dark bag, you are going to need either a film canister opener and what this does is essentially pop open your film like a can allowing you to easily access the role. If you don't like to do this method and prefer to utilize one of these, which is a film leader retriever, you can do that as well. I don't typically like this one very much because personally I can never get the film out of the Ng container and it's very frustrating. But if you have more luck with this, what you can do is utilize this. And you can easily put this in if you're good at this. And then what's going to happen is you're going to be able to expose the leader of this film. And then you can easily snip the leader off and then gently pull out the film and easily roll it, or put it onto your developing reel very carefully without exposing the film. And I'll go over that process when we talk more about the developing tank. But I wanted to give the option, if you do like to use these film leader, you can also use that as well of your dark bag. You are going to need a pair of scissors as well to cut the film off of the canister. I would strongly recommend that you get dual tip scissors so you don't stab yourself or your finger while you're cutting that film off of the canister. And that will also be inside of your dark bag. In your dark bag, you will have your developing tank, your undeveloped roll, as well as a film canister opener and a pair of scissors so you can cut that off. Now we're going to move into the things that you're going to need inside of the dark room so you can get the best results possible. Starting off with a good thermometer, keep in mind that the color process is very temperature regulated and it must be at 102 degrees. For the developer, the Blix is a little bit more forgiving. But for the most part, temperature is a key thing for success in color development. So a good thermometer is going to be something that you'll need. You can get yourself a digital one like this one, or you can get yourself a manual one as well. It doesn't matter as long as it can detect heat very well and it works well. That's all that really matters. Next up are the bottles to store your chemicals in. You will need a total of three bottles in order for you to store your chemicals correctly. You'll need one for the developer, one for the Bliks, and one for the final wash. And I'm going to be going over the chemicals exclusively in a different video so you get an idea of what those are and how they work. Also, I'll be going over this entire other section here as we get towards the end of this video. Next up you are going to need some different graduated cylinders and beakers so you can measure out the correct level of water. So you can dilute your chemicals correctly and not over dilute or under dilute. Very important. I would recommend getting around three to four. That way you can have different measurements so you can succeed in your dilutions. Next up are two timers. One is going to be for the developer, one is going to be for the Blix. Then you can alternate to the stabilizer and the final wash. Two is generally good enough. You can get them waterproof or just get, if they're not waterproof, just make sure that you're not getting them in the water so you don't damage them. You are going to also need some film clips. You can get the legitimate ones that look like this. They're very official, they hold on to the film very strongly. Or you can get these ones that I have listed inside of my course description, which actually have a little bit of a clothes line hook and then a clip at the end. Also, for those of you that are writing everything down, I apologize, I actually have all of this listed in the course description below, so you'll be able to see all of the items that I'm using here and where you can purchase them, so you can print that out or download it and essentially just go down the line of where I got all of these different items. You're also going to need some dedicated stirring spoons. Under no circumstance should you ever go to your kitchen and get a kitchen utensil to stir your chemicals, and in the hope of putting it back for your family or yourself to use, that will poison you, it will poison your family. It is not worth it. So make sure that you get yourself some dedicated stirring spoons. You can get these really, really cheap purchase under $1, and they come in a pack. There's a small, large, and a medium one. And this is going to allow you to stir your chemicals without contaminating yourself or your family because they decide to eat out of something that you put in your dark room. If you are taking stuff from your kitchen and putting it in the dark room, it either stays in the dark room or it goes straight to the trash. Next up, you'll need a C 41 developing kit. These always generally come in a kit. There are some companies out there that release them individually, but I wouldn't recommend doing that. I would recommend getting a kit so you're set to go and I'm going to be going over the different kits in the chemicals portion, but make sure you get yourself a C 41 developing kit and those are listed in the course description below. And other brands, this one is a sinistil, but there are other brands that make this. This just happened to be the one that was at the local store and that's the one they decided to ultimately pick up. Now the drum roll, We're going to go over the device that I have right here, which essentially is a device that I thought of to lead to success with color development. The one thing about color development is temperature and temperature regulation. If your chemicals are not warm enough, they will not work. If your chemicals are too hot, they will damage your negatives. So it's really important that you're keeping your overall chemistry consistent in temperatures and also following those instructions. This right here is a priming container. You can purchase these online or either at one of your local chefs stores or cooking stores. And this up here is something known as a solved water cooker. And what this is generally used for is in kitchens you can easily put food. And then you can set a temperature. And then it cooks food over like a long period of time. And I'm talking hours. But what it does really, really good is keep water consistently at the same temperature without having to worry about your chemicals being too hot or too warm. And it allows you to essentially work in batches and work with a lot of different films and not have to worry about, oh, is my chemicals, are they too hot, are they too cold? It will be consistent and that's something that I'll be showing you in the dark room. This solved, and this brine container will easily cost you anywhere $80-60 But it's a really easy and affordable system without having you purchase a legitimate, you know, developing system that cost thousands of dollars. This right here is a system that will cost you under 100 bucks and it will save you the hassle of not worrying about the temperature of your chemicals, which is a really great thing. Obviously, the last thing you'll need is these Kim Tech wipes, which will be the last thing for the developing process. This right here is going to essentially dry off your film more successfully. What you will be able to do is just grab one of these, put it into a little sandwich, and then kind of roll your film down. These are really great because they are not only lint free, they also are scratch free. So you can use these to wipe your lenses, and a lot of companies use these to wipe down fancy machinery without it scratching. So they're really great to have. Some other items that I did forget to mention is you are going to need some funnels in order for you to transfer your chemicals to the containers correctly without making a mess. And then you also need at least one gallon of distilled water to mix your chemicals. You never want to use any type of tap water, since it does have a lot of impurities it could damage to the chemicals, and that's obviously not something that you want. Make sure that you are using distilled water. Then lastly, is safety. The most important thing in this course is to make sure that you're always putting your health first and always protecting yourself from these chemicals. Keep in mind you are going to be working with bleach with what would be normal household chemicals like bleach pneumonia with C 41 at the process is a little more toxic. So we're talking more like working with like a potential pesticide. Make sure that you are wearing safety gloves to protect your skin. Make sure you're wearing safety goggles to protect your eyes in the undiluted formats, it could cause blindness, eye damage, and it can also cause dermatitis of your skin, which is obviously something that you do not want. So make sure that you are wearing safety goggles, a safety apron to protect your clothing and your skin. And then lastly, some gloves to protect your hands. That's something that I strongly encourage and I always recommend, so you don't essentially put yourself in harm's way. Now that I've gone over all of the things that you need for this class, let's jump over and talk about the chemicals that will be utilizing in this course. 3. C-41 Chemistry : We're going to talk about the chemicals that we're going to be using in this course. In this course we're going to be using the Sinistyl S 41 developing kit. These typically will come in a kit like this and they come in a variety of different brands. Arista makes one, Bellini makes one, Tetanol makes one, Roll makes one. There's a lot of different brands out there that you can choose from. This one is just the one that was here at the local store that I decided to pick up. But they generally will come in a kit like this that include a developer, a Blix, and a final wash. When you are mixing these chemicals, always make sure that you're using distilled water. Avoid using tap water because it has a lot of different impurities that actually work against the chemicals and unfortunately end up reducing the shelf life, which is obviously something that you do not want. Just make sure that you're always using distilled water. The developer is essentially going to develop your film. The Blix is going to essentially make the film so it's no longer sensitive to light and permanently implant that image inside of the negative. And the final wash is just going to essentially make your film archival. Something to keep in mind about these chemicals is that you can use these however much the box is rated for or for, whatever much the kit is rated for. The C 41 from sinistil is up to 24 rolls of film, which is absolutely outstanding. If you are an individual that shoots a ton of color film, you can easily save up to $200 a kit and use that money towards buying more film, which is obviously always a great thing. So let's go ahead and start and talk about overall, the shelf life and some of the things that you should be aware of. All of these are all going to depend. The shelf life is all going to be dependent on where you live and how you're storing them. Unfortunately, if you are in a hotter environment, the overall chemicals tend to degrade a lot quicker. And that generally is the case for almost every single kit or chemical. Heat is a huge enemy as well as oxygen. The biggest enemy for C 41 developing kits is oxygen. If you keep your bottles open or carelessly leave them open, your chemicals will oxidize a lot quicker and they will exhaust a lot quicker. So make sure that when you are done developing that you're sealing those lids very tight so no air can get in. And also avoiding any type of cross contamination. Usually 100% of time you're going to be using developer Blick and final wash. It's never going to be reversed. If you get a few drops of the Blick into the color, it will damage the developer and you will have to essentially get a new kit and that's obviously a huge waste. So make sure that you're being really careful. Generally, once you add your developer and you pour it back into the bottle, make sure you close the bottle so you don't get confused on where you're going to be pouring your chemicals into. That has happened to me in the past. It absolutely is terrible when you do that because then you have to mix an entire new kit again, and you can already see the money kind of going down the drain with that. So keep yourself very organized and very consistent. During this process, you are going to be working with some pretty toxic chemicals. The color process is a slightly more toxic than the color chemicals. And I'm going to be going over how to dispose of these as well. Make sure that when you are working with these, especially in the undiluted versions that you're wearing gloves, safety goggles to protect yourself, and also making sure that you're measuring everything out correctly so you don't under over dilute the developer. Once exhausted, you can pour down the drain. That's completely fine. Here in the United States, water treatment plants can process this very easily, very fine. Once this is exhausted, it can go down the drain. The Blix, on the other hand, is very similar to fixer in black and white. This does contain silver halides in there, which are very toxic to water. Those are silver deposits that are inside of the film. Water treatment plants cannot break that down, and it's essentially a toxic chemical that goes down the drain. It contaminates water. It's not safe. You will have to dispose of this correctly. I strongly suggest just to check whatever city you live in, check toxic or waste disposal. And there's usually a place you can do it for free and drop that off. But be very responsible with this. And don't pour it down the drain because that is not good for the environment. The stabilizer that can also go down, that's completely fine, but for the most part, that's pretty much the chemicals you'll be utilizing in this course. You can test the health of these as well if you're curious. Typically, once you're reaching like the 15 to 20 roll mark, it's strongly recommended. Or if you've taken a break for a long time, it's recommended that you check to see if your chemicals are still good. The way that you check your developer is by essentially cutting off a snip of one of maybe a roll of film that you're not shooting, and then developing it as normal if it comes out completely black, that means that your developer is pretty much still good to go. You can also test the Blix as well. The Blix is going to be very similar to developing black and white with the fixer. Again, you'll cut a little piece of the film off. You'll run the fixer or the Blix through it. Then once you finish that, if the film is translucent, meaning that it looks, you can see through it, your Blixre still good. However, if it comes back looking the same way it did when it went in, that means that flix is exhausted. Something I really want to emphasize on the color development is temperature. I really want to get this ingrained in everyone's mind is temperature. Temperature. Temperature. You have to make sure that your temperatures are consistent with developing color film, especially with your develop your developer. Depending on the kit that you have will always typically be around 102 degrees and it has to be consistent at 102. Do not overheat your chemicals or underhat your chemicals, because what's going to end up happening is you're going to have underdevelopment or you're going to have just the negatives damaged if these chemicals are too hot. For example, if your developer is way too hot, and way too hot is like three degrees over, we're talking 105 degrees and higher, you're going to have a permanent magenta cast that's going to be affixed to your negative. And it's such a pain to have to white balance that and have to correct that. Just make sure that you're being consistent with the temperatures. Your Blix, on the other hand, is much more forgiving. The Blix, depending on the kit that you get, is anywhere from 75 degrees up to 104 or 105, and it can dip a little bit below that. And it won't really make much of a difference, it's just the developer that you need to be really worried about. Then lastly, this right here, the final rinse, this right here can be at room temperature. That's completely fine. Now that we've gone over the chemicals and how these work, we're going to go straight over to the dark room now and we're going to go ahead and mix these chemicals. After that, we're going to come back and then talk about the developing tank and then jump right into developing. Let's head over to the dark room and let's get these chemicals mixed up. 4. Mixing Chemisty : Welcome to the chemical mixing portion of the course. You obviously cannot see my face. It's all going to be majority just mixing chemicals and putting them into these bottles. When I went ahead and already did was I got masking tape and I put developer C 41 in the date that this was mixed. I have one for the developer, one for the Blix, and then last for the final wash. The first chemical we're going to go ahead and mix is the color. Do you have the instructions here? It indicates for the one quart we're going to need 20 ounces of water to mix. The developer. Also, the one thing I did not go over in the last portion was the powdered chemicals. Do you have the option of getting powdered chemicals as well? Want to save a little bit of cash. Generally, I don't like the powdered chemicals because you do have to heat up water and then that unfortunately takes a bit longer. And there's also lumps that it can occur at the bottom of the bottle, so make sure you're stirring that correctly and that you're not rushing that process. Next, the first step, we're going to add part A of the developer. This is step one. We're going to go ahead and pour this directly into the water. Always make sure that you're pouring the chemicals into the water and not the water into the chemicals. Remember the tips that you learned back in the day from chemistry class? Let's go ahead and just pour this in very slowly. I believe this is like an acid, so you have to be very careful with mixing this. Make sure that you're not splashing it or doing anything too crazy. Next up, we're going to go and add part to this as well. I would add these in slowly so you don't have any odd reactions that occur in this case. I added that a little quick. That's completely fine. We're going to go ahead and move this to the slide here. The next up is part of the developing process here. We're going to go ahead and add that in this one. I'll add in a little slower, just like that. Very easy, very quick. And then what you can do as well, let me go ahead and get a stir that I have down here. Let's see, Here we go. I can go ahead and just give us a nice little stir here. Then once that is done complete, you're going to get your developing container and then you're going to go ahead and just pour that right into the dedicated bottle. Make sure you're being careful so you don't make a mess. Just like we have put in the developer in now, we're going to go ahead and just seal this bottle off and then move it all over. Now we're going to go over to the flix. Now keep in mind the Blix does have a very strong odor associated with it. It smells like vinegar. Some people can describe it as ammonia. Other people state that it smells like burning hair. It is a very strong chemical. Just keep that in mind. I would recommend wearing 95 mask if you are sensitive to those type of odors. If you are getting the powdered version, the powdered version does have a little bit more of a voltile state. Because if you mix in the part a little too quickly, what's going to happen is it's going to erupt and it's going to cause a massive mess. So just keep that in mind. If you are going to be utilizing the powder for the quart, we're going to go ahead and utilize 18 ounces of water just around there, right? Yeah, Perfect, excellent amount. Next up, we're going to go ahead and add in the Blk. We're going to go ahead and add in part A first. And this is just going to go directly into the water to remove this cap. Make sure that you're staying consistent with how you're adding these chemicals as well. You don't want to go out of order. If you do, that could cause an adverse reaction or a potential issue with the chemicals mixing. So just make sure you're being careful with that process. Next up we're going to go ahead and add part of the, the Blix. I always recommend that you mix this chemical slowly and introduce it to each other slowly. It does tend to be a little bit more voltile. If you do rush the Blix process, you will have a high probability of it erupting, which is obviously something you don't want. And I can smell the odors of this. It smells very similar to fix, if you do black and white something I do pretty periodically. But yeah, this chemical does smell a little bit stronger. I'm going to go ahead and stir this up real quickly, and then we're going to go ahead and add the last part which is this black tar chemical here. This one I'll introduce very slowly. Just let that mix in and then just stir it up a little bit. Then just slowly add this in to the mix. If you are using, the powder version of this will smoke up. It will look like a chemistry kit. Just be very careful when you're mixing in the Blixs. Just doing it very slowly and not being very careless with it, adding it little by little just to make sure that you're not going to cause any type of reaction with this specific chemical. Very slowly introduce this in. Don't rush this process, letting it mix and adjust to itself. I'm just going to add the rest in and then move this aside. Then just continue to stir this for a little bit just to ensure that it mixes correctly and it doesn't erupt when you put it inside of your developing container. Next up is the Blix're going to go ahead and add that directly into the Bliz container. You can see how dark this chemical is and this is the one that you cannot down the drain. So make sure that you're being very careful. We're going to go ahead and pour this into the bottle. I haven't smelled this chemical in such a long time, and it's just giving me flashbacks of when I first started developing color to that. And next I'm going to go ahead and wash this off very quickly. This is fresh chemical again, it's not going to be a big issue if you just wash a little bit off and put it down the drain, make sure you're not pouring a ton down at the same time. This, if you do develop a lot of color, you may notice that you're developing reels will start to turn like a dark, oxidated color. That's because of the flicks. It will start to affect the reels of your developing tank. If you notice them turning different colors, that's more than likely due to, that's more than likely due to the Blik. We're going to go ahead and put that aside. The last chemical is the final rinse, which is the easiest. This is the stabilizer. Literally, you're just going to put in 30 ounces of distilled water and you're simply just going to add that final rinse. In this case, we just going to fill it up all the way to the top here, which is just about from there. Then we're just going to add those 2 ounces of stabilizer. Stabilizer is an archival fluid and what it does is create actually your negative so you can store them for a long period of time. That just goes right into the water. That's going to be the last chemical that is in the developing process here. We're going to go ahead and just stir this up. Then we're going to put this in the final wash or the stabilizer in here to wash off this very quickly. And then now we're going to go ahead and just put this directly in a very easy process to mix these chemicals. This is why I always prefer to use the pre liquid or the liquid ones that you just dilute. Because it really reduces all of the chances of coming in contact with the hazardous dust. Or powders that come off of the powder, or the powdered versions have a dust that's toxic. It's hard to work with from time to time, and it also doesn't dissolve very easily, Which is why I generally just will choose the liquid format over the powdered format. Of course, I believe the powdered format is a little bit more on the affordable end, but for the risk, I think it's worth spending the extra $5 just for the liquid version. So you just dilute them. You dilute them yourself. It's easier. And you have everything pretty much set to go. We've already gone over and mixed to the chemicals. Now what we're going to go ahead and do is talk about the developing tank before we jump over to the actual development process. 5. The Developing Tank : This part of the class is going to be going over the developing tank and how it works. That way you can become a little bit more familiar with the parts and also how it works. Your developing tank will be composed of a lid. You'll have a developing hood, This is where the liquids will be going through and this is what also makes the tank light proof once it locks in place. And then inside you're going to have two reels. I only have one for the demonstration, and a center rod which keeps your film pretty much centered out. The most important part is this right here. This is the developing reel. You'll have to get yourself very comfortable with this because you are going to be working in complete darkness with this. If you do opt to utilize the film canister opener, keep in mind this entire part of the class must be done in a dark bag. So just imagine my hands inside of a dark bag and working in complete darkness while I'm doing this process. So you will have to get very familiar with this real before you start putting stuff into your dark bag so you understand how everything works out. I'm going to be going over two different ways that you can remove the film from your canister and two different techniques and you can decide which one is easier for you. I'm going to go ahead and go over my first one, which is my favorite utilizing the film canister opener. In complete darkness in the dark bag, I will pop this open, and then from there out I will remove the film. And with that, there's the center spool that is on the film. You cut it off. And then you'll end up with this right here. You'll have to get very familiar with these reels. And knowing where everything is on this, you're going to notice two jagged edges here along with the little box. And these have these little bearings in it where the film is going to get fed through. It's very easy to be fooled because there's other edges on here as well that can trick you. Make sure that you are understanding that you're looking for a more sharp edge along with a little box or a little other edge on the inside. A little bit complex, but you'll get the hang of this once you start doing this more often. The way this works is in your dark bag, you'll feel and then you'll be able to easily pop this in like so. And then you'll slowly start doing this twisting motion. And then you can see that the film is starting to go in into the developing reel. The reason it does this, it's going to start to wrap around and then this way you get even development during your developing process. Be very gentle, do not be aggressive like so, because you can end up ripping the film and once these little tiny edges rip, it becomes a nightmare trying to put it into the reel. And it can even rip your film and damage frames. And if your film rips inside the bag, there's really no going back from that. It makes it just as much harder to put into the reel. Once it goes into place like so, it will just stop spinning and then you will know right away. It will usually hear a little bit of a noise and then you can see that it's inside of the develops, inside of the reel. Once you get that done, you'll put that directly inside of the reel or inside of the center rod. Put it in, and then what you'll do is you're going to go ahead and here for that locking noise, which means that the tank is locked. Now that it's locked, it is officially now light proof and you can easily take this out of your dark bag without worrying about the film inside being exposed. That's option number one, as far as removing the film from the canister. If you do opt to utilize a film leader retriever like this one here, what you can do in a completely lit room is your film will look like you'll utilize this, first of all, to take the film lead out. And then what you can easily do is you can cut off the lead and then you can not fully exposing the film. Don't get a little pool happy and remove the whole film from the canister. But just remove a little tiny bit because there's usually a little bit anyways that usually gets exposed beforehand or doesn't have any exposures. Just pull out your film a little tiny bit. And then what you will do is you will actually put this in a lit room like so. You will just put it in and then you will push it in very lightly, and then once it's fed through, you can put this in your dark bag and finish the process in there. Once this is inside of your dark bag and the bag is sealed, you'll start taking this out very slowly and then you'll start twisting it inside of the real like. So then once it gets to the very end, I completely ruin this Frolla film. That's completely fine. This is a course and I want to teach you. Anyways, you'll just keep going all the way down. Then once you get to the very end, it will stop tugging, and then all you will really do is just cut that off. Then you'll finish that, put that on your center rod, and then you'll put that directly into the tank. Super easy. I never have any luck with the film leader retriever, which makes it really frustrating for me, which is why I got so accustomed to just propping open the film canister. Once you do that, you're going to go ahead and just again lock it in place. Make sure you hear that locking noise. If you do not hear that locking noise, do not take the film canister out because it will cause your film to fly out. Once you lock that in place, you'll put the lid on as well and then just go over to your dark room. If you are having issues with the developing reel. There are other options that you can opt for. There are some companies out there that make them with a lot easier grids and things that you can put into, that's something you can do as well. And if you are planning on developing 120 film, that is a little bit more challenging. Because 120 film is a lot larger and that, of course, comes with its challenges. You will not be able to utilize a film canister opener. In that case, you will have to unwrap the film from the backing and then actually work in complete darkness to put your film into the reel itself. This real does turn into a 120 reel again, so you can just make a little twisting motion like so. And then it turns into a 120 reel, like yeah, that's just thing to keep in mind. Also, be very gentle with your film when you're working with it. Do not be aggressive with it. Do not fold it or you grab it aggressively because that will cause the film to become damaged. And you will see these little crescent moons that appear in post processing. Obviously, that's not a good thing because it will require more editing. And if you're doing portraits and weddings, that will be a complete nightmare. Because if it's in those fine details, it will make it very hard to remove. Just make sure you're being very careful with the way that you're putting your film in to the actual tank itself. I'm sorry for that noise. Then once you put it in, make sure you put it all the way down. Do not leave it up like so, because these do have a bit of tension. So you will have to forcefully put it down, put it in the tank, lock it in place, and then seal. That's pretty much the developing tank. So now that we've gone over the developing tank, we're going to go straight over to the dark room now and we're going to start on developing our first role of color film. 6. Set Up : Before we get into the developing process, we are going to have to do a quick prep. And that is setting up the solved with the chemical bottles. That way they can get up to temperature by the time we get back into this room to actually develop. If you do decide to buy the solved and the brining container, keep in mind you don't have to purchase a brining container. That's just something that I purchased because it's just easier for me to store. But if you have an old, like cooking pot that you don't use anymore, that's completely fine. You can use that for your dark room Only just make sure that they're deep enough to submerge the bottles completely under. This process is actually very simple. Your solved is going to go to the side of this container and on the bottom you'll notice that there's different holes. These holes right here are where water will be sucked in. And inside of this is a heating coil which will keep your chemicals at that consistent temperature of 102, which is a really great thing. This right here will just attach directly to the side of this container. Then what you'll do is put this directly under the sink. You'll put in your bottles inside of this specific set up. Just putting your developer and your Bliks, your final wash does not need to be heated. It needs to be at room temperature. That's always good to know. Before you turn it on, you have to make sure that the coils are submerged and on your solv there's going to be a minimum and maximum line. You want to make sure that the water is at least submerging the entire container. That way the water can heat up nicely and your overall bottles can get hot as well. So what I will do now is turn on the faucet and I generally will use warm water. I know you may be tempted to use the hot, scalding water that comes out of your tap. It's always best to start with warm water because it gives it a good baseline and it can heat up to that specific level. Instead of utilizing incredibly hot tap water that can end up actually overheating your chemicals. And you'll have to wait for them to cool down, so it's a lot easier just to use warm water. Warm water will generally come out around 70 to 80 degrees, and the solved will work nicely to heat those up to 102 degrees. This process does take some time to heat the chemicals, and it will take anywhere 20-30 minutes, which is a good enough amount of time because that will allow you time to put in your film into your developing tank. As you see, the water is starting to fill up, the bottles are almost completely submerged. So I'm going to go ahead and stop. Right now, I'm around six liters of water. Then what you'll do from here is just turn on your solved. You'll be able to essentially adjust the temperatures and whatever time you want to add. I generally will max out the time because I'll be in here for a while. And right now, the water inside of this container is at 77 degrees and it starts to essentially heat up this water very rapidly. We're already at 78, 79. And you can see how quickly this works. My biggest tip for the solved is to set it at 103 degrees. I know that's strange, but I've noticed that when I do it at 102, my chemicals are always at 101. What I do is just change the temperature to 103 degrees. In that way, the bottles can heat up nicely as well as the chemicals. And I think it's because these are a little bit thicker. The solvit is generally used for cooking food and it's generally in thin plastic bags. So that's why I think the 103 works a lot better. This, again, will take anywhere 20-30 minutes, which is great because that gives you time, like I know, like I said, to put your film inside of your developing tank. We'll go ahead and move this out. Be very careful because the device itself might be hot. So make sure that you don't touch that because you could burn yourself. The only two chemicals that will be in here is your developer and your Bliks. Your stabilizer or your final wash will be at room temperature so that you can leave out. You decide not to buy the solved and you want to do this a different way. What you can do is block the drain and then essentially run a warm bath in the sink itself. And just be constantly monitoring your temperature until you're at 102 degrees. Not the most effective or efficient way, but it does work. The last way is to just have the bottles run under hot, scalding water until they're at that 102 degrees. Generally, both of those will be a little inconsistent with temperatures. And I find that this right here is just one of the better systems to use and not having to struggle with temperature management. But yeah, a big thing with color development is temperature. And making sure that temperature is consistent, and this here is going to make sure of that. What I'm going to go ahead and do now is let this sit until it gets to 102 degrees, again 20 to 30 minutes. And I'm going to go ahead and put my film in the developing tank. I'm not going to record that portion of the course because there's really nothing happening other than my hands in a dark bag. What I will do now is do that and be back, and then we can start the process of developing our first role of color film. 7. Film Developing : Welcome to the developing portion of this course. We are now going to develop our first role of color film. Before we start the process, I do want to quickly go over the different steps we're going to be taking, which are a total of five. The first step is we're going to do that. Pre wash is going to be done at 102 degrees with just tap water. What this is going to be doing is getting the film up to 102 degrees. When your developer comes in, it works a lot more effectively and a lot easier. This will be done for 1 minute, you will pour that water out. You may notice a bit of a tint on that water that is completely normal. That's just some of the residue leaving the film. After you pour that water out, you will immediately add in the developer and the developer. For the first 10 seconds, you're going to invert the tank. Meaning that you're just going to put it down, upside down. Down, upside down. You'll do that for the first 10 seconds. Then after that, you'll do four inversions every 30 seconds until the timer is up. Make sure your inversions are consistent, calmly, not aggressive or too quick because this can cause underdevelopment. Make sure that you're being very careful with those inversions. Once the developer is up, make sure that you read the instructions to determine how long you're going to be doing your developer for. In the Siniestilkit, it's 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Once that is done, you will do a quick rinse at 102 degrees of water to remove any developer before putting in the Blk. That way you don't introduce too much cross contamination. Your blakes will be the same exact instructions as the developer. For the first 10 seconds, you will invert the tank. Then after that, every 30 seconds you will invert the tank four times until the, until the timer is up. Keep in mind you are working with warm chemicals. You may notice that your developing tank may swell up. Just burt that out a little bit to remove some of that gas. That way it's easier and your lid doesn't become loose and chemicals come pouring everywhere. I'm pouring, you do this over a sink, you may leak a little bit, especially the blk. The blix tentatively tends to bloat the tank a little bit and that causes a little bit of leakage. So make sure you're wearing gloves and that you're working over a sink. Once you finish your Blix, you're going to go ahead and do a wash. That wash is going to be for three to 4 minutes and the instructions indicate to flt the tank fill with water and then pour it out a total of seven to eight times, or until the water runs completely clear. Then after that, you'll do the final wash, also known as the stabilizer. And that's just going to ensure that your film is archival, so you can store it for long periods of time. Step one, let's go ahead and essentially get water at 102 degrees so we can do that 1 minute soak. What I'm going to go ahead and do real quickly is out of the tap and get water at 102 degrees. And I will be right back as soon as I get that done. Excellent, I have my water now at 102 degrees. If you're wondering how much liquid you will need to put into your developing tank. On the bottom of your tank, it will indicate how much liquid or ounces are needed in order to fill up your film. In this case, I'm going to be using around 10 ounces of water. Since I'm only developing one roll, we're going to go ahead and do a set our timer for 1 minute. Do a last temp check here to make sure this water is not too hot. We are at a perfect 102 degrees. Go ahead and set your timer for 1 minute. You will put that water directly into the tank like so. Then what you'll go ahead and do is just do just an aggressive, just a little bit of a shake here to let some of this water come out. I did not close my tank, right, so that is not a good thing. You can just go ahead and just get that film coated with water very nicely. Then after what I'll do the last 30 seconds is just let this sit here and heat up very clear example of making sure the lid is closed. As you can see, I got water all over me which is fine. It's not a big deal. Happily, this is water and not any chemicals. But you want to make sure that the lid is closed before you do any type of inversions. That right there is strictly my fault. I'm going to go ahead and do next is get the developer out of here. And then what I'm going to go ahead and do now is pour out this water. This water is coming out a little bit on the dark side, which is completely fine. Then I'm going to go ahead and set my timer for 3 minutes and 30 seconds here. I'm going to go and pour in the developer directly into the tank here. Once the developer is in, you can start the timer. Then what you're going to go ahead and do is I'm going to make sure the tank is closed. I'm going to go ahead into the inversions for the first 10 seconds. Just keep these nice and consistent as you can see. Nice. It's not too crazy. We're just about to hit ten second mark. We are all set, go ahead and tap that to release any air bubbles. And then from here on out, every 30 seconds, what you will do is invert the tank a total of four times. We are now going to be approaching the next round here. And what you'll go ahead and do again is just go ahead and get your tank and just go ahead and do 123. And lastly four. So I'm going to finish up the developer. Here we are now at 2 minutes and 30 seconds, and I'll see you back here in the last 30 seconds of development to go over the next step. Now at the last 30 seconds, I'm going to go ahead and do the last inversions here. What I generally will do is the last 10 seconds I will start pouring out the chemicals. That way it does still continue to develop. Even though you've already run the timer at the last 10 seconds, what I will do is put this right back into the bottle. While I was doing this, I went ahead and got some water here to do a quick rinse before adding in the flix. I'm going to go ahead and pour this out. Then what I do after this is just add this in. This is just, again, 102 degree tap water. Now what we're going to go ahead and do is grab the B from in here. Now, put this right back, since they're not going to use this anymore. Then generally what I will do now is go ahead and just pour this water out. Then now we're going to go ahead and add in the B for a total of 8 minutes. Go ahead and start your timer and pour that right into the tank. Your blakes will be the same exact instructions as the developer. This chemical is a little more challenging to work with to make sure that you're being very careful with how you work this. Make sure you close the tank all the way and make sure you're doing your inversions carefully. So we're going to go ahead and do 10 seconds. I hope this isn't the lid that has a issue with it. And just like that, we are at the ten second mark. Go ahead and clean the tank out or the Think a little bit. I think what's going on with this tank is I have a faulty lid. So what I might do in the meantime is change the lid for this tank because I've noticed that this lid can get a little leaky which is really crazy. So we'll do another 123.4 You'll repeat this process again. You'll do 10 seconds of inversions when you put the Bliks in. And then every 30 seconds you're going to invert the tank four times until the timer is up. I'm at 6 minutes and 30 seconds. I will see you here in the last 30 seconds so we can move on to the next step. All right, so we're at the last 30 seconds. What we're going to go ahead and do is we're going to go ahead and get the water pressed for this next wash. So generally what I'll do is just kind of put it on here on the warm setting and then try to get the water to come out at at least 100 degrees, which right there is perfect. We'll do the last set of inversions, 123.4 I was able to figure out why my tank was leaking and there was actually a small slit, it was on the side of the other lid that I had. I did essentially have to swap out the lids, and I've noticed that now there's a huge difference. So I'm going to go ahead and pour the back into the original bottle. Then now what we're going to go ahead and do is just do a very quick, we're going to do a three minute, do a four minute rinse until this water comes out clear. The first few times that you empty this out, you may notice it be very dark. That's very normal. You'll do this until the water comes out nice and clear Towards the end, you may notice that it comes out a little pink. Normal. Just keep that in mind. Keep this essentially is washing off but I'm going to go ahead and do is just clean up the space that way it's not too gross. As we move on, I like to keep this area nice and clean as I'm developing that way. It just keeps the end process a lot easier. If you're not in here for too long, you'll do a couple of seven done, go ahead and just pour this out, and you see at the end it's still coming out a little bit dark and that is normal. You will do this until the timer is up or until the water is running completely clear. I will see you here the last 30 seconds. Continue to dunk the tank when it fills, and make sure that water is coming nice and clear. I'll see you here again in the next in the last 30 seconds. We are now at the last 30 seconds, I'm going to dump this tank out one more time to show you how clear the water should be coming out. Let's go ahead and do that now. We'll go ahead and pour this out and you'll see the water is running completely clear and no longer pink. I'm going to go ahead and wash these gloves real quickly myself. Have flip on. Not a good thing. The last step here is to do the final ran. This will be done for 1 minute at room temperature. All you'll do is just start your timer, pour this directly in. Then you can just let this sit here for a minute and you don't have to do any agitations or anything, just let that bathe there for the minute. Once this process is done, what you will do is get your film drying clips and your Kim Tech wipes, and I'm going to show you what this process looks like. I will see you here at the last 10 seconds of this process. All right. The stabilizer is all complete, we're going to God and put this back into the bottle like so. Then from here on out, your film is now set to go. There's no more washes that are needed. Next up, we're going to go to open the tank. We are set to see if we have any images in our role, which we should, since we followed all the correct steps. Let's go ahead and opened up and I can see some beautiful images already on this role. You're going to go ahead and just twist this off to get access to your film. And then what you will do is you will hang this up to drive. You'll go ahead and put this on to your section here. Obviously, I don't want to do that because it looks like that's going to be on the floor. But it looks like the last few pits which are no longer that much frames. I'm going to get my tech wipe that I have here. I'm going to make a little sandwich and I'm going to hold the cliff. Then what I'm going to go ahead and do is just run this straight down to remove any of that water. What I'll do is I'll do this one more time, hold the clip and then you can just run the Kim Tech Reich down like so just like that you are all set. As you can see, I have some beautiful images on here from a recent trip that I took down the way. Yeah, it looks like this looks great. The next step we're going to talk about is how to scan your film so you can post these on social media and other platforms. Let's get back to the office and talk about scanning. 8. Film Scanning: Now that our film has dried, we are going to move over to the next section of this course, which is scanning. Keep in mind, scanning in itself is an art and it will require a lot of patience. And going over the art of scanning is an entirely different course that I'll be working on in the future. But I'm going to be breaking down some of the more popular ways to scan your film. That way you can get an idea of what you would like to go or what path you would like to take. So let's start off with the most popular, and that is utilizing Eps and scanners, or flatbed scanners. Flatbed scanners are a big staple in film photography because these systems are highly affordable and they're very reliable. And on top of that, it comes with everything that you need. You get the scanner, film carriers, software, and all you need to do is download some drivers and you're set to go. That's what makes these a really good option if you're just getting into film photography or film developing and scanning. This is where I started and it was a really good unit until I started focusing a little bit more on other things like time efficiency, which I'm going to be going over as we break down the pros and cons of this system. As we've gone to the pros, it's an on, on one system, it has everything that you need. What's great about this scanner as well is that if you don't want to use the internal software, you can always download or you can always scan your film as a Tiff file and work out of whatever software you used to edit photos, light room, or other ones that are out there to convert those on your own if you want to go that route, which is a little bit more challenging. And I would highly recommend getting a film conversion software if you're going to be going that route, which we can talk about as we move on to other types of ways to scan your film. Now let's go over some of the cons of this system. One of the biggest cons of this is the software. A lot of the flap Ed scanners on the market don't really have the best software. And that is because these types of flatbed scanners, specifically the Ps and Line is not a film dedicated scanner. This is a scanner that can scan photos, film documents. And the option to scan film is just kind of embedded in here. So software is not going to be at the top of mind as far as optimization. So that's an issue that you will run into with the scanner. So my biggest tip is that if you are going to be purchasing a flatbed scanner, invest in a good conversion software for your film. That way you can have a lot more control because the software that comes with this doesn't really give you the control that you would like. And sometimes the in image, the scanner conversions cannot look the best and you're going to be kind of scratching your head wondering if film is even worth it. And that's the last thing you want, especially after all the work that you've gone to to essentially photograph. You do all of your things that you did with your film, only for it to look terrible. So keep that in mind. Second thing is going to be efficiency. This system is not the most efficient. It can take you anywhere 20-30 minutes to scan 36 exposures. That is all going to be depending on what resolution that you decide to choose. But it's a very slow system, so if you're an inpatient individual, this system is probably going to drive you a little crazy. So just keep that in mind. The next thing to keep in mind on this system is that it doesn't work with every computer. I've noticed that a lot of individuals have a lot of issues, especially if you have a Mac, just because Mac is constantly updating their operating system from Big Sir to Catalina and so on and so forth. And sometimes these companies have a hard time keeping up with those updates and the drivers may not work with the current addition of software you have on your computer. And that's where a lot of people hit the wall with these kinds of scanners. I haven't noticed that issue with PC users. I have a Mac, but I don't have any issues with it. I did manage to download the driver when I first got it. It does act glitchy from here and there, but for the most part, it still works. Next up is image quality. This does struggle with some formats of film. Specifically with 35 millimeter film, you are going to have to experiment turning settings on. Turning settings off, specifically the ice function that's in here. The ice function essentially reduces scratches, reduces dust. But that also has a con of softening your images and sometimes making them look a little blurry. So that's something you'll have to work out as you start scanning and understanding how this system works. But it does struggle with 35 millimeter. I've noticed that the lower end models, the Epson V 550 and Epson V 600, are kind of a struggle of image quality. For 35, it does well for 120. And that is obviously because the 120 film is a much of a larger negative, but it does struggle with 35 mil. And the last con of this is the fluctuation of prices. The lower end models are tentatively a lot cheaper, going anywhere 150-300 And then it jumps up to like over $1,000 for the more nicer scanners. And even those are not film dedicated, so you will run into that jump with this kind of system, but I'm not going to completely tear this down at all. It is a very, very useful scanner to start off with you literally. We will literally open this up, put your film scanning, your film carriers in, dust it off, and then you centrally push the scan button and you're set to go. It's a great beginner place to be. And this is where I learned how to do some of the more basic fundamentals of scanning. And there's no shame in starting off in the flatbed scanners. Next up we're going to go for my favorite way to scan film, and that is utilizing a DSLR or a Miles digital camera. So let's jump into that one next. This is the DSLR, mirrorless scanning system. And this has become one of my favorite ways to scan film over the last year. And it's become one of the most efficient ways, in my opinion, to scan film, because this is a very fast way to scan film. And what makes this real, really great is that you're utilizing newer technology than the flatbed scanners you're using. Mirror less cameras or maybe a little bit newer, older DSLR cameras that tentatively have very good auto focus and things of that matter that can really get you close to the film to be able to take a photograph of that and then convert that into your editing software. I'm going to be breaking down how this works so you're not confused at all. The way the system works is you're going to have to purchase a variety of different things like I have here. You're going to need a copystand. You're also going to need a digital camera, these film carriers like so you'll need a light table to be able to illuminate your film so your camera can photograph it. How this system works is you'll take a picture of your film in raw. Then what you'll do is you'll edit that inside of your software, whether it's light room or a standalone software that you have. And from there you can mess with the levels or you can spend a little bit of extra money and get a negative conversion software like Negative Lab Pro. And there's a few others on the market as well that are stand alone so they don't have to work with light room. That's what negative lab room, that's what negative lab Pro does. It's an extension to light room. And it's a great one for me because I can tether these cameras to my computer and work directly from the camera to computer, and then finally convert the image within light room to be able to export out. This system is not the most affordable unfortunately. And the reason behind that is that there is a very small number of companies that are in the DSLR, mirrorless scanning space. And because of that, prices do fluctuate and they tentatively can get kind of high. For example, this one right here is a 120 basic film carrier. And this one right here, it cost me just under $200 And this one right here to scan film, this is just for 35 mil, was just around $150 The companies that are producing these types of devices are not very cost friendly, but they are worth the investment because these are very durable and they're going to last you pretty much forever. The copy stands that you see here are not affordable either. This one right here costs me $250 and that doesn't even amount the camera in the lenses. This option will be very expensive if you don't already own digital gear. What's great about being a film photographer, or a photographer in general, is that more than likely you are going to have digital gear that's laying around for maybe your professional shoots or things of that matter. So this is a great option if you do have that and don't want to invest in a scanner, which I completely understand, You can purchase all of the parts that are needed here and still be under the top scanner that some of these flatbed scanners make. It's a great investment. This set up here that I have is a Canon R six mark two, which is a mirrorless lens, punches in around 24 mega pixels. Which allows me to get really nice quality images and allows me to blow them up to the size that I like. The lens that I'm using here is the 100 millimeter macro lens for 35 mile. And that allows me to get to that one to one ratio so I can get as close to the film as possible, snap a picture, and then inside of light room I use Negative Lab Pro. Negative Lab Pro is a software that you can purchase. This software simulates some of the top end scanners that film labs use, like the Naritsu and Frontier scanners. And these scanners are tens and thousands of dollars, way outside of the average consumer like you and I. But what this software does is once you shoot this in a raw format, whether it's black and white or color, you will color balance it by clicking on the edges of the film. And then from there on out, you will be able to convert that image. And what it does is it simulates some of those top end scanners. I'm not sure what that system looks on the back end, but it does do a really good job of allowing you to control so many things like the color balance, the tint, the midtones, high tone shadows. You can increase contrast and all that good stuff. You can really, really zone in and really be able to edit your film to how you remember and how you took that image just so it keeps things pretty fresh. So this is a really great system to use if you are trying to get probably more, a better image quality than you would be using on the flap Ed scanners. Next up, I'll talk about some other ways that you can scan your film. So let's jump right into that as well. If you don't want to purchase a scanner or go to the DSL, the mireles route, you can always have a lab scan your film as well. That is also another great option. There are a lot of labs out there that just do film scanning. And what they generally will do is scan them in a Tiff file so you can come home and then you can edit those on your own to see how you like them. Generally, that's a little bit of a pricey. Sometimes that can be anywhere $10-12 a roll. But it's still cheaper than getting the film developed and the scans. That can cost anywhere 18-20 bucks, depending on where you go. So it is a great way to support your local lab if you don't want to buy a scanner. If you don't want to buy the DSLR scanning kit, you can always have a lab scan your film for you and they do a relatively great job and they're going to be using the legitimate Nuritsu and Frontier scanners that can really give you a really nice edge on your work as well as larger files if you want to pay extra for those so you can really blow up your work and print pictures relatively large. The last option that you have are apps that are designed for both for both Android and Apple. Some of these apps that are out there allow you to kind of preview your film using your phone. Not my favorite way of doing things because these types of applications don't do a good job of the conversions. And the last thing you want to do is use the phone and then realize that your film doesn't look good. But it's not your film at all. It's just the software that the phone uses. And then your iphone camera or Android camera may not be the best, but those options are available. And I'll add those to the course resources so you can take a look at those and kind of explore those on your own, pretty much. That is the world of scanning. Keep in mind that the art of scanning is something that will require a lot of patience because it is going to require some amount of editing. I know that there are a lot of people out there that feel a specific way about editing your film, but you should always do what feels right for you. I edit my film pictures and a lot of professionals will edit their film pictures. And that's completely fine and it's going to be part of the process. When you scan your film, you are going to notice some color differences. So you will need to do a bit of color of white balance correction. Maybe adjusting some of the tints because it may look too blue, may look too red. So on and so forth. And the best advice that I remember hearing a while back, and I can't remember where I got this from, but is to just edit your picture to how you remember seeing it. That's a really big thing. Don't try to match an aesthetic. Just to try to remember how you shot that picture, how you fell, and then just mess around with the sliders until you get that look that you remember how that image looked. I'm not sure if that made any sense, but that is a good way to always edit your film. And that's in a way that I've been editing for a very long time and it's been very, very useful. Now that we've gone over all of the different steps taken, let's go ahead and discuss the class project for this course. 9. Final Project/Conclusion: Made it to the end and I would like to thank everybody that has stuck around and completed the course from start to finish. I really appreciate everyone's support and listening to me and also learning how I develop my own film at home. During this course, we have learned so much and have gone through a journey together. We have learned everything that we need. We've talked about chemicals mixing, developing tanks. We've even developed an entire role here on this course. We also broke down different ways of scanning, so you can start exploring these different ways of what's going to work best as you start to scan your film and also start to grow. What I would like to do for this final project is keep it easy, fun, and engaging. I would like you to upload two of your best images that you took from the role of film that you developed here and add that to the discussion below. I would like you to write where you took those images and what camera you used and why you decided to choose these two images. I would just stick to pictures that really, really resonate with you and make you feel happy. That way you can show your best work to everyone in this course, everyone that is taking this course. And it also opens a bit of a community here. Since we are all photographers and always eager to show off our work, I'm going to go ahead and attach a few of my favorite images at the end of this video so you can get an idea of what my style is and what kind of pictures I took on my recent trip just around San Francisco. Once again, I would like to thank everyone who took this course. There'll be plenty more to come in the future. And until then, I will see you later and I hope everyone has a great day. Bye.