Film beginner

[pixel8]

May 22, 2009 at 9:20 am

Hi all,

Like many on this site it seems, I’m going to take the plunge to try to develop some black and white film and I was hoping someone might sanity check my thought process before I make an silly mistakes.

Firstly I bought a nice little Nikon FE camera recently, from which I get lovely photos even from a bog-standard chemist.

In terms of the equipment, I think I’ll need the following:

Dark bag – looks like it’ll cost about e20-30 on ebay – sound about right? anything I should ask when buying this on ebay?
Paterson 4 developing tank – again about e20-30. I guess a tank capable of developing a two 35mm films would be useful (I presume I don’t always need to fill it with two) and if it could handle 120mm that might be nice just in case. Cani buy these new anywhere?
Chemicals – still not fully sure about this, investigating the matter. I guess ebay is the easiest option again.

Film – looks like 7dayshop is the way to go, and I’m going to pick up a few rolls of Ilford Delta 400 and delta 3200. I have a couple of free rolls of colour film I’m willing to waste whilst practicing loading the spool in the developing tank.

Other small extras: Timer, thermometer,a few plastic containers, scissors to cut the film, can opener (or knife), clips to hang the film , ….

Does that all sound reasonable?

[randomway]

May 22, 2009 at 10:04 am

If you are close to Dublin, Gunns on Wexford street have all the necessary equipment and they are nice enough, so they can help you choosing the right stuff. Looks like you have a good list there, nothing’s missing. Film on the 7dayshop site is cheap enough if you buy in bulks. There is more info on developing your film in the forum, read through the topics, it’s worth the time… hard to sum up all of it here.

[pixel8]

May 22, 2009 at 10:36 am

Thanks a mill for the reply – yeah have been reading through posts here. Feel a bit bad now for posting cos everything all ready seems to be well covered by previous posts. Might be worth making it a sticky post. Will try Gunns this weekend

[Fintan]

May 22, 2009 at 11:45 am

pixel8 wrote:

Thanks a mill for the reply – yeah have been reading through posts here. Feel a bit bad now for posting cos everything all ready seems to be well covered by previous posts. Might be worth making it a sticky post. Will try Gunns this weekend

Dont be feeling bad, post as many questions as you like

You wont go far wrong with Gunns

Good luck

Fintan

[Eddie]

May 23, 2009 at 11:33 am

As well as here, there are lots of great sites online devoted to film and paper development, one I will recommend is http://www.digitaltruth.com/ Its a one stop shop for developing and printing, it also has the famous development chart that shows development times for nearly all film/developer relationships.

One book I would recommend is Creative Elements http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Elements-Landscape-Photography-Techniques/dp/0863433979/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243078096&sr=8-1 You can pick up a copy for a few pounds. It covers everything from basic to advanced.

That and the gear you have lined up is all you need. Best of luck

[prontomonto]

May 24, 2009 at 6:39 pm

Gunn’s will sort you out for everything you need. I bought all my stuff there about 2 weeks ago and the total came to around 75 euro including chemicals, thermometer, etc.

[pixel8]

May 25, 2009 at 8:45 pm

Thanks guys for all the help, really really appreciated! I didn’t make it to Gunns over the weekend, but €75 sounds like fantastic value, even compared to second hand goods on Ebay. Does that include a dark bag?

Have ordered Creative Elements and The Negative – so hopefully that will answer my initial queries and i won’t have to bother you all with really basic questions!

Thanks again!