Shade, in Two Forms (202/365)
Struggling with adding more film photography to my allotted time, which reduces my daily photo stock. The past few days I’ve been shooting with my Rollei and the Nikon F3, but that doesn’t give me anything for my daily post. I still haven’t started developing my own film yet, and I haven’t been to the lab. This is a problem I need to sort out. Hopefully, when I get a good developing routine down, I’ll have more photos to work with.
When I go out for dedicated photography time, I’ve been carrying one digital and one film camera, which increases complexity and weight. Not sure if I should keep doing that or just make dedicated time for one style. All good problems but ones that need tweaking.
Click for Film Journey Update
Film Journey Update: Getting really close to trying my first few rolls of B&W developing. My nature makes me read and study far too much before I do something, so that is slowing me down but should minimize errors.
You can go super simple and use a developer/fixer combo (Cinestill DF96) and just be done, but I want to understand some of the chemistry and the pros and cons of different developers with the film I’m using: Ilford DDX, Rodinal, Bellini RDL, Pyro, Cinestill DF96… which Stop to use, which Fixer to use. Pros and Cons of using a WashAid or PhotoFlow. How hard is my water, etc. You don’t need to know any of that, but I want to. I’ve been watching YouTube videos, reading Darkroom books, reading blog posts, and mostly reading film and developer documentation. That has been the best source of factual information.
I’m getting closer and will probably start with a Paterson tank, AP reels, and Ilford DDX developer, Stop and Fixer. Next, I’ll try Adox Rodinal developer, then the Cinestill DF96 Developer/Fix combo, which seems to have mixed results, so I’ll use a roll of film with nothing too important on it.
I’ve had three sessions of practise in the dark bag transferring film onto the different reels. Which I will say is mandatory. You will find problems, I promise. Use gloves? Which reels do you like? What happens when the film binds on the reel? What are your options if you can’t do it and need to take a break? How sweaty do your hands get? Which scissors work best for you? 35mm and 120 are two different animals; you need to practice with both. Just bite the bullet and sacrifice two rolls of film and practice with them. Trust me, it will pay dividends.
I’m happy with my film scanning setup, so no issues there for now. Just need to shoot more film and start developing.