# First Time



## Pumpedupkicks (Mar 6, 2013)

Hello this is my first time I will be developing my own black and white film. I bought a Kodak Professional fixer and I wanted to see how long I need to leave it in the developing tank it says on the front 5-10 mins but I didnt know what exact time I will be developing in a large developing tank and also I will be developing at 68f


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## gsgary (Mar 6, 2013)

what film, what iso did you shoot it at, was there contrasty lighting do you need to add contrast ? it all effects your developement time


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## timor (Mar 6, 2013)

Uno momento please. What is going on ? One guy is talking about fixer, the other about developing time. Fixer is not for developing, fixer is for fixing developed film. Maybe first lets talk about developing. As Gary suggests. Will be beneficial to know what film is this and what developer are you planning to use and then lets talk about temperature and agitation. Fixing comes after and with fresh Kodak Professional 1+3 fixer 5-6 min in 68F would be sufficient.


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## Pumpedupkicks (Mar 6, 2013)

I will be shooting Kodak TMax100 I have Ilford stop bath and I have a developer Kodak d-76 and I have a Kodak fixer. How long do they need to be in the tank the temp will be 68f and do I need to dilute the Ilford stop bath I am just very new to this I am 18 so I am young but trying to learn a lot about film


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## gsgary (Mar 6, 2013)

I would try D76 1+1 for 10 minutes, agitate for first minute then 5 every minute, stop bath, it tells you on the bottle how to mix it, add the stop bath as soon as you empty the developer and agitate for 1 minute, fix, agitate constant for 5-6 minutes, just check it is fixed before emptying tank


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## vintagesnaps (Mar 6, 2013)

If you aren't familiar with the Film Photography Project you might be interested in their website or check out their Flickr page discussion.


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## timor (Mar 6, 2013)

^^^^^ That sounds like a plan. 10 min seems a bit long for TMX and I would expect strong and contrasty neg (which in case of that film is no good), but I might be proven wrong. The beauty of film photography is, that everyone has to set own standards. Good luck with your try and let us know the results, maybe even post a scan from the film for us to see how dens the neg will get.


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## terri (Mar 6, 2013)

Great folks here and some basic development info to get you started here.   

Don't forget looking at the manufacturer's websites, too, for information.   They want you to have success!   

Once you've done this a couple of times, it becomes more intuitive.   And once you've done it lots of times, you can begin to play around with different times for various films to find combinations that get you the negatives you want.   It's not hard; just takes some getting used to and learning to "know" what you actually want.      Go for it!


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## Rick58 (Mar 6, 2013)

This should help you with the D-76 times

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/j78/j78.pdf


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## Pumpedupkicks (Mar 7, 2013)

how long should i leave the stop bath in and the fixer?


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## ann (Mar 7, 2013)

30 sec. in stop bath, five in the fixer if your using Ilford's. and 10 with Kodak.

go to Ilford's website, and they have a great pdf file that goes over everything step by step


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## gsgary (Mar 7, 2013)

timor said:


> ^^^^^ That sounds like a plan. 10 min seems a bit long for TMX and I would expect strong and contrasty neg (which in case of that film is no good), but I might be proven wrong. The beauty of film photography is, that everyone has to set own standards. Good luck with your try and let us know the results, maybe even post a scan from the film for us to see how dens the neg will get.



Never used Tmax 100 till this last weekend now i'm in love with it developed in Rodinal, massive dev says 9.5 mins for D76 and i always do it a bit longer than they say


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## gsgary (Mar 7, 2013)

One more thing dont forget to tap the tank on the worktop after each set of agitations to dislodge bubbles


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## Josh66 (Mar 7, 2013)

For fixer the standard is "twice the time to clear"...

Take a bit of the film you will be fixing (the bit of leader you cut off when you loaded it on the reel).  Put a single drop of fixer on the film - wait a couple minutes.  Now drop that bit of film into a small container of fixer - start the clock now.  Time how long it takes for that dot from the single drop takes to disappear.  When you can no longer tell where the dot stops and the rest of the film starts.  You want to fix for at least double that time.


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## djacobox372 (Apr 2, 2013)

With fixer its hard to over do it.  I typically fix for 12 minutes, even if I might be able to get away with half that.


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## timor (Apr 3, 2013)

djacobox372 said:


> With fixer its hard to over do it.  I typically fix for 12 minutes, even if I might be able to get away with half that.


 I am afraid that yes, one can over fix the film. Not so much in the matter of influencing the image. Bleaching may occur, but after really long time. Where too long fixing is not desired is the longevity of the negative. Longer fixing is leaving more of the fixer and fixing byproducts in emulsion requiring much longer washing times in water and in something designed to remove those byproducts, as they are not always soluble in just water. Those left in emulsion will destroy the neg in as little as a few weeks. Hipo or weak solution of sodium sulfite has to be used. Prolonged washing has an adverse effect on emulsion causing swelling which may rearrange grain with possible lose of sharpness. Can also cause much dreaded reticulation. (Happened to me with Tmax 400.)
Here is how to establish proper (minimal needed ) time of fixing (from post in APUG by MattKing):

"_The "leader test" just means dropping a drop of fixer on an undeveloped  film and leaving it there for 30 seconds.  Then immerse the scrap of  film in the fixer and time how long it takes before you can no longer  tell where the drop was (i.e. the film is no longer milky and is fully  cleared).  If that time is reasonable (around one minute?), your total  fixing time should be twice that for traditional films, and up to three  times that for T-grain films._"

With proper fixing washing time may be as short as 10 min. in slowly running water at the same temperature as the rest of the process. For me that usually 20C.


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