To get myself prepared for developing my first roll of film I am outlining the steps required here.
Step 1:
- Set up tank (cleaned), reel, bottle opener, film and scissors in light-proof room
- Turn off the lights
- Open film canister and gently remove film roll
- Cut off half-width leader on front of roll
- Load film on to reel
- Cut end of film off of the roll
- Insert reel into tank
- Insert center column and funnel
- Lid tank tightly
- Turn lights back on
Step 2:
- Fill tank with clean water, agitate for about 1 minute.
- Pour out the water
- Load the developer. Start developer timer. For my Neopan 400 and my Adorama developer (which acts like LC29), the time is about 6 minutes. Tank needs to be agitated for 10 seconds or so every minute to keep fresh developer on the film.
- At end of time, empty developer.
Step 3:
- Rinse the tank with fresh water once or twice
- Pour in stop bath solution (mixed in 1/63 ratio with water for Kodak Pro Stop Bath)
- Rinse again
Step 4:
- Pour in fixer (1:4 mix for Illford Rapid)
- Fix for 5 – 10 minutes, agitate for 10 seconds every minute
- Empty tank and rinse again
Step 5:
- Washing
- After rinsing, pour in hypo clearing agent (1:4 dilution)
- Wash for 2 – 5 minutes
- Rinse
Step 6:
- Wetting agent.
- Pour small amount of wetting agent into tank, fill with water, agitate for 30 seconds
- Pour out wetting agent.
- DO NOT RINSE
Step 7:
- Dry.
- Remove reel from tank
- Remove film from reel
- Clamp both ends of film, hang to dry
- 4 – 8 hours
Some details are a little sketchy, particularly the diloution stuff, but once I get closer to time for that I will work out the details.